BJCP Main

BJCP Bulletin

The Official Newsletter of the

Beer Judge Certification Program

March 2026
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From the President's Desk

Dear Judges,


The past quarter found me traveling abroad after taking December off after a busy year of judging. I traveled to Rome for sightseeing and hit a brewery and a couple great beer bars before traveling by train to Sicily to proctor both a beer and a mead exam administered by EMEA Representative, Marek Kaminski, in Catania.  I was honored to proctor with EMEA Assistant Representative, Ariel Caballero, and got to meet homebrewer/judges and examinees from both Italy and Bulgaria.  What a treat!

I’ve recently been in South America and introduced a relocated American judge to some of the Ecuadorean judges so he can judge there. To me, all this hammers in the thought that the BJCP truly is an international organization. 

I hope you all have a great upcoming judging season and I hope to run into many of you at an upcoming competition. 

Sandy
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Looking to Rank Up?
Check the Exam Calendar

 

Looking to Medal Up?
Check the Competition Calendar

 
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Judge Spotlight: Max Finnance

Judge Spotlight: Max Finnance

In this issue we interviewed BJCP Judge, and Regional Rep Max Finnance…   Provide a brief introduction about yourself, feel free to add anything you’d like to share. I’m currently serving as the Northeast Region Rep, and have been an active BJCP judge for about ten years now. I was a submarine electrician in the Navy after high school, and …

Read more.
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 BJCP NEWS…

 

HomebrewCon 2026 First Rounds Loom!

With NINE First Round judging sites around the US, there's sure to be a chance for judges to jump into the early action. Receiving dates are still open for six regional sites (get your beers sorted and shipped!) while two sites will be judging very soon… San Diego kicked off the calendar last weekend, with Indianapolis at the end of March, with seven more locations judging in April!

Get all the details on at the AHA website.

 

Expanded Exams to be Offered at NHC!

We encourage members to complete the entire BJCP program and earn their Mead and Cider endorsements. These aren’t always easily accessible to members but we will have extra seats available to those wanting to add those endorsements to their rankings.

We are offering Beer, Mead, Cider AND the written exam!

These exams are only $15 for members who have passed the online exam!
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Rank Advancements March-May 2023

Rank Advancements

BJCP would like to thank and recognize all judges who participated in judging sanctioned competitions in 2025!

Congrats to these judges who achieved Master since the last newsletter (Sept 2025):

Jennifer Blair, Mableton, GA
Libin Shen, Hangzhou, ZHEJIANG

and these Judges promoted beyond Grand Master…

Paul Dey, GMI
Francesco Antonelli, GMI
David Gilks, GMI
Thomaz Pupo, GMII
Scott Joines, GMII
Mike Winnie, GMII
Tom Hayosh, GMII
Max Finnance, GMII
Alex Spencer, GMII
Jeff Muse, GMIII

As a reminder, with the launch of Bravo , you can now find Judge Status Reports at the Judges tab of your BJCP account, along with a list of Cider and/or Mead Judges, and potential Proctors for your next exam!

2025 Stat Report: Top 100 Judges by Points

Kudos to these judges who judge A LOT last year and made our top 100 report!

Read more.
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BJCP Certification Featured in BierIG Magazine

Bernhard Wurmitzer wrote to us back in October to ask permission to use the BJCP logo in association with this article that ran in member magazine of the BierIG, the Austrian beer consumers association, highlighting an article about BJCP and the BJCP exams.

Download a PDF of the article

 

Updates from BJCP Directorates
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BJCP Exam Directorate Update – February 2026

The Exam Directorate continues to evolve to better serve our members and improve exam turnaround times. Here are the key updates regarding our team, systems, and grading initiatives. Personnel Changes Departures: Michael Bury is stepping down as an Exam Director. We thank Mike for his years of dedicated service. Leadership: The current Exam Director team consists of Greg Toothaker (Managing), …

Read more.

Exam Graders Wanted!

Getting started with the Online Training Program

https://training.bjcp.org/

For sometime, there has been a persistent problem plaguing the BJCP – exam turnaround. To be completely candid, it is taking way too long to get exams graded and get the scores out to our examinees. A big part of that is that we don't have enough graders to handle the number of exams that we have. Check out the training portal to learn how to get started.
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BJCP IT Continues to Improve Bravo

After a successful roll out of Bravo on September 8th - BJCP IT department has been busier than ever with making some major updates. Most of these are behind the scenes - some visible to Exam Admins, some visible to Competition Organizers but most visible only to various directorates within BJCP. Here is a brief summary:  This period focused on strengthening …

Read more.
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BJCP Competition Directorate - 2025 Summary

The BJCP competition calendar reports that there were 553 competitions held worldwide in 2025 versus 551 in 2024. There were 262 competitions held in the US in 2025 down from 287 competitions in 2024. With the numbers nearly unchanged, last year was still a busy year for the Competition Directorate. …

Read more.
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News from BJCP Regional Reps

Stay informed and find out what's happening in your region!

Regional Rep Updates for Spring 2026

A LOT of updates this time around. Read more about what's going on in your region…
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DISPLAY YOUR BJCP STATUS!

Name Badges

As a service to members, the BJCP will pay for a name badge to be worn at competitions and other BJCP events. We continue to process badge orders on a monthly basis to cut down the lead times on production and shipping!

Place your order directly from your BJCP account!
45th Annual HomebrewCon – June 22-24, 2023

Lapel Pins - International Shipping Update

Place your order directly from your BJCP account!

As a service to members, the BJCP will pay for Judge Rank Pins and Mead/Cider certification lapel pins to be worn at competitions and other BJCP events. Members are eligible to order pins for their current judge rank under the following circumstances:

- After passing an exam for the first time and becoming a new BJCP member.
- After a promotion in rank or earning of an additional endorsement (e.g. mead or cider).

Pins for previous ranks will not be provided. Members who have lost or damaged their lapel pin can contact [email protected] to discuss a replacement.

As of 12/15/2025, lapel pin shipments have been resumed to the following countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand. If you live within one of these countries and have not requested your complimentary lapel pin, you may submit a lapel pin request at https://www.bjcp.org/bjcp-pins/.

Please note that it might take up to a month for your pins to arrive. If you have not received your lapel pin within three months of submitting the order form, contact [email protected].
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In Memoriam

Although we have always been able to mark our database records appropriately, we want to be sure to memorialize our departed judges appropriately.

If you know of a BJCP judge who is now deceased, but not on this list, please contact us with the information.
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STAY CONNECTED WITH BJCP

AND YOUR FELLOW JUDGES 
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