The 2018 BJCP Annual Report is available below. This report captures the state of the organization at the end of 2018. The annual report is typically released before summer, so we apologize for the delay in releasing the 2018 report. Efforts are underway to ensure the 2019 report is released in a more timely manner. If you have specific questions about a specific directorate’s report, please contact the appropriate director. If you have a general question, contact the Communication Director.
President’s Report
by Gordon Strong, Mid-Atlantic Region Rep and BJCP President
Please read the reports from each directorate for more detail and perspective on their respective activities. I will focus on board-level activities and major efforts across the program, while also highlighting some of the important achievements within the directorates.
Growth Continues. At the end of 2018, the BJCP passed a membership milestone: 12,000 people have taken a BJCP judging exam since 1985 and have become BJCP members. As of the end of 2018, there are currently 7,797 active judges in the program with 899 holding the rank of national or higher. The number of judges grew by 817, or 7.3%; the active judges grew by 680, or 9.5%. While the growth rate has slowed, the number of judges added per year continues to be strong.
Since we started keeping detailed records, BJCP members have judged over 1.5 million entries in over 9,000 sanctioned competitions. The total number of competitions grew from 724 in 2017 to 862 in 2018, a 19% increase, with 35% of the AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competitions held outside the USA. Growth was especially strong in Latin America. There were competitions in 6 new countries for the BJCP in 2018. There are now AHA/BJCP sanctioned competitions in 37 countries worldwide.
In 2018, 182 exams were given to 1468 examinees, with about 1200 people passing an online entrance exam. The number of exams is roughly even with last year, indicating we are operating at near capacity.
BJCP staff has also expanded, with the number of assistant representatives growing from 19 to 20. We have also identified several country leads for our international members to have more local contacts. Some of our more active directorates have also added assistants.
International. Our international members continue to represent our primary growth area. We are now active in 59 countries, up from 48, with new activity in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Lithuania, Nicaragua, Sweden, Turkey, and Ukraine. Exams are planned in several new countries as well. The board continues to support proctor travel to allow exams to be given in new or under-represented areas.
We continue to partner with local members to assist with translation of program materials and grading of exams. We have begun staging pins in several South American countries to assist with distribution of items that are often lost in the mail.
We continue to evaluate the regional structure to better accommodate the international growth rate we are seeing. We expect that there will be some changes in the regional structure this year.
Major Events. The BJCP continues to have a strong presence at the AHA National Homebrew Conference, running several exams (one of each type), holding a judge reception, and having a member’s meeting. We tested consolidating BJCP events into fewer days, and expect to continue this trend this year. The AHA continues to provide great support to the BJCP through allowing us space at their conference and also supporting the scanning of our exams. A new structured scoresheet was tested at the AHA NHC.
Exam Staff. Managing Exam Director Steve Piatz retired from the Exam Directorate after over 20 years of different roles ranging from grader to Exam Director and, most recently, over five years as the Managing Exam Director. BJCP Board approved Sarah Bridegroom as the new Managing Exam Director. Sarah is a Grand Master judge in the South Region and was most recently an Associate Exam Director. Don Blake and Agatha Feltus were approved as new Exam Directors, and Stephan Clapham, Thomaz Pupo, and Diego Setti were named new Associate Exam Directors.
Style Guidelines. The 2015 BJCP Style Guidelines continue to be used as the standard throughout the program. Translations continue to take place. A minor revision to the guidelines is anticipated within the next year or two. Changes are expected to primarily enhance clarity and not to add new styles. We added additional provisional styles this year via our website.
Cider Exam. We are very close to launching the Cider Judge program. Major work is underway to revise portions of the online cider entrance exam. We anticipate an early 2019 program launch.
Documentation. The web site migration continues, with content being revised as part of the migration. The menu structure continues to be built out, and new beer study guide materials have been posted. More work remains to be done.
Education and Training. Sensory kit orders by members held steady in 2018. The Education and Training Directorate is running the judge reception and training at the AHA NHC.
Communications. The Communications Directorate continues to publish regular newsletters, and oversee the BJCP Facebook site. Efforts are underway to evaluate the current badge vendor and determine if changes can be made to increase efficiency and decrease production and shipping times to members.
Board Actions. No major policies were introduced this year. Minor updates were made to the exam proctor travel policy. The bylaws were amended to allow assistant representatives to represent board members at meetings. Representative regional travel allowances were increased. Other board votes focused mainly on approving new staff appointments and approving proctor expenses for international exams.
Pat Baker Award. The board approved Steve Piatz to receive the Pat Baker Award for Significant, Sustained Contributions to the BJCP. The award will be presented in early 2019.
Exam Directors’ Report
by Sarah Bridegroom, Managing Exam Director
Overall exam activity in 2018 was robust: over 1400 exams were administered. Approximately 1200 people passed the online entrance exam in 2018. Almost 7% of new, online exam certificates were issued for the mead exam, the remaining issued for the beer exam. Thank you to all exam volunteers and graders for making it happen.
While exam demand in specific geographical areas varies, overall interest in hosting exams is strong; thereby resulting a steadily populated calendar. Available grading resources drive our ability to host exams and that is a fluid process. Please keep in mind the advance scheduling requirements in the exam policy as well as the available quarterly option for the Written Proficiency Exam: active graders are eligible to administer quarterly written exams.
As we move further into 2019, we’ll increase our focus on various policies and procedures that govern the program. Examples of 2019 objectives include:
- Upgrade communication options for graders;
- Provide follow-up communication packages for exam administrators;
- Incorporate cider program into exam workflow;
- Increase feedback options for volunteers;
- Integrate exam and grader communication with other Directorates;
- Examine growth strategies for the exam program;
- Standardize forms and support documents; and
- Support process automation goals.
The exam program comprises numerous projects. That in turn creates several opportunities for volunteer participation. Just like anything else, it all takes manpower. Here’s how you can help:
Grading
We talk about grading a lot because we have a lot grading to perform. It doesn’t take much for grading resources to become seriously stressed when volunteerism decreases. That results in longer turnaround times, job stress, and a lopsided volunteer force.
Graders are dedicated – not only to the organization but also to assuring that future generations of judges are high caliber. The Grader Training program helps new graders get practice before taking on their first assignment while also serving as a refresher course to members that may have graded in the past, but have been inactive for some time.
We offer incentive programs to graders, not only to handle more exam assignments, but also to further our continuing judge partnership in the National Homebrewing Competition. Any National-or-higher-ranked judge is eligible to become an exam grader.
Training
Our volunteer force is dynamic, with new volunteers coming into the program regularly. Whether through personal mentoring, best practices, or protocol development, helping others excel in the program is critical to collective success.
Writing and Communicating
Operation of the exam program requires administrative functions. Many include the continual creation and review of documents, spreadsheets, and reports. Sharing expertise in these areas results in more efficient execution of our programs.
As interest in international exams grows, so does the need for resources to support those exams. Quality language services (translation, grading and writing support) are important components of administering the program.
If you’d like to learn about available volunteer opportunities, email and tell us about your interests. Thank you to all of our exam volunteers and congratulations to both new and recently promoted judges.
Competition Director’s Report
By David Houseman, Competition Director
The number of BJCP competitions and opportunities for BJCP judges to judge grew again in 2018. The total number of competitions grew from 724 in 2017 to 862 in 2018, a 19% increase, with 35% of the AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competitions held outside the USA. The chart below shows the growth in competitions from 2003 (when I became Competition Director) to the end of 2018. Growth was especially strong in Latin America. There were competitions in 6 new countries for the BJCP in 2018. There are now AHA/BJCP sanctioned competitions in 37 countries worldwide.
We had competitions geographically dispersed as follows:
AR (Argentina) — 13
AU (Australia) – 26
BR (Brazil) – 61
CA (Canada) – 31
CL (Chile) – 9
CN (China) – 13
CO (Colombia) – 5
CR (Costa Rica) – 2
CZ (Czech Republic) – 1
* DE (Germany) – 2
* DO (Dominican Republic) — 1
EC (Ecuador) – 3
ES (Spain) – 11
HK (Hong Kong) – 4
HR (Croatia) – 1
HU (Hungary) – 3
* ID (Indonesia) – 1
IE (Ireland) – 4
IL (Israel) – 5
* IT (Italy) – 3
JP (Japan) – 1
KR (Korea) – 7
MX (Mexico) – 23
NZ (New Zealand) – 11
PA (Panama) – 4
PE (Peru) – 3
PL (Poland) – 7
PT (Portugal) – 3
PY (Paraguay) – 2
SG (Singapore) – 4
* TH (Thailand) – 3
TW (Taiwan) — 4
UK (United Kingdom) – 13
US (United States) – 561
UY (Uruguay) – 4
* VE (Venezuela) — 1
ZA (South Africa) — 13
* New BJCP country of presence
State of the Competition Director
The growth of competitions since I assumed this role in 2003 has been significant. There’s a balance of being quickly responsive to registrants but also not spending a great deal of time at one sitting registering competitions so they are batched for processing. While I used to register competitions once every couple weeks, I now registered competitions approximately 3 times a week. All the new competitions also brings many new competition organizers who ask questions, make changes and are slow to submit organizer reports. So the interactions with competition community also have increased proportionally as well. The workload on the Competition Director is still manageable by the tools we currently have available but this is getting close to the breaking point when a new registration system will be required, likely by 2020.
There have been a few complaints by entrants in 2018, but the number of complaints have generally reduced over the years as organizers and judges have become more experienced. Competitions are better run and the judges are doing a better job filling out judging forms.
Some of the most frequent questions posed by organizers and entrants are the following:
– Can we use style guidelines other than the BJCP’s?
Yes, competitions can use any style guidelines so long as they are published to both the entrants/brewers and the judges so that everyone is working to the same guidelines. However, the BJCP recommends using the BJCP style guidelines whenever possible since the judges will be be most familiar with them. There are a number of published style guidelines or those with local additions.
– Can we use judging forms other than those provided by the BJCP?
Yes, any judging forms that provide feedback to the brewers/entrants can be used. However, the BJCP judging forms are recommended as the judges are used to using them and will be more productive. The GABF and WBC use a different form that does meet the BJCP requirements for feedback.
– What is the BJCP position on allowing cans to be entered in competitions?
The BJCP doesn’t take an official position on the use of cans. That is entirely up to the competition. However, everyone should consider the often need to re-cap bottles used in judging so that the remaining beer is available for a mini-Best of Show. Cans are particularly difficult to retain carbonation and the aluminum conducts heat better than glass, so the beer judged in a mini-BOS may be at a disadvantage compared to those entries in bottles. Additionally, with cans judges cannot provide visual feedback that we usually provide for bottled entries.
– Can we limit who enters our competition?
While the BJCP would discourage any discrimination we do recognize that there are competitions that do limit the field of entrants. State and county fairs often require that entries be only from the specific state or county. There are women brewer only competitions and club only competitions. We sanction all of these.
– Must we seat all judges who want to judge?
Many competitions could not imagine turning away any judges but in some areas there could be an excess of available judges. We would recommend using all the judges you can and not turning any away, but this is up to each competition; the BJCP is not involved in telling competitions who can and cannot judge. Competitions must balance their needs and support of the judging community with their ability to afford lunches and other variable costs. Also, if specific judges are known to be a problem or to create particularly poor judging forms the competition may choose not to accept those judges. Conversely judges may choose not to support competitions that are not well organized or prove to be problematic to the judging community. This is volunteer by all involved.
– How can I change some of the details of my competition, like the date or the competition URL? Competitions cannot, but I can. This is because of the IT systems used for competitions. We have proposed changes that will allow organizers to update their competition facts and even download recent judge lists when needed. We hope this will be in place in the near future.
– I received this terrible judging feedback for my beer; what will the BJCP do about it?
We do get these sort of complaints on occasion. We tell the entrant that this is up to the competition organizer to resolve. The BJCP tries to not be actively involved but let the competition organizer manage their own PR and competition results. We then contact the competition organizer to try and mediate between the entrant and the judge. Organizers need to know that the competition reputation is critical to keep entrants submitting entries and to attract judges to judge. So it’s in their best interest to manage these issues in a professional and timely manner.
– Tell me about how to run a competition (this usually comes from new organizers).
We inform them about the Competition Handbook and other resources available on the Competition Center and the link to the Rules on that page. There is a wealth of information for judges and many resources for international competitions.
There are a lot more opportunities to judge. So if you are traveling on vacation or business check out the city or country on the Scheduled Competition Calendar and volunteer to judge in a new locale while you are there. And experienced judges, please be open to helping new organizers in your area plan and organize new competitions for the benefit of all the judges involved. Enjoy and good luck. Have fun.
Education and Training Director’s Report
By Bruce Buerger, Education and Training Director
Notable changes and accomplishments from 2018 include:
- Conducting another successful National Homebrew Conference (NHC) Judge Reception.
- Processed 104 sensory kit orders for members and upcoming exams.
- Continued evaluation of new sensory offerings for existing and potential members.
- Drafting of new malt sensory and vocabulary exercise.
Sensory kit orders by members held steady in 2018. In addition to fulfilling orders for our traditional sensory offerings the Directorate also evaluated a new wood aged beer kit offered by Siebel. As with previous evaluations, one kit was sent to each member of the Education Directorate for conducting a local study session. As of this writing we’re still in the process of reviewing the findings. Special thanks goes out to Randy Scorby for overseeing all of our kit sourcing.
Big kudos go out to Kristen England again for his efforts with the BJCP Judge Reception at the NHC in Portland last year. Once again the attendees enjoyed another in depth session involving industry professionals. Presentations from the event can be found here on the BJCP website – http://dev.bjcp.org/news/bjcp-events-at-the-2018-aha-national-homebrewers-conference/. Plans are already underway for Providence so stay tuned for news on how to sign up.
The team also continued to research sensory and instructional type courses that members can conduct locally for future and existing judges. 2018 saw the drafting of a malt sensory course that focuses on what malt contributes to a brew in both taste and aroma. The course also incorporates a component that helps participants develop their vocabulary and ability to communicate intensity levels. This same approach will also be applied to a hop sensory course and both are targeted for delivery in 2019.
Communication Director’s Report
By Dennis Mitchell, Communication Director
The Communications Directorate (CD) manages communications with members through periodic email newsletters, front-page website posts and social media activity. We also respond to general inquiries to the organization from prospective judges, the media or those wishing to use our guidelines for various purposes. Other areas of responsibility include overseeing elections, member badge orders and the member merchandise store.
Newsletters
The main method of communications between the BJCP and members is email. Automated emails are sent regarding exam scores and promotions (that automation is handled by IT), and the CD oversees emails of periodic newsletters or major organizational news. Newsletters are emailed approximately quarterly to all active judges. We sent three newsletters in 2018; email open rates ranged from 39-48 percent while click-through rates ranged from 12-23 percent.
June: Canned Homebrew and NHC Info
July: 2017 BJCP Annual Report
December: Judging American Wild Ales and Electronic Scoresheets
Other Member Communication
In addition to newsletters, the CD triages emails sent to the general organizational emails such as info @ BJCP.org, as well as emails from members with account login difficulties like lost passwords or forgotten BJCP ID numbers. About a third of those emails were related to account access issues (forgotten passwords or IDs). Other common email topics include questions about ordering a name badge or new pin, asking for permissions to use the BJCP guidelines, asking how to become a judge, or those wishing to provide feedback to the BJCP on various topics.
In addition to email, the CD oversees the BJCP social media platforms as well as a member forum. The BJCP Facebook page continues to be a frequent means of communications between members and with non-members asking BJCP-related questions, and the group surpassed the 5,000 member mark in 2018. Frequent topics include where certain beers should be entered in a competition and discussions about the BJCP exam process.
The BJCP Twitter (@BJCP_Official) receives periodic questions and mentions and has grown to over 2,800 followers. We try to respond with congratulatory tweets to members who post about passing exams, but we are not highly active on this platform at this time. The BJCP LinkedIn page and member forum receive infrequent traffic. We are currently working with the IT Directorate to transition to a new member-only forum on the new website and archive the old forum.
Website
The CD continues to provide assistance in the website transition, focused on content transition and consistency. Responsibility for maintaining the website is shared between IT, the CD and the other directorates that manage their own content.
BJCP Logo Merchandise
In December 2017, we launched a new BJCP member store with an expanded selection of BJCP logo merchandise through an embroidery-on-demand store hosted by Queensboro Embroidery. This new shop offers a significantly wider range of products, including work shirts (Red Kap brand), polos, T-shirts, jackets, dress shirts, sweatshirts and bags/backpacks. Clothing is available in both men’s and women’s cuts and a variety of colors and brands. Queensboro also offers international shipping, so our members outside the US can now order BJCP logo merchandise. For more details on how to access this new store, members can visit the Merchandise page.
Member interest in BJCP-logo merchandise appears to be low, as only 27 orders were fulfilled in 2018.
Member Badges
Member badge orders remained stable from 2017, with 704 badges ordered in 2018. About one-third of badges were shipped to judges outside the United States, and increases in both badge and shipping costs resulted in an increase of per badge cost to $14.71 with a total expenditure of $10,357.75 for 2018 badges. This is up from $12.05 per badge and an annual expense of $8,830 in 2017.
Unfortunately, the BJCP’s badge vendor experienced a disruption to their business in 2018, resulting in delays of many orders in the second half of the year. We are still attempting to resolve these issues and continue to evaluate alternatives. Thus far, we have not been able to find a vendor to provide a similar service at a similar price. We will continue to work to improve this free and popular service for our members.
IT Director’s Report
By Gordon Strong, Mid-Atlantic Region Rep and IT Director
We continue to operate and maintain our existing infrastructure while planning for the move to new services. Several groups are working on various aspects of improvement including a team led by Bruce Buerger to migrate static content from our legacy web site to our new site, an effort by James Golovich to migrate to a new hosting provider for our web services, and development efforts led by James Golovich to make our WordPress web framework more closely integrated with our databases.
The web migration effort is nearly complete, with a few more items remaining to be moved. The parallel efforts to investigate and revise materials continues, with leads from each directorate being responsible for assessing their areas. We are no longer holding the migration for this work to be complete, but will cut over our site once the static materials are finished and the new hosting provider is active.
Our outside web developer will re-engage on site improvements once the new site is active. Her work has been paused to allow our content to be moved, although the site continues to be maintained.
New content development for the web site has been moved to the Communications Directorate, with ongoing maintenance for news items, newsletters, board actions, departed members, personnel changes, and other routine updates.
We have received several offers of support for application updates and other work, but Assistant Director James Golovich is not yet ready to incorporate these people until some of the back-end changes he has been developing are ready.
In the 2019 budget, treasurer Ryan Thomas has budgeted a significant amount of money for IT improvements and has pledged to lead the effort to improve automation. The first step is a detailed plan with specific tasks that can be implemented.
A great deal of time is spent on operations, with database updates, servicing member requests, and other administrative tasks consuming the majority of our time. Interacting with and supporting other directorates, performing basic tasks for those who have minimal computer skills, and answering questions from members that are best answered by other directorates consumes most of the remaining time.
Financial Report
By Al Boyce, BJCP Finance Director
