Brag Time: Certified Beer Nerd

To say Lucas likes beer is…well, an understatement.

I know you’re probably thinking one of two things:

1) Why the HECK does she take so many pictures of him with his face in a glass?

2) So? Every dude likes beer?

Well, my friends. Lucas is now a certified beer nerd. It’s a really, really big deal and I can’t help but brag. He’s one of the very few Certified Cicerones® in America. (And by our calculations, he’s probably the only LEED-certified registered architect cicerone in the entire world!)

The closest comparison I can make, as layperson, is that it’s like becoming a wine sommelier. The examination to get this certification is very tough — most people fail at least part of it, as it entails a written test (here’s the syllabus), a video demonstration and a tasting test. There are three levels — beer server, cicerone and master. Lucas has now passed the first two and is considering the third (SERIOUSLY rare).

Lucas had to study for months, spending nights and weekends in the books. It’s one thing to like beer…it’s another to know the intricacies of how it’s made, what each element is made up of, how to pair beers and food, how to taste off flavors, how to maintain equipment, the history of the industry and much, much more.

For a guy who spent five years in college for architecture to then leave the business and become a rising star in an entirely different business, this is HUGE. Luckily, he’s using his skills on the job every day as the Central Florida marketing representative for Cigar City Brewing.

SO PROUD.