You’d more likely come across a stone bust of Sam Calagione than one bearing the visage of Plato at World of Beer’s recently launched eponymous school.
Well, you would if the school had a physical location, anyway.
To build the “Ultimate Beer Quiz,” World of Beer, the craft-savvy Florida-based restaurant chain that operates more than 60 locations across 19 states, tapped some of the biggest names in craft beer, asking them to help create a series of online quizzes aimed at educating beer consumers.
Aside from Dogfish Head (where Calagione presides as founder), breweries assisting the educational effort include Cigar City, Stone Brewing, Anchor Brewing, Goose Island, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Duvel Moortgat and Lagunitas, to name a few.
The test challenges users — who sign up for the online exam using a Facebook account — to answer questions about the brewing process, beer history and the subtle nuances of various beer styles. For taking the test, World of Beer said it will reward participants with the highest “craft beer IQ” with up to $500 in store credit.
Here’s a sample question from the 301-level quiz, the highest plateau of academia available to test takers, as presented by Calagione (the person, not the hypothetical stone bust):
“The Bavarians nearly screwed it up for all of us by trying to mandate what beer could be ingredient wise, and they did this with a law called the Reinheitsgebot. That law was born in what year?”
A) 1040
B) 1454
C) 1710
D) 1516
The test is free to take until November 9.