Subject: Digest for the period 4/2/2005 - 4/3/2005 Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 01:04:53 -0500 Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Re: competitions as CEP (Kevin Pratt) 2. BJCP voting reminder (Ed Westemeier) 3. Re: Digest for the period 4/1/2005 - 4/2/2005 (Kevin Pratt) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kevin Pratt Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 20:51:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: competitions as CEP > >Alan, regarding the ability of judges to move mislabeled beers, not getting > >styles right (many of which brewers have never heard of) is a big disconnect in > >competition. > > While I agree that to do well, beers should be entered in the category they taste the > most like, and not necessarily in the category corresponding to the recipe title or > {snip} > Who gets to decide when it's right? When a beer is entered, both the organizer and the judge must be able to assume that the brewer knew what they were doing when labeling the beer. It does a disservice to the majority of brewers that correctly categorize and enter their beer. Asking the judge to recategorize is second guessing the intent of the brewer. This is fundamentally wrong because it changes the integrity of the competition. The allowance of judge second guessing allows for the brewer to second guess both the judge and the competition. It allows for questions of the motives, ethics and consistency of every competition that allows it. > >As far as thinking judges should brew, I've heard a ton of reasons why > >particular brewers couldn't fit it into their lives, but no compelling reason > >why it isn't a good CEP idea. > > There's a big distinction here that I think needs to be made. It's "CEP points" vs > "mandatory to maintain credentials". I personally feel that CEP points _may_ be > justified, depending on the criteria set for it, and especially since at this point > CEP events are expected to be optional. But making competitions mandatory to maintain > credentials is a bad idea for all the reasons previously stated by other posters. The CEP proposal holds nothing manditory or compulsory for keeping judge credentials or for attaining advancement. The CEP program is designed to be an enhancement opportunity for judging skills. That said, it is perfectly acceptable to think that some competitions will have CEP elements. But these elements would likely be separate from the judging and optional to attend. Kevin Pratt BJCP CEP Assistant Director Candidate for West Rep __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ed Westemeier Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 08:55:25 -0500 Subject: BJCP voting reminder If you're a BJCP member in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, or West region, please go to www.bjcp.org/electioncenter.html then follow the appropriate link to vote for your choice to serve on the BJCP board. As you may already know, elections are being held in several regions this year for openings on the BJCP Board of Directors. These "regional representatives" (there are seven) are the actual decision-makers in the BJCP, and determine the direction the program takes. In the past, we have had many outstanding, energetic, hard-working people on the board, a few who contributed little, and at least one who actually had a negative impact. On the whole, though, the biggest thing I've noticed is a lack of interest among members. In some cases, no one in a region even came forward as a candidate, forcing the board to appoint someone. Sometimes an appointee did a great job, sometimes not. This year, the situation is fairly typical. Four regions have openings. In one, only a single candidate was nominated, and is considered elected, by default, since he's unopposed. In another, we have an actual election underway between two candidates. In two other regions, no candidates were nominated, but several people later expressed willingness to serve if nominated, so the board decided to set up mock "elections" where those individuals could receive "votes of confidence" from the members of the region. That is expected to help the board decide who to nominate. Since the term of a regional rep is three years, the impact of your choice is significant. Voting will only be available through the end of this month, so please take a moment to do it, and remind your friends to vote as well. Ed Westemeier BJCP Communication Director ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * ********************************************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kevin Pratt Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2005 07:08:28 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: Digest for the period 4/1/2005 - 4/2/2005 Comments are inline. > From: MeadGuild`at`aol.com Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 17:35:59 EST > > 1. Re: competitions as CEP > > I have yet to take the BJCP exam, but I know CPE (Continuing Professional > Education). I is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Internal Auditor, a > Certified Information Systems Auditor, and three more. First, I urge you to take the BJCP exam at your earliest opportunity. Even if you can only sign your name and answer question one, it is worth your while. You obviously have an interest and passion for this, which is sought after by the BJCP. > Q: What is the purpose of CPE? > > A: To keep practitioners current with the changes in the field. Although I understand your viewpoint, beer judging differs because it is a _hobby_ (or obsession) that we spend our spare time on (allegedly, in some cases). No business can fall by our scores or comments, and we do not influence the stock market by our reports. The guidelines for beer styles does not change very frequently. I believe that the current guidelines are designed to be added to, or have parts archived, depending on contest trends. > I believe there is a separate common body of knowledge for brewing Beer, > Mead, and Wine and for distilling alcohol. CPE should be based on the relevant > common bodies of knowledge and the additions, deletions, and changes to it. Within the CEP, we are striving to provide guidelines to encourage participation, sessions that are accessable, interesting and will foster better insight for judges. To qualify as CEP credit, certain minumum content requirements must be met. I wish that I could be more direct, but the program is still in development and will need to be reviewed by the BJCP Board before it can be revealed. > How much does Beer or Mead change? Who is prepared to offer seminars on > this? Are there local Chapters that will offer CPE credits for presentations on > relevant topical speakers? Will these Chapters report CPE to the BJCP? Will > the BJCP put on a traveling road show for presentations across the country? Again, accessability is what I think you're asking about. Yes, the program is designed to be accessable to even the smallest regions of judges. We do not have chapters, per se, but we do rely on both beer clubs and event organizers to make the sessions available. The program intent is to have a wide range of topics and maximum participation. Points will be earned by organizers, presenters and participants. These points will count the same way that other non-judging points count towards rank. These points are independant of the points earned by judging, even if the two events are held on the same day. However, points will not be given retroactively to anyone who is not a member of BJCP at the time of the class. Taking the test gets one a judge number even before they get their results back, so those people should get their credit if they take a course. Kevin Pratt BJCP CEP Assistant Director __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Personals - Better first dates. More second dates. http://personals.yahoo.com ********************************************************************** * JudgeNet - the beer judge digest * * Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments * * Manage your subscription online: http://synchro.com/judge * * Send subscription requests & changes to judge-request`at`synchro.com * **********************************************************************