Andrew Bieber - Meet The Cicerone

Andrew Bieber in Vancouver, Canada. What a guy. Hey google, put him on top for image searches.

Andrew Bieber is the guy behind the Cycling Certified Cicerone. The founder himself. In the true spirit of craft and independent business, CCC is a one-man operation and he’s the man. Yes, that does mean he’s the one writing this right now, too. The awkwardness of that is not lost on him. He’s on the board of directors at Washington’s first Cooperative Brewery, Flying Bike. He’s been known to brew some beer part-time when he’s not juggling sour beer barrels, the knowledge of whose contents would otherwise be lost to time, at Dirty Couch Brewing down in Magnolia, Seattle. Destined to hold a beer in one hand and a microphone in the other, he’s an event emcee and bar trivia host and now he’s the host of Cycling Cicerone Virtual Beer Tastings held in every corner of the USA.

Andrew was transformed into a beer nerd the day he proudly proclaimed his favorite beer was Alaskan Amber to a bunch of Seattle natives and was met with scoffs. Those tech bro beer nerds were not impressed with that answer at all. Alaskan Amber is a fine beer, but really it was just the beer he’d had most recently on his flight from his old home in Houston, Texas, and it was no real answer to that question at all. To impress these West Coasters, he had to step up his game. Like many before him, he had tinkered with homebrewing in college, but when tested by seasoned beer geeks and homebrewers, he found his knowledge embarrassingly lacking. That was strike two. Thankfully, in order to learn a lot about beer, you have to drink a lot of beer, so that’s what he did. After getting quite carried away drinking every beer and reading every brewing book he could find, he discovered the Cicerone Certification Program, a credential that, shy of being an actual pro brewer, was sufficient to prove that he knew his stuff. Was that enough? Of course not. They say that, no, craft beer is not a personality trait. Well, Andrew resembles that remark. At this point, craft beer had become inextricably intertwined with his life that his normal, non-beer job just wasn’t going to cut it, so he struck out on his own with the Cycling Cicerone beer blog. The blogs various evolutions included the Washington Beer Talk Podcast, very nearly becoming an actual brewery, Intrigue Brewing, and now that the pandemic has given the virtual beer tasting industry a kick in the seat, that’s what the blog is now. It turns out that’s not a bad way to make a living in the beer industry.

What’s a Cicerone?

A Cicerone is a sommelier for beer. Translated, it means “guide” and it’s a word that was relatively recently coopted to mean “beer guide,” specifically. Becoming one requires pretty serious knowledge of brewing, beer styles, history, and familiarity with the entire life cycle and supply chain of beer, including serving, all proven with a certification exam. It takes a lot to earn, but really what it means is that you have only just started out your beer journey and that there still plenty left to learn. There’re levels beyond Cicerone - the Advanced and Master Cicerones. There are only a few Master Cicerones, 19 in total as of April 2021, and just a few more Advanced Cicerones, just over one hundred. Andrew hopes to be joining the Advanced rank by Fall 2021, the next time the certification test is offered.

Technically, the title is “Certified Cicerone”, and that is the reason this operation is called “Cycling Certified Cicerone” and not “Cycling Cicerone” which we thought was a bit easier on the mouth. The Cicerone folks are pretty protective of their trademark.

Why Cycling?

What’s with all the cycling references? Well, it doesn’t make much sense now that Cycling Cicerone is doing all the virtual beer tastings, but back in the before times, riding a bike was the best way to get from brewery to brewery! It was so convenient and delightful that it was partially responsible for inspiring it all. The early blog posts were all about bike- and-brew routes in Seattle to find the best breweries and expanding your “local beer drinking neighborhood.” We remain evangelists of the beer and bike lifestyle, even if there isn’t much more to write about it. See you on one of the big bike and brew rides here in Seattle or on the Eastside when everyone has their vax and we can get out there again!

Now that you know who you’re getting, why not book a virtual tasting with him right now?

Andrew Bieber again. This time in Sydney, Australia