Thinking about making the leap to Advanced Cicerone? Already have an exam date set? Whether you've got loads of time or are feeling pressed, we'll tell you what resources to focus on and which you can skip!
Core resources
We three Advanced Cicerones agree — you will have trouble passing the exam without learning this material end to end!
- Cellarmanship by Patrick O'Neill
- How To Brew by John Palmer
- The latest BJCP Style Guidelines
- The BA's Draught Beer Quality Manual (the DBQM)
- Yeast by Chris White & Jamil Zainasheff
- Malt by John Mallett
- For The Love of Hops by Stan Hieronymus
- Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher
- The AC Syllabus: https://www.cicerone.org
- Cicerone Certification Program on YouTube
- Personal experience pairing, tasting, cleaning draft lines, pouring, brewing, etc!
Secondary resources
These are helpful resources that the TBS crew love, but they’re not all strictly required. We recommend that you pick out several of these that interest you to read on the side and enrich your core studying.
- The Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth
- Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher
- Mastering Homebrew by Randy Mosher
- The Brewmaster's Table by Garrett Oliver
- Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff
- Brew Like a Monk by Stan Hieronymus
- American Sour Beers by Michael Tonsmeire
- The Beer Lover's Table by Claire Bullen & Jen Ferguson
- The Oxford Companion to Beer by Garrett Oliver
- Wild Brews by Jeff Sparrow
- Building a Sensory Program by MC Pat Fahey
- Legit cooking shows & recipe videos online
- Aroxa Flavor Standards on YouTube
- Yakima Chief Hops on YouTube
- Road to Cicerone - Keeping & Serving
- False Bottomed Girls podcast
- The Flavor Bible by Karen Page
Skippable
These are all very great resources that the Beer Scholar crew have read and enjoyed, but they’re not required to pass the AC! Again, if you see something here that is of real interest there is no reason not to read it on the side…if you have the time.
- Water by John Palmer & Colin Kaminski
- Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels
- Most beer podcasts…at best the vast majority are edutainment if not straight up entertainment.
- Tasty by John McQuaid
- Wood & Beer by Dick Cantwell
- Brewing with Wheat by Stan Hieronymus
- Farmhouse Ales by Phil Markowski
- New Brewing Lager Beer by Jeff Noonan
- The Chef's Companion by Elizabeth Riley
- The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer by Ron Pattinson
- IPA by Mitch Steele
- Michael Jackson's Great Beer Guide
- Bitter by Jennifer McLagan
- The BA Style Guidelines
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