I was down­load­ing the 2008 Style Guide from the Beer Judge Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion Pro­gram (BJCP) web­site today and noticed this lit­tle gem on their mem­ber­ship page:

EXPERIENCE POINTS The BJCP awards expe­ri­ence points to judges and staff who par­tic­i­pate in AHA/BJCP Sanc­tioned Com­pe­ti­tion Pro­gram events, in BJCP exams, or in Con­tin­u­ing Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram events. The point award varies depend­ing on the size of the event and the job an indi­vid­ual per­forms. There are two groups of expe­ri­ence points: Judg­ing points and Non-Judging points.

I blinked, then I smiled. Beer judges level up through expe­ri­ence points based on the events they work. There’s  an expe­ri­ence point table to boot. “Okay…you’re all sit­ting in a tav­ern…” has never been so apropos.