To help members learn more about “who’s running things’ at BJCP we aim to spotlight the Board Members of the organization.
In this issue we interviewed BJCP Managing Exam Director Greg Toothaker
Q: Provide a brief introduction about yourself, feel free to add anything you’d like to share.
My name is Greg Toothaker, and I’ve been a BJCP judge since 2009, and a homebrewer since 1996. I’m currently a Distinguished National judge and the Managing Exam Director for the BJCP Exam Directorate. I live in Erie, CO, with my wife and two daughters, but we are at the early stages of empty nesting. When I’m not obsessing over score sheets or mash efficiency, you can find me camping—whether it’s overlanding, in my travel trailer, or out of a kayak or canoe, it’s something I try to do as often as I can.
Q: What led to you becoming a Beer Judge with BJCP?
My journey into judging started, like many brewers’, with a humbling moment: a 56% mash efficiency on a beer. That number haunted me for a year and a half, driving me to learn more about the science behind brewing. I went from throwing in whatever ingredients I had lying around to obsessively researching the brewing process and buying high quality ingredients and equipment. This led me to a homebrew club, and the rest is history. Upon joining my first homebrew club, I quickly realized there was even more I didn’t know. It seemed that knowledge of most beer styles and flaws was beyond my “ken”. To fix this glaring shortcoming, I joined a BJCP study class in 2009 that prepared me for what was described as a very difficult exam. It was difficult, and I was honestly surprised when I “squeaked” in with a composite score that qualified me for a National rank. After realizing I was only ranked Recognized due to a lack of judging points, I got my butt in gear and started judging at every competition I could reach. This also allowed me to meet the BJCP community.
Q: What is one thing you enjoy about being a BJCP judge?
Helping homebrewers improve what they love doing is a huge part of it for me. I’ve been fortunate enough to receive feedback from a dozen or so homebrewers over the years that my scoresheets helped them identify something they couldn’t put their finger on regarding their beers. One of the most rewarding instances was with a local homebrew brewer who was going pro and starting a brewery. He was tweaking a recipe for an IPA, a style I don’t personally enjoy, and he told me that my feedback helped him with a final tweak that fixed an issue he couldn’t pinpoint. I also really enjoy putting on competitions with a great core team here in Colorado. It’s a lot of work, but the camaraderie is worth it. One of my favorite, slightly mean, things to do is ask judges who tend to win a lot of medals if they would like to judge the Best of Show table, meaning they don’t have an entry that medaled in the competition.
Q: What’s your favorite category or style to judge?
This is a difficult question because my favorite styles are always evolving. I do really enjoy the more subtle styles, as I feel the brewers who enter them are working toward mastery, and it’s fun to be a part of that effort. I also love judging historical and experimental categories because they’re great opportunities to learn about past styles and experience what people are doing to push the boundaries. For example, I “discovered” a Grodziskie at a competition and, upon some quick research, found it was a high-quality example. I also once judged a cucumber blonde ale that I thought I would hate based on the description, but it was surprisingly refreshing and memorable.
Q: Can you share any fun memories from your time as a judge?
Two memories really stand out. The first is with the CO State Fair. We used to judge under a large tent with open sides, among multiple exhibits. We were next to farm animals some years, bears another year, and even a giant sand castle sculpture one year. That sand castle was especially nice when gusty winds blew sand into all of our samples. It was always 90+ degrees in the shade with strange smells wafting through. We all complained, but it was a lot of fun working with judges from across the state in challenging conditions, enjoying the camaraderie. We also got to watch other judges evaluating rabbits, sheep, and even knitting at the fair. The fair put us up in a ramshackle hotel where some amazing beers always came out when the judges congregated in the evening.
The second set of memories comes from organizing the 1st Round of the AHA competition in Denver with a group of close friends. We’ve been coordinating this competition for about a decade and have judged in dank basements, old firehouses, and production areas of local breweries. The year we were in the dank basement, the building landlord decided to re-laquer the stairs mid-morning. At first, judges close to the basement entry started to find it odd that they were suddenly picking up this strange new flaw in their samples. It only took a few minutes for us to realize that something else entirely was happening, causing us to evacuate 60-some judges, stewards, and staff. We didn’t think it was funny at the time, but airing out the entire brewery to get rid of the toxic vapors made for a memorable event.
Q: Any closing thoughts for your fellow judges?
As the current Managing Exam Director, I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to encourage all judges that are Nationally ranked or above to become involved in the exam grading program. In the Exam Directorate, volunteer graders are our most precious and scarce resource. Grading exams is an excellent way to become a better judge and improve your own test scores as well.
Grading a Tasting exam is an interesting process. We have highly ranked BJCP judges proctor the exam to provide us with a baseline on the samples served. From there, we need to weave together a sense of the samples and evaluate the examinee’s perceptions and descriptive capabilities in addition to several other metrics. Add to this the need to interpret handwriting that would make a penmanship teacher shake their heads, and you have a truly challenging endeavor. As a grader, you must take all of this and look for trends that can be corrected across each examinee’s scoresheets, which helps you see what truly works in a scoresheet to convey to entrants the qualities and shortcomings of their entry. Grading isn’t the easiest job, but it is fulfilling to know you are helping fellow judges and the program.