My Road to Cicerone: Shane Hopkin of Dovetail Brewery

Shane Hopkin is a Certified Cicerone^® from Chicago, IL. Here he describes how earning his certification helps him handle daily challenges in his career.

What’s your current role and how does being a Certified Cicerone help you with it?

I’m the Brand Representative at Dovetail Brewery. My job is a mostly a traditional sales role, but with a higher emphasis on marketing, events, and consumer education. I spend most of my time talking to retailers and consumers about beer, so it’s very important that I know my stuff. Being a Certified Cicerone means I can find something to relate to in any beer conversation, handle curveball questions more easily, and do a better job of highlighting and contextualizing the cool stuff we do at Dovetail to make our beer stand out. 

Describe the factors that made you decide to become a Certified Cicerone.

Part of it was that when I fell in love with beer and decided to make a career of it, I had a hard time finding a role. I was looking for ways to make myself a more desirable candidate. Part of it was that I’ve always been a nerd who loves to learn. I knew it would be a challenge to earn the certification, and I wanted to see if I could do it.

Explain some of the challenges you had while studying for the exam and how you overcame them. 

The biggest challenges  for me were time and focus. I was lucky to get connected with a fantastic study group through work, and that meant I had a sense of responsibility to the group. I’d held the fantasy of becoming a Certified Cicerone for years, but the group gave me the motivation to say “now is the time.” I also made an effort to build study time into my schedule. For example, I had to travel a couple times to visit family during the final stretch, and I used a lot of that time for distraction-free studying.

How did you prepare for the exam? What were the most beneficial resources that you used?

I started slow and just read a ton of beer books for a couple years before I got serious about preparing for the exam, and that laid a great foundation. I tried my hand at home brewing. My beers wouldn’t have won many awards, but there is no better way to understand brewing processes than to actually brew the beer. I spent a lot of time on beer styles from the BJCP guidelines. I would study those by writing out their big stats, overall impression, and historical quirks from memory, and I would color code my work after each segment to grade myself.  The hardest part of the test for me was off flavors, so I made sure to attend an off-flavor training session at the Cicerone offices. It’s a big part of the test; I recommend attending a training or buying a home off-flavor kit.

Since becoming a Certified Cicerone, what have been some of your greatest achievements?

I think it’s one of the reasons I’m in my current role, which didn’t yet exist when I took the exam. My employers got to see the hard work and dedication that went into preparing and the knowledge that came out on the other side, and weigh that when deciding how to create and fill the position.

In your opinion, how valuable is Cicerone certification for those looking to boost their career?

It demonstrates a level of expertise and commitment that reflects well on anyone, but it will do the most for careers that emphasize knowledge of beer styles, handling, and service. It’s also a great asset for people who like to contribute by sharing their knowledge with colleagues. The biggest value for me has been personal. I’m more confident and comfortable knowing that I achieved this difficult goal. I find that I mention that I’m a Certified Cicerone only once in a while, but I use the knowledge from the certification on an everyday basis. 

What’s your top study tip for anyone preparing for the Certified Cicerone exam?

Use the syllabus. It seems obvious, but it’s worth stressing. It tells you exactly what you need to be paying attention to. I ended up copying it into a word processor and writing out detailed notes for every line.

Ready to get started? Learn more about the Certified Cicerone exam here!