Experts are the Stars

As different as the beers are at the European Beer Star, so are the tasters. In 2022, the stars of the competition came from 32 countries around the world. As international as never before and a wonderful sign that the international brewing community - the Global Family - stands together even in difficult times. The organizers of the competition are particularly keen to have the viewpoints and perspectives on different beer styles from around the world represented in the competition. Only in this way can the beers be judged at the highest level of quality and with the greatest objectivity. This gives the breweries first-class feedback on their beers. And it is not only the breweries that benefit from this, the European Beer Star is also constantly developing with the international know-how. A real win-win-win situation.

Widmann was born in Bolzano in 1965, studied sports science in Verona and has been an entrepreneur in the hospitality and beer sectors since 1989. In 1996 he founded Hopfen&Co, the first South Tyrolean Brewpub, and in 2012 he opened Batzen Bräu in Bolzano. Soon after completing his training as a beer sommelier, Widmann became Italy's champion beer sommelier.

The South Tyrolean Beer Academy and the Beer Craft international beer festival are Widmann's creations, as are the KuBo Awards, which are presented during the festival. He is the initiator of the project for regional brewing grain cultivation in South Tyrol and of the South Tyrolean Beer quality mark; he was accepted into the "Hall of Members" of the Institute of Masters of Beer.

Since 2016, "Bobo" has been a member of the jury, proving a valuable asset as a table captain. "For me as a taster, the European Beer Star is above all a great celebration of tasting and feeling - paired with the highest degree of concentration".

Born in 1967, she studied at the Sorbonne and at the universities of Indiana and Hamburg. She earned Master's degrees in political science, American studies, French. She has been self-employed as a beer author, teacher of beer stylistics and sensory analysis since 2007. Her "Craft Beer Book" - published in 2014 - was translated into Italian and English. Then she worked as an ambassador for the Brewers Association in Europe until 2018.

Since 2019, Kopp has been a co-trainer at the BarthHaas Hops Academy and a freelance writer for a variety of media, including Brauwelt. Sylvia's Saloon, founded in 2017, was an early online beer tasting format and will soon reopen for tastings and beer classes, both virtual and on site. In 2011, Kopp was accepted into the fraternity "Les Sosson D'Orvaulx".

"The European Beer Star is a home game for me. It is an inner desire for me to serve this renowned beer competition. Moreover, for me the European Beer Star is the event to connect with the German beer and brewing scene every year."

He is a world star. There are few brewmasters who made such a lasting mark in the beer world as he. Until 1993, Schneider only produced Weisse and Aventinus. Today, the brewery is one of the few which have perfectly mastered the balancing act of tradition and innovation. In 2000, when the term "craft beer" was at the most known to a handful of beer nerds in Germany, he hopped his Wiesen Edel-Weisse with US Cascade. In 2007, Drexler brewed the "Schneider & Brooklyn Hopfen Weisse" in collaboration with Garrett Oliver. Drexler also pioneered the maturation of fine beers in small, noble wooden barrels. In 2010 he built a barrique cellar, adding a vintage cellar in 2012. For the TAP X series, he used Belgian yeasts as well as hops from Australia. 

Drexler will remain in the beer world after his retirement: As a jury member of the European Beer Star and as a speaker with European Beer Star partner Doemens.

Rebelo was born in Blumenau, an old German colony in southern Brazil, in 1985. He studied Chemical Engineering there and enjoyed his training as a brewmaster and beer sommelier at Doemens.

He has been involved in five brewery start-ups as a consultant and has supported another 15 in process optimisation. He is now a professor of beer technology, malt production and brewery layout. In 2015, he founded the Malteria Blumenau, the first micro-malting plant in Brazil; he still manages its business today.

Rebelo has been a member of the international expert jury of the European Beer Star since 2016 and its ambassador in Brazil since 2022. "It's just always wonderful to come to Bavaria. I enjoy the beautiful atmosphere. And it's an honour to be part of the European Beer Star jury. Every year I make new friends and I still learn a lot".

Müller has been first brewmaster and technical manager at Brauhaus Riegele in Augsburg since 2004. Master brewer was always his dream job; he was already brewing at the age of twelve. "Even back then, I experimented with different organisms, to the point of spontaneous uncontrolled fermentation." Today, Müller is considered the "yeast pope," cultivating more than 200 (!) different yeast strains in his laboratory. The range of beers he is responsible for at Riegele and brews to outstanding quality is as diverse as his yeast collection. His beers have already won 37 awards at the European Beer Star: 13 gold, 15 silver and 9 bronze.

Speaking at a seminar on innovative beer creations, Giovanni Campari once said, "What else is tradition if not successful innovation?" In 2006, he founded Birrificio del Ducato, developed innovative production methods and used them to brew some pretty experimental beers. His brewery (he passed it into new hands in 2021) holds an unbeaten record at the European Beer Star: 7 awards in one year (2011) for Birrificio del Ducato. Campari is also a pioneer of the autochthonous Italian beer style Italian Grape Ale, to which a separate category has been dedicated since the European Beer Star 2022.

Since 2010, Georg Bucher has been managing the Günzburger Radbrauerei, whose roots go back to 1600. Bucher learned the brewing and malting trade at the Distelhäuser brewery, studied in Weihenstephan, and is a graduate master brewer, beverage business economist and beer sommelier. In 2009, he was a member of the jury at the European Beer Star for the first time. "Beer connects people. That's one of the reasons I like being at the European Beer Star. You meet like-minded people in an informal atmosphere and can expand your wealth of experience and network." Bucher is a member of the executive committee of the Private Brauereien Bayern.

The real Viennese is Brewery Manager at Schwechat Brewery, President of the Association of Austrian Brewmasters and Brewery Technicians, and a lecturer in brewing technology and brewing quality control at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna. Urban is open to new things and at the same time appreciates traditions. His credo: "No compromises in beer quality; no compromises in raw materials and brewing processes." In addition, he is convinced: "There is no food to which a special beer does not go excellently!"

Riva already enjoyed drinking beer while studying philosophy. In 2015, he won the World Beer Sommelier Championship in Saõ Paulo. He currently runs the "Craft Beer Garage" pub in his hometown of Bergamo. Riva works part-time as a beer writer and teacher, mainly in Italy. He has already taken part in various local and national competitions as a judge, but says: "The European Beer Star always has a very special place in my heart".

The 2019 World Beer Sommelier Champion hails from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where she still works today. After studying European Media Studies, she was hired by Störtebeker Braumanufaktur in Stralsund and entrusted with the duties of a press spokesperson. Twice Raus has been able to qualify for the World Beer Sommelier Championship, and in 2019 she finally won in Rimini - the first woman to do so. Since 2020, Elisa Raus has been strengthening the jury of the European Beer Star with her expertise.

As a young woman, Deborah Wood studied art in the USA, Mexico and England. In the land of the Three Lions, she also learned about "the sensual beauty" of beer and became an award-winning home brewer. Wood worked for many years at BSG CraftBrewing, a specialist in raw materials, and since 2017 she has been considered "BSG's Brewing Ingredient Specialist." Today, she is involved in developing new products for microbreweries. Inspired by Bamberger Rauchbier, she developed "Claire Obscure," a dark smoked beer, with Fred Moreau of Archibald Brewery in Quebec. It won gold at the European Beer Star 2019.

He studied medicine and pharmacology in Liverpool, but chose brewing. Starting out with Bass Brewers, he qualified as an IBD brewmaster in 1991. He particularly remembers his time with Staropramen in Prague, where he managed the Branik brewery. Barlow has hosted many events on the radio, on television and in live settings; he authored the international award-winning All Beer Guide and worked as a consultant for breweries. Since 2016 he has been running his own brewery in Sheffield, Triple Point Brewery & Bar, an open brewhouse, where he brews modern versions of classic lagers and hoppy ales - unfiltered, unpasteurised, gluten- free, vegan.
Barlow has been a European Beer Star judge since 2011. “In my experience, EBS is one of the best organised beer competitions in the world. It is an honour to be part of it on a regular basis. Excellent organisation, experienced, professional and dedicated judges. And I wouldn't come if it wasn't a lot of fun too!“

The business economist has worked for Nürnberg Messe since 1992 and in the BrauBeviale organization team since 1994. "You develop a fair amount of heart and soul there." From 2013 she has been responsible for the strategic and conceptual development of BrauBeviale and since 2016 for the development of the global strategy of the Beviale Family. The European Beer Star fueled her enthusiasm for beer. "It was a driver for me to explore the existing beer diversity, to learn to understand brewers and their passion around the product."

First, Martinez brewed at home, then she attended seminars and congresses. She found the travelling instructive. So she travelled a lot, met brewers in other countries, visited breweries, got to know local beer traditions. History has always been important to her. And respect - for classic beers, too.
She started her own beer project in 2014, won her first medals in 2015, and in 2017, her beers won their first international award - in Japan.
“I don’t mind the long journey to EBS at all because it's a really professional competition. I can learn a lot from it. There are so many experienced people there, it is always a wonderful experience to be part of a competition with such great tradition.“ Martinez finds it particularly nice to belong to a family whose members have “such a deep love and respect for beer.“

Having grown up in a brewery, studied at the Technical University of Munich-Weihenstephan, her father shut down the brewery, Schönberger was relieved, completed her studies and earned her doctorate on the topic of "Sensory and Analytical Characterization of Non-Volatile Flavors in Beer". Ideal for a start at BarthHaas in 2005, Schönberger established the Technical Services department there. It includes the Research and Development department and the Hops Academy. She has enjoyed being on the jury off and on since 2006. "The friendships and relationships formed at EBS are invaluable to the global beer industry."

In 2011, Castro and four friends founded La Cibeles, a Madrid-based craft beer brand. As a technology freak, he designed the first brewing system himself. Today, La Cibeles in Leganés produces 6,000 hectoliters per year by around 20 people, and the range includes 15 products. Recently, Brewpub and experimental brewery Mad Brewing were created. Castro is testing a new yeast there, the result of a four-year research study with a Madrid Institute of Food Economics to preserve biodiversity. This will result in an autochthonous Madrilenian beer. Castro has served as a judge for the European Beer Star for many years.

The editor at the Donaukurier in Ingolstadt is a beer sommelier and one of the first three Certified Members of the Institute of Masters of Beer. Schmidl has been part of the jury since the start of the European Beer Star in 2004 and has been Table Captain for many years. He also tastes for the World Beer Cup and the Brazilian Beer Contest. As a geography graduate, having studied economic geography and regional planning at the University of Bayreuth, he knows how to correctly locate the world's beer styles and is therefore a valuable guide to beer culture.

The brewer and maltster, beverage business economist and beer sommelier has been running the Karg Brewery in Murnau am Staffelsee, in the very south of Bavaria, together with her father for 14 years. Before deciding on beer, she studied Sports and English in Augsburg. Internships at Auerbräu and Meantime followed. The many styles of beer brewed in London gave her an idea of how diverse the world of beer is. Schubert-Rapp is a member of the board of the Private Brauereien Bayern, has been on the jury of the European Beer Star since 2008, and is there almost every time.

The "pioneer of the new brewing" founded his microbrewery long before Jimmy Carter legalized the hobby in 1978. The author of hundreds of beer articles, he wrote nine beer books and co-edited "The Oxford Companion to Beer." In the early 1990s, Dornbusch founded a boutique for commercial breweries specializing in German-style beers, and in 2000 the doyen of international beer journalism launched Cerevisia Communications. Dornbusch's cumulative expertise is indispensable at the European Beer Star.

In 1994, as a young brewmaster, Grauvogl founded the Arte Bier company. He began with the start-up of breweries. Soon he became a consultant in many areas, assisting microbreweries with their start-up. His heart beats for Italy, he is a sales partner there for Kaspar Schulz and Doemens, supervises the beer sommelier course on the Italian market. Grauvogl has been on the team of tasters since 2012, and has been table captain since 2015: "Nowhere else do you get to know current trends as closely as at the European Beer Star. This is where concentrated brewing knowledge from all over the world meets."

Schramm was born in Bremen in 1971 and has been working for some time as a Swiss judge at European Beer Star. His beer-related work stations were Jever, the Schüttinger Gasthausbrauerei in Bremen and the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, California. He currently works for Heineken, plus his involvement with Bündner Bierbrand, beer brandy chocolates and food pairing events. His profession is product development. In addition, he works as a vocational school teacher - on the subject of beer, of course.

"My English name," says Sha Tao in perfect English, "is Rex." He has only been working with beer professionally shortly. But he does so intensively, as if he had to make up for a lifetime of beer. Rex worked his way up as a self-taught beer maker to become one of the first BJCP judges in China in a very short time. In 2021, he became the first Advanced Cicerone in Asia. The European Beer Star is the most important international beer competition for him because he can learn a lot about German tradition, German beer and the competition there, after all, he is one of the organizers of the Chinese beer competition "Master Cup China" and "Chinese International Beer Challenge".

Luca Giaccone is a librarian at the public library in his hometown Cuneo, he is a Slow Food consultant and has been a judge for the European Beer Star for 15 years.

A mathematician by training, he started his career as a librarian, a profession he has now practised for 25 years. What shaped him most, even more than university, were his travels in the 1990s, on which beer already played an important role.

“I quickly realised that I had to go to the source! Beer is much more than just a drink. There are centuries of history and tradition in every glass. I learnt more in Belgian cafés and English pubs than in all the books I've read!” Quite extraordinary to hear something like that from a librarian...

Luca Giaccone has been the editor of the “Guida alle birre d'Italia”, the Italian beer guide, since it was first published. He has also written two other books about beer: “Il piacere della birra” and “Belgio”. He organises tastings and seminars for Slow Food and is a speaker at events such as Salone del Gusto, Terra Madre, Cheese and Slow Fish.

“There are only few things that I enjoy more than feeling at home at the Spezial in Bamberg or at the tables of U Zlatého tygra.” Luca Giaccone also greatly appreciates his beer network. “Through beer, I've made friends all over the world: tasters, enthusiasts like me.

Taking part in the European Beer Star means being part of a big family! A tasting involving judges who have a completely different background than me is an enormously enriching experience for me.”

“The European Beer Star is without any doubt the best organised competition I have ever taken part in. The beer is served in the perfect way - optimum conditions for the jury to do a good job. Being part of this prestigious jury is a great honour; something I look forward to with great enthusiasm every year.”