Start 14-Day Trial Subscription

*No credit card required

Judges

Meet The Beer Connoisseur® magazine's panel of judges for its Official Review, and read the beer and cider reviews each judge has evaluated during his or her tenure.

 

Jim Sawitzke's picture
Beer Judge

​Jim has been a homebrewer for 24 years and counting since attending graduate school at the University of Oregon during the craft beer explosion. He has won numerous awards for his beer, especially his hefeweizen. He started judging in 2008 and...

Read More
John C. Tull's picture
Beer Judge

John Tull began making beer for himself and his friends in 1994 just prior to moving to Utah to begin graduate school. While working on his Ph.D. in Reno, Nevada, John became interested in judging beer, mead and cider through his friends and...

Read More
Joseph Formanek's picture
Beer Judge

​Joe Formanek started homebrewing in 1987 as an undergraduate in Microbiology at the University of Minnesota. He was bitten by the brewing bug after taking a tour of Summit Brewing Company within a year after they had opened in St. Paul in 1987,...

Read More
Josh Weikert's picture
Beer Judge

​Josh Weikert took up homebrewing in 2007 as a means of staying sane during graduate school, and even though school is over, the brewing continues! He is a founding member and past president of the Stoney Creek Homebrewers, has medaled in every...

Read More
Kathy Yan Li's picture

Kathy Yan Li is a National rank BJCP beer with mead and cider endorsements and has judged over 40 competitions in six provinces and seven U.S. states so far. She really enjoys the brewing and homebrewing communities and...

Read More
Lyn Howard's picture
Beer, Cider and Mead Judge

In 1992 while vacationing in Maine, Lyn found a pamphlet about making beer and, not believing that it could be as easy as combining four ingredients, she promptly started homebrewing. Participation in the Hudson Valley Homebrewers and their...

Read More
Michael Bury's picture
Beer & Mead Judge

Mike Bury is an award winning homebrewer and meadmaker for over a decade, BJCP Grand Master III judge with mead certification, and former President of the Stoney Creek Homebrewers. As a chemist, he enjoys that complex chemistry that occurs in...

Read More
Michael Heniff's picture
Beer Judge

Mike brewed his first few homebrew batches in college in 1994 and began regularly brewing in 1997.  Since then, he has brewed over 150 batches of beer, mead, and cider.  He has won over 200 medals and numerous major awards in competitions across...

Read More
Michael McGuire's picture
Beer Judge

Mike started homebrewing in 1983 in Baton Rouge, LA.  He subsequently continued brewing when life took him to Grayslake, IL, Lancaster, PA, Vienna, VA, and Raleigh, NC.  He was a founding member of the Lancaster County Brewers homebrew club, and...

Read More
Michael Moore's picture
Beer Judge

"Big" Mike Moore

Mike Moore is a BJCP National Beer Judge with more than a quarter century of judging experience. Mike's writing on beer-related topics have been published in multiple publications nationwide, and currently is a columnist...

Read More
Mike Castagno's picture
Beer Judge

Mike was born and raised in the Philadelphia area before going to school at Furman University in Greenville, SC for Chemistry. There he discovered craft beer from all of the local and nearby Asheville breweries. After moving back up north to...

Read More
Nelson Crowle's picture
BJCP National Beer/Mead/Cider Judge

Nelson has been judging and rating beers (over 20,000) for 30 years and is always interested in trying beers he hasn’t had before. A homebrewer for 40 years, Nelson has brewed all 154 sub-styles from the BJCP 2021 guidelines, along with...

Read More
Owen Ogletree's picture
Beer Judge

Founder of the popular Classic City Brew Fest held in Athens, Georgia, Owen runs Brewtopia.info and writes for Southern Brew News. A National Judge as ranked by the BJCP, Owen has also served as a beer judge at the Great American Beer Festival...

Read More
Pat Mulloy's picture
Beer, Cider and Mead Judge

Pat is a National BJCP Judge with mead certification. Pat grew up in Midland Michigan. He has been drinking beer for half a century and from the start he pursued small local and regional brands and anything he hadn't seen before. He brewed his...

Read More
Pete Garofalo's picture
Beer Judge

A Grand Master IV beer judge, Pete has been appreciating good beers since the days when locating a tavern with two “alternative” taps was a major find. He has been a homebrewer since 1991 and an active member of the Beer Judge Certification...

Read More

Pages

Partner Sponsor - Official Review