Our 2022 Judges
Beer entered into the Canada Beer Cup were judged by top international judges, helping bring global attention to Canadian craft brewing excellence.
Stephen Beaumont
Head Judge
Canada
Stephen Beaumont is one of the world’s most authoritative voices on beer and the author or co-author of 15 books, including the brand new third edition of the international best-seller, The World Atlas of Beer. As well as writing for a wide and diverse array of publications, from The Globe and Mail to Whisky Advocate to Brewing Business, Stephen has presented lectures and tastings all around the globe and judged in many of the beer world’s most prestigious competitions, including the World Beer Awards, Copa Cervezas de América, and the Brussels Beer Challenge.
Pete Brown
United Kingdom
Pete Brown is a British author, journalist, broadcaster and consultant specialising in food and drink, especially the fun parts like beer, pubs, cider, bacon rolls and fish and chips. Across twelve books, his broad, fresh approach takes in social history, cultural commentary, travel writing, personal discovery and natural history, and his words are always delivered with the warmth and wit you’d expect from a great night down the pub. He writes for newspapers and magazines around the world and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme. He was named British Beer Writer of the Year in 2009, 2012 and 2016, has won three Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, been shortlisted twice for the Andre Simon Awards, and in 2020 was named an “Industry Legend” at the Imbibe Hospitality Awards.
Maurizio Maestrelli
Italy
Maurizio Maestrelli is a Milan-based journalist and author. His works are focused on beer, spirits and cocktails told from different perspectives: people, markets, travel. Among the publications he currently contributes to are Il Sole 24 Ore, the first daily financial newspaper in Italy; Good Beer Hunting; Bargiornale, the leading Italian magazine about bars and beverages; and the Greek Beer & Bar Magazine. He is also the author of Speakeasy. The most secret bars in the world, Birre. The proof that God loves us, and Anthologin. He travels extensively, researching, tasting, and judging competitions, and is the founder of “Milano Beer Week.”
Kate Bernot
USA
Kate Bernot is a beer and beverage reporter whose work regularly appears in Good Beer Hunting and Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine; her byline has also appeared in Imbibe, America’s Test Kitchen, Craft Spirits Magazine, and more. In 2021, she received three awards from the North American Guild of Beer Writers: third place in Best Business Writing; third place in Best Commentary; and second place in Best National/International Reporting. She is a BJCP-certified beer judge and a Certified Cider Professional. She lives in Missoula, Montana.
Andreas Fält
United Kingdom
Andreas Fält has been working in the beer industry for over 20 years, starting by importing beers to Sweden in 2000. Since 2006 he has been promoting beer across the globe from Leeds in northern England and was for years he was the Brewers Association’s American Craft Beer Ambassador in Europe. In this role, he promoted American craft beers and grew the European market for numerous Brewers Association members.
Today he is an export consultant/agent, helping setting the stage for breweries around the world on the international stage. He has also spoken at the Craft Brewers Conference in the USA, the Great American Beer Festival, Brussels Beer Challenge 2012 and Russian Brew World 2017, and judged at competitions like the World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, Great British Beer Festival, Mondial de la Bière, European Beer Star, and many others.
John Holl
USA
For nearly 20 years John Holl has been covering the beer industry as a reporter and editor. He is the editor of All About Beer. On-air he hosts the Drink Beer, Think Beer podcast, co-hosts Steal This Beer, and the BYO Nano Podcast. John reviews beers for Wine Enthusiast Magazine and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and NPR. He is the author of several books including the recently published The Craft Brewery Cookbook.
Jay R. Brooks
USA
Jay R. Brooks has been writing about beer for 30 years, and is currently a syndicated newspaper columnist for the Bay Area News Group with his bi-weekly column, “Brooks On Beer.” He contributes to many major beer periodicals and general circulation magazines, and has given numerous presentations for the California Craft Brewers Association and the Brewers Association, among other organizations. He has judged in beer competitions on five continents, including the Great American Beer Festival, the Great British Beer Festival, the World Beer Cup, The Brussels Beer Challenge and many others.
Marty Nachel
USA
Marty Nachel is the author of “Beer for Dummies” and “Homebrewing for Dummies,” a beer educator at the College of DuPage Business of Craft Beer Program, and a BJCP Certified International Beer Judge.
Maggie Cubbler
USA
Maggie Cubbler is a writer with a passion for beer. She began homebrewing in the late 2000s and continued that passion after she moved to England by becoming one of the first female Beer Sommeliers at the Beer Academy UK. During her time in the UK, she worked at Beer Hawk as their beer expert and wrote for magazines like Original Gravity. In 2017 she moved to Frankfurt, Germany, where she wrote a book about travel and the breweries of the Rhine-Main region.
Maggie has judged at Great British Beer Festival and several local SIBA competitions in the UK. She has presently returned to Denver to work on her Master’s degree in creative writing and catch up on the local beer scene.
Craig Pinhey
Canada
Craig Pinhey had his booze epiphany circa 1985 with his first pint of Ginger’s Best cask conditioned real ale at the original Ginger’s Tavern in Halifax and has been a beer lover ever since. After graduating with a Masters in Engineering, Craig moved to Hamilton, Ontario in 1987 to work, and immediately got heavily involved in local beer and homebrewing. He became a BJCP Judge, won some brewing awards, and started freelancing at Great Lakes Brewing News. He ran national homebrewing competitions for CABA (Canadian Amateur Brewers Association), edited their magazine, and became President.
On moving to New Brunswick in 1999 to work full time as a writer, Craig became a Sommelier in 2000, and started his Good Drink column for Brunswick News. He is still their drinks writer, 22 years later. Published in regional (Atlantic Business, East Coast Living, Progress, The Coast) and national magazines (Maclean’s, Wine Access, Mash, TAPS, Quench, RE:Porter), Craig makes his living writing, judging, consulting, and conducting wine, beer, spirits and food pairing events. He lives in Rothesay, New Brunswick with his wife and travels regularly in the region, and around the world, hunting for great food & drink, and stories. Craig is a Riesling fanatic and a lover of English Real Ale.
Ren Navarro
Canada
With nearly a decade of experience in the alcohol industry, a passion for encouraging personal and professional growth, and her trademark wit, Ren Navarro is here to educate, enlighten, and engage. Since launching Beer. Diversity. in 2018, Ren has become a known name at breweries, wineries, distilleries, and beyond. She has given talks on diversity and inclusion at several colleges and countless festivals, panels, radio shows, and podcasts throughout North America. In addition to being a diversity educator, she is a craft beer consultant for bars and restaurants in Ontario and an educator for countless businesses throughout the country.
Joe Wiebe
Canada
Joe Wiebe is the “Thirsty Writer,” the author of Craft Beer Revolution: The Insider’s Guide to B.C. Breweries, the definitive guidebook to British Columbia’s burgeoning craft beer industry. Joe writes regular columns for the Growler, Northwest Brewing News, Vancouver View, UrbanDiner.ca, and the BC Craft Beer News, as well as beer-soaked stories in British Columbia magazine, BCBusiness, WestWorld, Beer West, Taps, Publican, NUVO, Taste, Alive and Boulevard. Joe is a co-founder and co-producer of Victoria Beer Week and the BC Ale Trail project. He produced the Victoria Beer Map, and is the beer columnist for CBC Radio’s All Points West and BC Almanac programs. He acts as a beer judge for the Okanagan Fest of Ale and the BC Beer Awards.
Don Tse
Canada
Don Tse is a beer writer and consultant known globally as The Don of Beer. He has been active in craft beer for over 20 years and is a BJCP National ranked judge. He has sampled and written tasting notes on over 24,000 different beers. Don has also written for magazines and presented on beer in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine and Singapore.
Paddy Finnegan
Canada
Isabelle Netto
Canada
Lesli Schneider
Canada
John Tyler
Canada
Jesse Vallins
Canada
Josh Rubin
Canada
Josh Rubin is a journalist at the Toronto Star. He spent twelve years as the Star’s beer columnist, and has been a judge at the World Beer Awards since 2016.
Lauren Richard
Canada
Tara Luxmore
Canada
Tara Luxmore is a Certified Cicerone, Certified Beer Judge and Prud’homme Beer Sommelier.
Pat Thomson
Canada
Patrick Thomson has over ten years of beer related service experience and is dedicated to serving and presenting beer the right way. He is currently the Operations & Events Manager at Godspeed Brewery.
Max Morin
Canada
Max Morin is a Sales and Communications Coordinator at Godspeed Brewery, BJCP Judge, and Prud’homme Beer Sommelier based in Toronto.
Paul Dickey
Canada
Paul Dickey is a BJCP Grand Master beer judge and veteran brewer. After apprenticing with Michael Hancock at Dennison’s Brewing, he took on the role of head brewer at the Pepperwood Bistro in Burlington and then Black Oak Brewing in Toronto. More lately, he started contract brewing as Cheshire Valley Brewing and consulted on new products for a number of start-up breweries including Double Trouble, North American Craft and the Trailer Park Boys.
Bruce Halstead
Canada
Ady Floyd
Canada
Kevin Freer
Canada
Ian Evans
Canada
Matt Tweedy
Canada
Jason Tremblay
Canada
Jason Tremblay is an award-winning brewer. He’s currently looking forward to brewing in-person collabs, including another much-anticipated durian beer.
Mark Misener
Canada
Mark Misener is a Certified Cicerone from Prince Edward Island who has worked with & in beer bars and breweries for the last eight years. He is currently a supervisor at the Bellwoods Brewpub in Toronto.
Dane Glyn-Williams
Canada
Dane Glyn-Williams is an Advanced Cicerone, Certified BJCP Judge and Prud’homme Master Beer Sommelier based out of Toronto, Ontario. Dane has worked in the beer industry for the past six years and is currently part of the ownership team at Rouge River Brewing Company.
Paddy Treacy
Canada
Paddy Treacy is the owner of Northern Lines and has a passion for draught quality. He has built a career in field quality in Canada and the United States for over a decade.
Jan-Philippe Barbeau
Canada
Jan-Philippe Barbeau has been a professional brewer in Québec for close to 25 years and is presently the Regional Sales Manager Canada for Fermentis by Lesaffre.
Steve Beauchesne
Canada
Steve Beauchesne is the co-founder of Beau’s Brewery, established in 2006. Beau’s has won more than 125 national and international awards for beer-making, marketing and packaging design, sustainability and business practices, and has raised more than $2 million for charity, community, and the independent arts. Steve certified Beau’s as Canada’s first-ever B-Corp brewery, founded February 1 as International Gruit Day, helped found the first craft brewery in Rwanda, and helped found the Canadian Craft Brewers Association.
Steve also plays guitar and sings in a punk band called Audio Visceral. His kids think he’s a bit of a goofball.
Mathew Renda
Canada
Abhijeet Pathak
Canada
Abhijeet Pathak is a Certified Cicerone who currently works as a cellarman and packaging supervisor at Northern Maverick Brewing. He is also an avid homebrewer with a keen interest in Belgian, British and mixed fermentation style ales.
Jeffrey Kurkowski
Canada
Jeffrey Kurkowski is currently the head brewer at the Collective Arts Toronto brewpub. He have been brewing professionally in Ontario for almost 10 years, with stints at the King Brewery, Amsterdam Brewing, and Common Good. In 2019, he attended the Siebel Doemens world brewing academy in Chicago and Munich and graduated with honours.
Adam Shier
Canada
Kyle Smith
Canada
Kyle Smith is a consultant for the beverage industry, helping companies such as Black Lab Brewing, Escarpment Yeast, and Stonehooker Brewing. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree with a specialization in Biochemical and Environmental Processes. Kyle has been judging beer since 2015, where his reputation for technical aptitude has resulted in him sitting on several best of show panels.
Dennis Kinvig
Canada
Dennis Kinvig is an avid homebrewer who has been a BJCP judge since 1985. His hobbies include going on ‘beercations’ to find good beers in new places.
Leah Kitagawa
Canada
George Milbrandt
Canada
George Milbrandt is a founder of C’est What, Toronto’s original craft beer bar, and co-founder of Toronto Beer Week.
Adrian Popowycz
Canada
Adrian Popowycz is a Professor and Program Coordinator at Niagara College’s Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management Program. He is a multi-award winning brewer both who has developed many unique beers that were firsts in the Ontario market and a National Level certified BJCP Judge. He enjoys introducing his students to beer styles from around the world!
Ralph Morana
Canada
Raffaele ‘Ralph’ Morana is the co-owner & founder of Volo, Cask Days & Keep6 Imports. He received his Sommelier Certification from George Brown College 2007 and a Diploma in British Brewing Technology at Brewlab, Sunderland, UK, in 2010.
Mark Horsley
Canada
Mark Horsley is the brewer and owner of Barrel Heart Brewing & Blending, a new brewery focused on barrel-aged saison using Ontario ingredients. He is also a professor in the Niagara College Brewmaster program with focus on sensory analysis.
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