My Road to Cicerone®: Ben Acord of Finest Made Ales

Ben Acord is a Certified Cicerone^® from San Diego County, California. Here he shares some insight about how he went from unemployed to a promising career in the beer industry. 

1. Where do you work now and what do you do there?
   I work at Finest Made Ales in Santee, California. I am the head brewer there.
2. What industry were you working in when you started preparing for the Certified Cicerone exam?
   I was unemployed at the time, before that I was in the healthcare industry.
3. How did you first hear of the Cicerone Certification Program?
   I enrolled in the San Diego State University’s Business of Craft Beer Certificate Program as part of my job re-training program through the state. The first person I heard mention it was “Dr. Bill” Sysak, one of the instructors.
4. Why did you choose to pursue Cicerone certification?
   I was able to get a part time job as the assistant brewer for URBN ST. Brewing while enrolled in the Business of Craft Beer Program. I literally knew nothing about the craft beer industry and now I was in the thick of it in San Diego and I realized I had a lot to learn. Cicerone Certification seemed like the natural thing to pursue to build a foundation of all things beer.
5. Explain how earning your certification helped you break into the beer industry.
   When I first started in this industry I knew very little about beer. I was an assistant brewer with basic cellaring skills. When I finished studying for and taking the exam, my knowledge of all things beer had increased greatly. The beer styles and brewing techniques I read about pushed me to be more creative and want to get better at my job.
6. Describe your study process. How did you prepare for the exam?
   I drank a lot of Parabola. That was how I dealt with tasting a lot of European beers that were well past the best by date. When it came down to tasting beers and learning styles, I would look at the BJCP app and search out as many of the best examples I could find of different styles and taste them throughout the week. Once I learned the flavor profiles of the styles I would then have my wife or friends test me blind on beers. I did as many off flavor tastings as I could, and in the process of doing those I learned I have a really hard time tasting and smelling acetaldehyde. The SDSU Business of Craft Beer Program is basically a Cicerone bootcamp. Being in an environment where everyone in the class is as excited about beer as you are really helps. The instructors for the program are beer industry people and most of them were already Certified Cicerones, so they proved to be a great resource.
7. Were there any areas of study that you became particularly interested in while preparing for the Certified Cicerone exam?
   The food and beer pairing section was my favorite followed up by draught quality. The pairing portion is a lot of fun, once you understand the 3 C’s you can really experiment with a lot of cool pairings. There is a Thai restaurant by my house that let me bring in my own beer. I would go in there with a group of people and we’d order 10 different dishes and pair them with a bunch of Belgians and learned a lot about the interactions between the dishes. Draught quality is also really important to me because there is nothing more disappointing then going to a bar and seeing one of you favorite beers on tap and when you order it, it comes back tasting old, buttery, and a bit tart. You know that is not what the brewer intended to be served. Now that I am a brewer, having a clean, well-maintained system is a sense of pride for me. Brass is bad.
8. What are your greatest strengths now that you’re a Certified Cicerone?
   I can comfortably talk and teach people about beer. Sometimes I find myself talking with people at the liquor store by my house to help them find a beer they will be happy with.  When people tell me they don’t like beer, I take that as a personal challenge to find them a beer style they will enjoy drinking. I am still hungry for more knowledge because I have a lot to learn.
9. In your opinion, how valuable is it for those looking to get into the beer industry to earn Cicerone certification?
   If you were like me who knew nothing about craft beer just a few years ago, I think the certification is a must. It provided me with a good foundation of knowledge that I could build from, which I am sure it has done for many others.
10. What advice do you have for Certified Beer Servers who are looking into taking the Certified Cicerone exam? 
    If you can prepare yourself to the point where the information is second nature and you don’t have to think about the answers, you’re ready. It took me two attempts to pass the exam. The second attempt I felt much more confident and I did not second guess myself. Some advice that I was given by several Cicerones was to challenge myself in the food and pairing essay by not choosing a Saison. Have fun; we are in the greatest industry around.

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