Over the course of several months in 2019, I studied and then sat for a comprehensive beer exam called the Cicerone. I came out of that (rather intense) process with a whole bunch of knowledge about beer, and a very precise palate.

In the months that followed, I took over writing all public facing beer descriptions and tasting notes, began running public facing tastings and tours, and assisted with quality control. But perhaps the most enjoyable application of my hard-earned beer stripes? Beer school.

Beer school started as an idea, but became an incredibly robust staff education program. Every week, all 50+ staff members would sit for a 30 minute beer school. And each week, led by a manger, they’d taste our new releases and have a mini lesson on a related topic: everything from a lesson on the difference between kettle sours and mixed fermentation sours, to brewing with honey.

In my role, I wrote all beer descriptions for new beers, designed a quarterly curriculum calendar, taught a week’s worth of lessons every month, and advised other managers on their lesson plans. Oh, and along the way drank some very tasty (and also some less than tasty) beers.

Dive in to some of my lessons here.