The Growth Of Craft-beer Education

It’s long been known that education sells craft beer—smarter consumers make better choices—and the first tier of interaction that most consumers have with craft beer is a knowledgeable bartender or server. To that end, Ray Daniels founded The Cicerone® Certification Program in 2008 to promote and professionalize craft-beer style and service education. Here, we chart the explosive growth of the program, the regional hotbeds of beer education, and the tiers of mastery built into the educational program that’s growing at a faster rate than the craft-beer market as a whole.

By Brian Devine

MASTER CICERONE

The hightest level of mastery of beer styles, beer attributes, off-flavor recognition, and more. CERTIFED CICERONE In-depth theoretical and practical knowledge of draft systems, beer styles, and tasting experience. CERTIFED BEER SERVER Competent knowledge of beer storage and service, modest knowledge of beer styles, and basic familiarity with beer-tasting, flavors and the brewing process.