Customer Reviews

Beer Judging School - Judging

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This will NOT prepare you for BJCP certification or anything of the sort, but it is a good primer for the very basics in beer judging. If you've never done a judging session before it's worth watching. If you've done one or two judgings you're probably not going to get much out of this DVD.

Note, the production of this video is VERY low budget. It's literally filmed in a guy's garage as he's giving the class to a few students. As he walks them through tasting several beers and writing up score sheets you are often distracted by background noises such as a truck roaring by, an ice cream truck, etc. The light quality toward the end of the DVD is very poor as well since they're using natural ambient light only. Toward the end of the DVD you can't even read what he's writing, but you can still follow what's being said. I didn't let this effect my rating though, because you're not really buying this DVD for lighting and production quality.

David Teckam was my BJCP exam tutor in Spring 2010, and his guidance, knowledge of the subject, and constant attention and support were hugely helpful in learning and understanding the material for the BJCP exam. David helped structure the material itself, as well as the necessary background needed to understand the exam and better prepare for what really was one of the most difficult test-taking experiences of my life. There's a ton of information to get through, and David's DVDs offer this same knowledge base and patience at, per usual, minimal cost. David's support for beer education and the skills learned through BJCP studying are hugely evident here.

As someone who isn't a homebrewer, and who didn't have the typical background going into the exam, David's teaching and online curriculum made the test approachable and passable. I was hoping for certified-level scores, and scored well beyond that.

I remember studying for the Beer Judge Certification Program exam and being desperate for something other than more reading material for my weary brain. Later, upon seeing this useful video overview of judging, I felt a little bit jealous of those studying for the BJCP exam now. This video will be particularly valuable for those studying on their own, without taking a judging class in person through their local brewers club.

David's live lesson for his class on the most important aspects of beer judging is practical and confidence-building. It has concrete and valuable tips for how to fill out a beer competition score sheet properly, and how to improve your descriptive abilities. This video offers plenty of insight and information to prospective judges. It may also be valuable for serious competitive homebrewers who want to learn more about how to interpret the score sheets they get back from competitions.

Grab a scoresheet off the BJCP site, pour yourself a beer, and do some tasting and describing along with the students in the video if you like.

I'm giving this video five stars despite very simple, primitive production values (one camera on a tripod during a live class, which proves charming in a slightly funky style at times). I've been a photo and film enthusiast for a long time, and generally am demanding about those qualities, but in this case they did not matter. You may not be able to get a spouse or pal to sit through it, but if you need to learn about judging beers, this is a solid addition to your elite homebrewer or beer judge's library.

[In the spirit of full and useful disclosure: I have gotten to know David Teckam pretty well and have both judged beer competitions with him and assisted him with some beer tasting and learning events. I also have suggested this video to people who are prepping for the BJCP exam, so I figured it would be useful to review it here.]

After being a steward at a beer competition, I decided to take the BJCP exam and become a beer judge. I live in a city without many beer judges where no exams were scheduled and I ended up booking a seat in a city far away from mine. That meant I wouldn't have the benefit of the preparatory course that normally goes with a BJCP exam and I started muddling through the material on my own. That didn't go too well so I started looking online for help in navigating the documentation and honing my judging and troubleshooting skills. That's when I came across David Teckam's video and his Beer Judge School.

I would say this video is an essential minimum for those intending to take the BJCP exam without any other assistance. It deals with the tasting portion of the exam, worth 30% of the mark and arguably the most important piece in learning to be a beer judge, and in a classroom setting goes through every consideration in a judging sheet for a beer. I found it helped fit my perceptions of a beer into the structured format required in any BJCP-sanctioned competition and emphasized the single best lesson of the whole experience: completeness.

Others have mentioned the minimal production values which really misses the point. What this video does is put you in one of the most important classes you would have in a beer judging course with others asking the questions. Whether you can get the beers being considered or not (I couldn't), you get to sit in on a discussion with one of the BJCP's most senior judges and go through the process in detail. To me that was easily worth the minimal cost of this video.

Thanks to this video I also pursued David's online course which filled in what I needed to get through the exam. I am certain I would not have passed this exam without his help and there's no way I would have known what to focus on in the limited time I had to study. I specifically have David to thank for the National level score I got on the tasting portion of the exam.

I strongly recommend this video for anyone taking the BJCP exam.

David Teckham is probably the best person to go to if you want to pass (and do well) your BJCP exam the first time. I would highly recommend using this video (albeit of low production value) paired with his course he provides through beerjudgeschool.com. Not only does he know his stuff, he provides tons of resources that you can only get by reading many, many books and compiling the information yourself- something that I certainly do not have time for. At any rate, this video will be very helpful for those who need help in beer tasting but I would definitely also ask David to tutor you through his course. I've recommended this to beer friends and to members of my homebrew club, and now to you.

After completing his course, I took the BJCP exam in December of 2011. I knew the answer to every question, finished with 20 minutes left and had time to add depth of knowledge. I know that I would not have been able to do that had I not had this video and his course.

This past summer I took on the challenge to become a BJCP judge and scheduled the exam in August. As a homebrewer I believe that getting BJCP certified is a great way to gain a better understanding of your beer and what you can do to improve it. After scheduling to take the exam, I began studying on my own and realized there was a lot to learn. Unfortunately my local homebrew club did not have an exam scheduled locally and there was no study group that I could participate in at the time. That's when I found David and his DVD online. Without this DVD and David's help, I don't think I would have passed the exam in the short 2 months I had to prepare. David's DVD helped me to understand how to properly and completely fill out a BJCP scoresheet and with David's help via his online course I was able to pass the exam. I received an overall score of 73 (70 on the written / 80 on the tasting) and now once I get some experience points under my belt (5 to be exact) I will be qualified for a BJCP ranking of Certified. Thank you David for devoting yourself to a better world of beer! Cheers!

I'm sorry to disagree with the other reviewers, but this is not a good video. Low budget doesn't begin to describe this. Out of focus cameras, not aimed properly, and lets not forget the droning, boring narration. Far too low budget to be of interest .. you'd do better just reading the BJCP guidelines. The guy doing the presentation does know beer, no question, but crikey ...... watching this to the end is hard.