For the seventh straight year, October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com, presented by the restaurants of Potawatomi. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, delectable features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food, as well as the winners of our "Best of Dining 2013."

While everyone in the culinary world has been hipped to the importance and skill of a good wine sommelier – the Milwaukee Film Festival even screened a feature-length documentary on the subject – the sudsy equivalent, called a cicerone, still lives in the somm’s shadow.

According to Cicerone.org, the official website of the Cicerone Certification Program, "Cicerone is an English word referring to ‘one who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest.’ A Certified or Master Cicerone possesses the knowledge and skills to guide those interested in beer culture, including its historic and artistic aspects. These titles now designate a person with demonstrated expertise in beer who can guide consumers to enjoyable and high-quality experiences with great beer."

In Milwaukee, naturally, interest in the program is growing and recently Christian Damiano, beverage operations manager at Potawatomi Bingo Casino, brought trainers in to offer his staffers the opportunity to get certified.

"I saw a need," Damiano says. "Looking at the types of beer and the volume we serve at the casino I felt that we should have some experts on staff to create a great guest experience. So much has changed in the beer industry during the last 5-10 years, and we’re especially noticing that the craft beer business is booming. In my opinion, education is the basis for everything – it creates a comfort level for team members that helps take the intimidation factor out of beer."

Damiano says he has hosted monthly staff trainings to educate bartenders and servers on the various spirits served at the casino, but the idea for the cicerone training grew out of a discussion he had with Ricky Wolfe, of Boston Beer Company – which makes Samuel Adams – one of the trainers at the September session.

"Ricky proposed that we work with our team to have our property become Perfect Pour Certified through Samuel Adams," recalls Damiano. "We had more than 40 team members go through the Samuel Adams Perfect Pour Certification training in June and that really stirred some excitement amongst our team about our beer program at the casino.

"We are the largest property in the nation to become Perfect Pour Certified, so when Ricky mentioned that Samuel Adams had a Certified Cicerone instructor, I jumped at the opportunity to bring him in to educate my team at an even higher level."

Damiano adds that Potawatomi is the largest retail/restaurant establishment in the country to do Cicerone beer server training.

Another training has been booked for January. That’s good for prospective candidates, who have their work cut out for them. Study guides produced to help wannabe cicerones prepare for the training and final exam run dozens of pages of details on the art and science of brewing beer, the particular traits of all kinds of brews, information on proper serving techniques and more.

The training sessions also included hands-on work like beer tastings and proper pouring techniques.

"I assumed this all would be fairly easy but I was greatly surprised by the large amount of information we received," says Bar 360 bartender Brad Soldon. "There was a lot of information and, with some of the more complex terms that would be new to almost anyone, it can be daunting. Once I began to go over the study guide for a second time it became easier. It also helps if you can relate the information to actual beers that you have tried.

"I thought studying basic and traditional beers was fascinating by itself and there is such tremendous variety and innovation right now in the craft and microbrew sectors of the beer world. Until I saw all of the variation, I really did not comprehend how little I knew. Beer is becoming comparable to wine in the depth and nuance that people are using."

Soldon passed the exam, as did the others who took it this time, says Damiano, who adds that 17 candidates did the training.

"There was a lot of information to study, but most of these team members work day-in and day-out with the product," he says. "As soon as team members started studying and went through the class you could see the wheels turning, as they were having an ‘aha’ moment."

Damiano expects more staff, including managers and supervisors, too, to have that same aha moment come January when he believes about 30 will participate. That’s nearly double the number taking part last month.

"I chose to take the Cicerone Beer Server training class because I felt it was an opportunity to grow professionally and because I, like many Wisconsinites, enjoy good beer," says Soldon.

"Any information you have that helps a customer is going to be useful. The more knowledgeable you are, the more the customer trusts you and is willing to try something they may not have tried before. Many guests will continue to stick with their trusted beer of choice, but our training will especially benefit those guests that would like to be a little more adventurous."

So, how did Damiano – who has achieved the much-coveted and respected Certified Sommelier level – do on the exam?

"Due to scheduling conflicts I was unable to take part in the first class," he says, "but I fully intend to be an active participant in our next class. It would be nice to pair my Certified Sommelier title with the Cicerone Beer Server status. Ultimately it is my goal to become a Certified Cicerone."