West
Brian Cooper
A YEAR WITHOUT JUDGING BEER
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, BJCP-related activity has continued at a snail’s pace in the West region and judging opportunities are still few and far between. Other than the occasional virtually judged, outdoor, and/or distanced competition — often with strict entry caps — many of our judges have not been out there doing their usual thing for a long while now.
For me, although I do regular remote judging for a podcast, this time has felt like a long, bizarre dry spell for judging. I did in-person judging just prior to the shutdowns on March 12th, 2020, doing prelims for NHC, which we discovered upon arrival had just been canceled. Then I finally judged in another sanctioned competition a year and a day later, on March 13th, 2021. We are beginning to see positive signs, but we remain very cautious with a focus on safety, and we encourage members to do the same.
Some socially distanced exams were able to be held during this time and we’ve been happy to welcome a number of new judges. Others have earned their advancement by taking the Judging Exam or the Written Proficiency Exam. Congratulations to all who have achieved successes like these during this time and we look forward to judging with you soon.
There were nearly a pair of “deadbeat” competitions in our region, after the (non-BJCP affiliated) organizers refused to finish out the competitions they had registered. The data had to be reconstructed by one of our Assistant Reps and a BJCP judge who had taken part. Thank you to the Competition Directorate for their guidance, as well as to these judges for their patience in awaiting their points. Most competition organizers already do so, but as a reminder, please close out your competitions in a timely manner. Judges who support your event (whether during a pandemic or not) deserve the credit and are sometimes waiting on these points to rank up.
In closing, we want to convey our gratitude to all of the judges in our region and worldwide, for hanging in there as we get through this pandemic. For over a year now, we’ve faced a disease with the potential for temporary to long-term loss of taste and smell, or worse. This has been devastating to a number of our members and it remains quite daunting to the rest of us. But, there seems to finally be some light at the end of the tunnel and we will see it through, together.
Northeast
Andrew Luberto
Greeting Northeast Members! As glimmers of normalcy become more frequent occurrences, The Northeast Team is looking forward to the months that lie ahead for our region (and the world). Once again, our deepest sympathies and condolences to anyone who has suffered a loss during this time. Far too many have suffered the unspeakable hardships of this pandemic.
As I stated at the start of my term, the Northeast Team and I are committed to increasing the number of National+ ranked judges as well as mead and cider certifications. With that, a big congratulations to our newest Northeast National Judges:
Jon Pisiewski, Long Island City, NY
Katie Sloan, Long Island City, NY
Also, congratulations to Ben Jankowski, Oyster Bay, NY on the rare accomplishment of advancing to Grandmaster II.
In August, I held a mead exam and am happy to congratulate our area’s newest mead judges:
Clifford Frank, Shirley, NY
Vincent Garcia, Plainview, NY
Justin Hansen, Coram, NY
Gary Rosen, Nesconset, NY
Bill Weiss, Setauket, NY
The Northeast Team continues to schedule and hold various exams throughout the region. Currently, we have two written exams scheduled for August, 7th on Long Island and October 24th in Poughkeepsie, NY. Please email me if you’re interested in taking either. My team is also willing to speak to anyone interested in taking any exam to discuss format, preparation, and exam strategy. If you’d like any of us to speak virtually at a club meeting or a one to one conversation, again, just let us know. If you have an exam scheduled and need a proctor, please also reach out. The assistant reps and I are happy to sit in for any of the 3 types of tasting exams.
On February, 24th we hosted National Homebrew Competition director John Moorhead from the Brewer’s Association to speak to our region about NHC judging this year. John went through the change in judging format (similar to GABF) and safety protocols being utilized during the week long judging session. It was obvious a lot of planning and preparation is going into the competition and, if able, I highly encourage you to participate. If you’re a National + ranked judge and are interested in judging, please email John Moorhead.
At the last BJCP Board meeting, I made a motion to meet more frequently than the previous once a year norm. Happily this was agreed upon and supported by the board. I’m looking forward to the extra time to get more accomplished. In the meantime, I am continuing to hold meetings with the other board members to discuss a range of issues. Additionally, I plan on following up with each of the directorates again to continue our productive conversations from last year.
Lastly, as many of our regional competitions have moved to virtual judging, there’s been a number of opportunities to remain active in the BJCP. Having participated in 6 competitions based in NY, NJ, and PA in the last three months, I highly encourage everyone to take part in virtual judging when available. Limitations aside, these judging sessions have been a positive experience for most who I’ve spoken with. If you plan on holding a virtual competition and would like to speak to other organizers who’ve successfully staged one, please contact me and I will put you in touch with them. Organizers in our area have also had success staging smaller socially distant competitions with limited judges. Sometimes spreading out judging over the course of a few days. Having participated in a few of these as well, it has been a pleasant experience with a laid back judging atmosphere.
Stay safe and healthy out there and, as always, please feel free to reach out to me and the rest of the Northeast Team with your questions or concerns. Cheers!
Latin America
Diego Setti
As every region, Latam was truly affected by COVID pandemic, so most competitions and exams were cancelled or suspended until further notice.
Nevertheless by the end of the year some activities took place, Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Santiago (Chile) had both two exams meeting protocols and precautions. Sadly in Argentina only people who live in the nearby areas of the exam location could attend, due to closed borders and government requirements.
We expect to increase the number of activities as risk decreases.
I also gave three open talks in Spanish:
– Introduction to BJCP (what is the BJCP, how to become a beer judge, etc)
– Mastering Beer Scoresheets
– Introduction to Written Exam
They are available in Youtube as free resources.
Finally I’m leading the development of a free cloud-based software to help in the administration of Tasting exams, I hope we have news about it soon.
Mountain/Northwest
Dennis Mitchell
We welcomed John Haven from Colorado Springs, CO as an assistant rep for our region. John joined current assistant reps Tracy Hensley in Oregon and Bob Hall in Montana. Since I live in Arizona, we have a wide distribution across our region in order to help members and to travel to judge.
2020 Region Members Meeting
Due to the cancellation of the National Homebrew Conference in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, the BJCP Board held a virtual members meeting. Since that meeting ended up being held very early for the west coast to accommodate international members, we held a separate regional meeting with our members and had about 20 judges join us. We chatted mainly about pandemic-related issues, virtual judging, and COVID-safe exams. There was interest in additional regional-level member meetings, so we are working on planning at least one for 2021.
Rank Advancements
Congratulations to the following judges in our region who advanced to National or Master ranks in 2020 or early 2021:
Mike Johnson, Salt Lake City, UT – Master
Peter Bergler, Duvall, WA – National
Anthony Bruno, Colorado Spring, CO – National
Rep Activity
The four of us (Tracy, Bob, John and myself) have stayed in touch regularly, but do not have much to report in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Colorado seems to be the most active judging state in our region during the pandemic, and John has been the busiest of our reps. He reported judging in several competitions, mostly virtually (Biere de Rock, Sweethearts Revenge, and Reggale and Dredhop), and has been an active exam grader in 2020.
Tracy is pushing back a judging exam until late 2021 or 2022 due to lack of interest from proctors during the pandemic.
Bob has noted local interest in another exam in Montana and is working to schedule one. In 2020, Bob started brewing at the new Ronan Co-op Brewery in Ronan, MT. He reports early success and popularity of their Altbier.
I have judged in a couple of local virtual competitions in 2020 and am working with a local judge to determine if we can plan a Phoenix-area judging class and tasting exam later in 2021. I traveled over to San Diego in Summer 2020 to take a socially-distant Cider exam (which was extremely well run by former BJCP Rep Travis Hammond). If you are a beer judge and haven’t expanded into mead or cider judging, I highly recommend looking into it as a way to improve your palate and judging vocabulary.
Coronavirus
I am impressed with the amount of judge ingenuity during the pandemic. Many worked to try to keep judges active with virtual competitions or events. For example, Nelson Crowle in CO ran several different types of virtual judging to experiment with the pros and cons of each. He created a write-up of the experience. The Mazer Cup International Mead Competition went on in CO in 2020 with a socially-distant judging format. My own club, the Arizona Society of Homebrewers, successfully ran two virtual competitions and are working on a write-up of that experience as well. Other examples can be found in prior BJCP newsletters.
As the COVID-19 vaccine continues to rollout in 2021, I hope that the in-person homebrew and judging events we love start to make a comeback. COVID-19 seems likely to persist as an endemic, so we will have to learn how to adapt and keep judging as we learn more about living with the virus. We all look forward to better times ahead and seeing more of you at a judging table!
South
Sal Mortillaro II
Greetings fellow BJCP Judges,
It is an honor to serve as the Southern Representative and represent the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. I will have very large shoes to fill in the wake of Phil Farrell’s departure in order to dedicate more times to his new brewery Still Fire Brewing in Suwanee, GA.
A little bit about myself… I am from Mandeville, Louisiana and I have been part of the BJCP since November 2012. I am very active as an exam Administrator, Proctor, and Grader and served as a Assistant Southern Representative since 2016 before being appointed as Southern Representative.
The Southern Region is unique in that a few of our states have the lowest number of judges per state and two of our states only recently legalizing homebrewing within the last 7 years (the last two in the nation). However, it has been incredible to watch the BJCP grow in the Southern Region in the last ~10 years I have been part of the BJCP; especially Louisiana which has gone from 11 to 35 judges and Mississippi who has gone from 4 to 12 judges. With that being said, I believe there is still room for growth for the BJCP in the Southern Region. If you’re a judge, try to get a new person involved in judging! Talk to them about the BJCP, invite them to a judging session, or anything else to raise interest.
If I can assist anyone (even outside of the Southern Region) in Administering, Proctoring, or answering questions about setting up an exam, please reach out to me. It is one of my personal goals as your Southern Representative to have multiple and easily accessible exam options in our Region.
I thank you all for your continued time and professionalism to such a great organization and I look forward to meeting as many of y’all in person that I can.
Cheers!
Mid-Atlantic
Gordon Strong
No updates at this time
Europe, Middle East, Africa
Omer Basha
No Updates at this time
Midwest
Sandy Cockerham
No updates at this time
Asia-Pacific
Christopher Wong
No updates at this time
North
Brian Joas
No updates at this time