Step aside, sommelier; there’s a new Cicerone in town

CiceroneYesterday’s beer word of the day was lactobacillus (as in those gross beer lines in Milwaukee).

Today’s is Cicerone.

And the two are related. I was going to wait a few weeks before writing about the Cicerone Certification Program Ray Daniels is launching. But in the wake of the Milwaukee story, and comments that followed about properly cleaned glassware as well as lines now seems like a good time.

First the disclaimer. Ray is a friend of mine. That doesn’t make the program any less or any more worth writing about. I think it will be interesting to discuss it with him after he’s had a chance to introduce the idea at the National Beer Wholesalers Convention in a few weeks and later at the Great American Beer Festival. I will and I will report back.

Returning to the beer word of the day. Until it gets more traction in the beer community most people are going to find it easiest to consider Cicerone a synonym for “beer sommelier.”

That would miss the point, which is addressed right at the freshly minted website.

How is a Cicerone different from a Beer Sommelier?
A Cicerone is a tested and proven expert in beer while beer sommelier is a self-designation that can be adopted by anyone. Because there are no criteria for the title of beer sommelier and because those who use the title have not subjected their knowledge and skills to an independent examination, consumers and employers can’t be sure just what a non-certified beer server knows or how they treat and serve the beer.

And even though certified sommeliers do undergo rigorous testing – astonishingly demanding at the highest levels – and are supposed to be expert in “wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages” there’s just a bunch of stuff in the Cicerone syllabus they’ve never seen.

Back, one more time, to the word itself. Ray has bent the meaning of a word not often associated with beer so that it has – or will have – a beer meaning. That’s a good thing. We’ve struggled here before with the term beer sommelier so let’s go with something entirely different.

This isn’t a matter of beer following wine, but of the beer taking a step forward.

4 thoughts on “Step aside, sommelier; there’s a new Cicerone in town”

  1. cic·e·ro·ne –noun, plural -nes, Italian. -ni [sis-uh-roh-nee, chich-uh-; It. chee-che-raw-ne] a person who conducts sightseers; guide.
    [Origin: 1720–30; It

  2. Anatomy of Hops…Keg setups….Objectives of Lautering….why the hell not? I too think its a great idea and something that wouldn’t be that hard to get motivated to do (I’m going to print out that list and brush up myself). Does this mean the MOB (Master of Beer) is just around the corner?? Sign me up for that.

  3. What is a Beer Sommelier?
    Please have a look at our website (www.doemens.org). Here you can find, that the international beer academy at the Doemens School is running the beer sommelier education since 4 years. We have examined until now 100 beer sommeliers from different countries (germany, austria, switzerland, US, poland, czech republic, italy), who have already founded a beer sommelier association (see: http://www.biersommelier.org). Until now the education is only done in german language, but we are planning to run it in italien, portuguese and english language as well.

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