The board held a long discussion about whether charging for beer reviews was allowable under the bylaws. The discussion was instigated by a business offering such a service and promoting itself using the BJCP name, logo, and use of BJCP ranked judges. The consensus was that charging for evaluations is fine as a private transaction but that a judge could not demand payment for judging in a homebrew competition. The BJCP requested the external site clarify that they were not associated with or endorsed by the BJCP, and that they prove to use that they were using ranked judges (which they did). The board directed this situation be discussed by the Ethics Committee for potential future action, such as making bylaw changes to require that adherence to technical standards for judging be a condition of membership.
Discussion concluded on 25 Nov 2015