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Dave has been brewing beer since 1983 and judging since 1985. He holds the BJCP rank of Grand Master II, and has served in the program as Exam Assistant Director, Exam Director, and Western Representative on the BJCP Board of Directors. Early in his brewing, while at the University of California pursuing a degree in Forestry, he met a young woman who worked in a world-class yeast lab (the Professor of the lab recently won a Nobel Prize), who helped him build a diverse yeast bank. He married her.
In addition to brewing beers regularly and evaluating beers wherever he goes, Dave likes to cook and dabbles in charcuterie and motorcycle racing. In his day job, he works as a wildland fire scientist for the State of California.
Stone Buenavida Hard Seltzer - Mango by Stone Brewing Co. is being judged as a fruited seltzer with mango flavoring against the 2022 Beer Connoisseur Seltzer Guidelines for fruit seltzers.
The seltzer is presented to me at 42 degrees Fahrenheit in a kölsch stange, a narrow tube-shaped... Read More
Apple Pie-Secco by Nine Pin Ciderworks is being judged as a specialty cider, style C2B, per the 2015 BJCP cider guidelines. It contains cinnamon, vanilla and sugar, in addition to its core apple base. It is offered as being both dry on the sweetness scale, and sparking on the carbonation scale... Read More
This beer was judged as BJCP category 21.A (American IPA) and served at 45 degrees F.
The beer comes to me in a nonic imperial pint after a robust pour: the beer is medium gold in color (~5 SRM) with a distinct haze. The foam is a thick off-white of mixed bubbles exhibiting excellent... Read More
Breckenridge Biere de Garde by Breckenridge Brewery is being judged as BJCP category 24C, Biere de Garde.
It comes served in a narrow-tapered glass, and the color is a deep orange/polished copper and both clarity and foam are fantastic. The beer is evidently highly conditioned as the ... Read More
Lightpoint by New Holland Brewing Co. is billed as a "Functional White Ale" and was judged against BJCP category 24A, Witbier, a fantastic style of Belgian wheat beer typically exhibiting wheat character, aromatic perfuminess and spicing from coriander and dried orange peel -- often both bitter... Read More
Samuel Adams Just The Haze by The Boston Beer Co. was judged as style 34C Experimental Beer. Maybe in the next version of the guidelines we will see non-alcoholic beers get their "close-up.".Still, knowing the target base beer as a flavor target makes the evaluation at least somewhat tractable... Read More
