Contact

Reaching the right resource makes a genuine difference when a question is time-sensitive — whether it's a registration deadline for the Certified Cicerone® Exam, a question about retake policy, or something more specific about exam costs. This page explains how this office handles inquiries, what to expect in terms of response timelines, and which channels are best suited to different kinds of questions.

Response expectations

Most written inquiries receive a response within 2 business days. Questions that arrive on Friday afternoon or over a weekend are addressed on the following Monday or Tuesday, in the order received.

A few factors affect timeline:

1. Specificity of the question. A message that names the exact certification level — say, Advanced Cicerone® versus Certified Beer Server — and describes the situation in a sentence or two typically gets a faster, more useful reply than an open-ended message.
2. Type of inquiry. General reference questions about beer styles, off-flavors, or draught systems are answered from the editorial team. Questions about official Cicerone® Certification(R) Program® policies — registration windows, fee schedules, exam accommodations — are referred to the Cicerone® Certification(R) Program® directly at cicerone.org, since that organization holds the authoritative records.
3. Volume periods. The months just before major exam windows — typically spring and fall — tend to generate higher inquiry volume. Allowing 3 to 4 business days during those periods is reasonable.

The distinction worth keeping in mind: this reference site covers the subject of Cicerone® certification in depth, but it is not the Cicerone® Certification(R) Program® itself. Think of it the way one might think of a well-researched encyclopedia entry versus the government agency the entry describes. For anything that requires an official answer — a credential verification, a score dispute, an accommodation request — the Cicerone® Certification(R) Program® at cicerone.org is the correct destination.

Additional contact options

For questions that don't require a written exchange, a few other paths exist.

The FAQ page covers the 30 or so questions that arrive most consistently, organized by topic. Before drafting a message, it's worth scanning that page — the answer is often already there, written out with more context than a quick email reply would include.

The how to get help page maps out the full landscape of support options, distinguishing between study support, career questions, and program administration. That page is particularly useful for brewery staff and restaurant professionals who need guidance on which certification path fits their role, rather than a single factual answer.

For editorial feedback — a factual correction, a broken link, a content suggestion — the contact form is the right channel. Corrections are taken seriously. Reference content that drifts from accuracy is worse than no content at all, so flagged errors are reviewed and addressed promptly.

How to reach this office

The primary contact method is the inquiry form on this page. Messages submitted through the form are routed directly to the editorial team and are not filtered through an automated triage system that loses things in a "promotions" folder somewhere.

When submitting a message, including the following details produces the best result:

• The specific certification level in question (Certified Beer Server, Certified Cicerone®, Advanced Cicerone®, or Master Cicerone®)

One thing the form is not designed for: urgent deadline matters with same-day resolution requirements. For anything time-critical tied to a registration window or an imminent exam date, contacting the Cicerone® Certification(R) Program® directly is the faster path.

Service area covered

This reference authority operates at national scope within the United States. The content covers the full Cicerone® certification structure as it applies to US-based candidates, employers, and industry professionals — from the entry-level Certified Beer Server through the 4-level framework that culminates in the Master Cicerone® designation.

That said, the Cicerone® Certification(R) Program® itself operates internationally, with candidates in more than 70 countries having pursued certification as of the program's documented global reach. Editorial inquiries from outside the US are welcome; responses will note where US-specific context applies and where international candidates should confirm details directly with the program.

Subject coverage spans the full content map of the site: brewing ingredients and process, beer tasting and evaluation, beer and food pairing, study planning, career pathways, and the history of the program itself. Questions touching any of those areas are within scope.

What falls outside scope: legal advice, medical questions tangentially related to alcohol, and anything requiring access to proprietary Cicerone® Certification(R) Program® data such as pass rates by cohort or candidate-specific records. Those inquiries belong with the program's own administrative office.