They’re best known on campus for their distilling expertise, but that didn’t stop David Dickson, Jaclyn Harriman and Ian Bickle from tackling the challenge of earning their status as certified beer judges – and one of them will even be among a panel of judges for NC’s Project Brew Hops by the Docks on April 14.
Head Distiller Dickson, Assistant Distiller Bickle (Artisan Distilling, 2021) and Artisan Distilling Professor and Lab Technologist (Chemistry Beverage labs) Harriman (Winery and Viticulture Technician, 2016) have all achieved certification through the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) tasting exam. While the exam was held in July 2022 at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the-Lake, results have only become known more recently.
“This is a remarkable achievement. Our newly certified judges are all relatively new to beer: their backgrounds are varied, but all three are more closely associated with the Artisan Distilling program than with the brewing program,” said Victor North, NC Brewmaster faculty who achieved his National ranking with BJCP in 2017.
“For all three, is it quite noteworthy that they took on the challenge of becoming certified beer judges – and that they became certified, which is no mean feat, even for those with a primary focus on beer – and that they all passed while taking the BJCP tasting exam for the very first time!”
With their new BJCP certifications, Dickson, Bickle and Harriman join North as well as Brewmaster professor Adrian Popowycz (National BJCP).
The Beer Judge Certification Program is a world-wide certifying organization for judges of beer and related fermented products. Founded in 1985, it now has a presence in more than 60 countries and have more than 7,500 active judges in the program. Judges are certified through an examination covering technical aspects of brewing, world beer styles, the purpose of the BJCP judging procedures, and by demonstrating practical judging skills. Judges are ranked based on their examination scores and accumulation of practical judging experience.
David Dickson
Head distiller
Dickson, who has been at NC since the Artisan Distilling program launched in 2018, said achieving the certification was a team bonding experience with his distilling colleagues and has provided opportunities for him to connect with his brewing colleagues as well. It also came with a sense of accomplishment and validation of sensory skills he had been developing beyond distilled spirits.
“I wanted to increase my knowledge regarding off flavours, faults and the influence of different ingredients and processes on flavour attributes. It has parallels to the distilling industry,” said Dickson. “There was also some general interest in beer and Victor [North] convinced me that it would be a fun activity.
“Judging itself would also allow me to continue to hone my skills and expand my knowledge for the fermentation side of things.”
Dickson likened sensory skills to muscles that one needs to ‘work out’ (practice) to develop and maintain skills.
“Victor was a great ‘personal trainer’ helping us through the process,” he said.
He noted that a goal of many distillers is clean efficient fermentations.
“They are hotter and faster than in brewing, but we share many flavours (good and bad), spoilage organisms and various other variables,” said Dickson. “Learning about one area informs another.”
Jaclyn Harriman
Artisan Distilling Professor and Lab Technologist (Chemistry Beverage labs
NC alumna, Winery and Viticulture Technician, 2016
Jaclyn Harriman
Harriman, who will be among judges at Project Brew on April 14, said that achieving BJCP certification has given her much respect for the variance in beer styles and brew professionals around her.
While she had some experience fermenting beer, lautering and canning, she felt it was important to continue diversifying her skill set.
She pointed out that distillers make ‘distiller’s beer’ that lacks the refinement and the attentiveness that brew professionals apply.
“I think it’s important to be able to deliver material that expands our students’ understanding of other processes and equipment in beverage alcohol,” she said.
Harriman also said sensory evaluation is a muscle that must be exercised.
“I’m constantly expanding my portfolio within beverage alcohol and culinary,” she said, noting that she sits on a research sensory panel at Vineland Research and Innovation where they work through an array of products for market research analysis (for example, cheese, apples, tomato, sparkling water and kombucha).
“I believe that this is highly beneficial. I know I learned a lot in completing this certification and I look forward to sharing it with our students, as well as present them the opportunity to become involved with BJCP,” she said.
Ian Bickle
Assistant Distiller
NC alumnus, Artisan Distilling, 2021
Bickle became interested in pursuing BJCP certification after hearing about it from North. The process was his first experience in the beer industry. After 17 years in culinary as a Red-Sealed Chef, he decided to swap his time in front of the stove for spirits. He joined the College as Assistant Distiller just over a year ago, after graduating from NC’s Artisan Distilling program.
“This is something I never really contemplated before; I have always loved beer, I just never thought about it from an in-depth process before so I thought it would great way to expand my horizons,” said Bickle.
The process was challenging, and the pre-entrance exam was intense. He noted that they had to know many different styles and individual components theoretically. And the tasting component included some he had never previously heard of or tried before.
“To have passed the entrance exam and put all that studying and learning into practice on the tasting component and to see I was in the right places in my findings was quite gratifying,” he said. “I am immensely proud of the accomplishments of not only myself but David and Jaclyn as well.”
He believes that the BJCP credential will be beneficial to his career in distilling.
“Understanding flavours is pivotal in our industry and getting to have the knowledge of how beers change depending on their properties can help us grow and make changes to our spirits as well,” said Bickle. “To see the different styles and understand how aspects of beer change or [how they are] handled, compared to spirits, is a great asset now for us in distilling.
“Because we do not tend to have the same fermentations as beer, we can use this knowledge to not only expand our palates but to also understand our own fermentations a little differently.”
Related
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