As someone who passed the entry level Certified Beer Server test of the Cicerone program and then blanched at the cost of the remaining levels and complexity, My Beer Year by Lucy Birmingham was just what I needed to remind me that I didn’t want to pursue the next step while also putting me “in the room where it happens” as it were.
Birmingham’s prose style is easy and flows smoothly. She is dexterious moving from describing scientific points in a hop field to her feelings about husband and son and then back to beer again.
Her plan for conquering the Cicerone test is quite good and should be emulated. Don’t just sit at home with flash cards and books and empty bottles but get out there and visit breweries and talk to people and home brew. You could almost see the movie montage playing as answers come to her from the experiences with brewing as opposed to planting a nose in a book.
The book also gets where it is going without feeling rushed. You know a test is at the end and the results just after that and it can be hard to make the preceding chapters exciting but she does just that.
What I like most is that Birmingham seems to understand the duality of studying of beer and the enjoyment of beer are linked but sometimes at odds with each other. From the pages, you can tell that she will not be that know-it-all but rather someone with a lot of beer knowledge.
My first quibble is that more could not be spilled about the test itself. Having to take the test and then write about it is hard by itself, but then trying to dance around the strictures of test rules adds a second layer to the writing task. I would also have liked her to take a harder stand on the theme in women in beer but when I went back through the book, I realized it would not have fit the tone.
If you are planning on taking the Cicerone test, read this book. If you don’t want to take it, this book can be your proxy.