The Cicerone Certification Program™ today announced awarding of the first-ever Master Cicerone™  certification to Andrew Van Til, Account Manager at Elite Brands Michigan, a division of CKL Corporation. Van Til earned the certification through a series of exams culminating with two days of intense written and oral questioning about beer styles, draft systems, beer evaluation, brewing technology, and beer and food pairing.

Van Til becomes the first person to earn the Master Cicerone title—the third and top level of the Cicerone Certification Program. Founded in 2007, the program tests and certifies beer expertise similar to the wine world’s Master Sommelier program. The Master Cicerone exam included 8 hours of written questions, 2 hours of oral questions and 2 hours of beer tasting and evaluation. Candidates needed a score of 85% across all three areas to pass.

The Cicerone Certification Program is a service of the Craft Beer Institute, the Chicago-based beer and brewing education organization.  The program is directed by brewer, author and beer educator Ray Daniels. A variety of breweries, beer distributors and retailers sponsor the program.

To date, the Cicerone Certification Program has given more than 1000 exams across the three levels of the program. Approximately 800 individuals have earned the first level title of Certified Beer Server and about 75 individuals have achieved the title of Certified Cicerone™. Van Til was one of seven beer industry professionals who took the Master Cicerone exam and the only one who passed.

A Perfect Pint’s Michael Agnew was one of the first 17 individuals to achieve the Certified Cicerone™ level.