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Jason Johnson has been homebrewing since 2000 and a ranked judge with the BJCP since 2005. He currently holds the rank of National Judge. Jason was the Co-founder and Co-Host of Brewnology: The Podcast where they explored all avenues of Beer Judging for their listeners. Although the show had a good 2 year run, they ran out of judging content at 50 shows and had to call it quits. Past episodes of Brewnology can still be found on YouTube. Jason is also the author of an e-book titled Roasted: A Homebrewer's Guide to Homeroasting Grain.
Although currently an independent homebrewer no longer active in a local club, Jason was a member of the Manty Malter's homebrew club in, Wisconsin. Jason has held several officer positions within the club including president as well as lead the club's judging education program. He also has a set of free BJCP Prep classes on YouTube to help judges who may not have a nearby club to supplement their self-study. He also helps these people by answering questions via messages. So far the course has been fairly popular and helped some judges in other countries study for their exams.
As a brewer, Jason mostly likes to brew traditional classic styles. He brews a lot of American ales (America Pale Ales, American IPA, and American Pre-Prohibition Lager). Other styles he likes to brew are Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Wit, Saison, Dubbel, and Cream Ale to name a few. As far as craft beer goes, he enjoys tasting and Judging the full gambit of the beer spectrum.
This beer is going to be judged in the fruit beer category because it’s and example a classic style (21A) with fruit added. This beer would not be considered specialty IPA (21B) because that category is reserved for variations of the IPA style (Session, Black IPA, Red IPA, etc.).
The... Read More
Spruce Tip IPA by Goodwood Brewing Co. was judged as a 30A, Spice/Herb/Vegetable beer with IPA as the base style.
Off the aroma I get juicy hops, a lot of grapefruit and pine as I would expect in an American IPA. I get the spruce for sure and it's not overdone. The malt aroma is cracker-... Read More
Brett Noir by Area Two Experimental Brewing was judged as category 28A in the 2015 BJCP guidelines, Brett Beer. This is the catch-all category for beers fermented with Brettanomyces bruxellensis. It can be any style of beer, which in this case, would be fruit beer with what I assume is just a... Read More
This beer pours a mildly hazy gold with a full off-white head that lasts for just about the whole pint. The aroma is solidly in the hoppy camp -- as an IPA should be. The aromas are fairly traditional, with a lot of bright pine and grapefruity citrus, but in the background there are other... Read More
The beer pours a nice, clear, dark copper-red hue, and has a khaki-colored, long-lasting head. The aroma is great. There is some stone fruit, mostly cherry for me, and you can pick up some soft caramel malt. I know the guidelines say the beer shouldn't be acidic or vinegar-like in the nose, but... Read More
This beer is billed as a Red X IPA. Therefore I’m going to evaluate this against the Red IPA category in the BJCP guidelines category 21b. Red X is typically a base malt that is known do give a beer deep red hues and a nice toasty flavor.
The beer pours a beautiful deep red color with... Read More
