THE WORK Behind the Glass.
For more than 15 years, beer has taken me from brewery floors and certification exams to classrooms, competition tables, and pairing events. This work centers on how beer is tasted, evaluated, taught, and understood.
Sensory Education
Teaching people to taste with intention.
I founded Sensory Sensei to make structured beer sensory education practical, engaging, and useful across experience levels. The program grew from years of leading tastings, training brewery and hospitality teams, and helping people communicate more clearly about what they experience in the glass.
Courses cover tasting fundamentals, brewing ingredients, flavor standards, and custom training for brewery teams, judges, and industry professionals.
Competition Judging
Evaluating beer at every level of the industry.
Competition judging has sharpened the way I evaluate beer, communicate sensory observations, and help others build confidence in their own palate. My experience spans homebrew competitions, regional and state professional competitions, and two of the most recognized beer competitions in the world.
I currently judge at the World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival, along with continued work at the National Homebrew Competition and other invitational competitions. As Judge Director for Best Florida Beer Championship, I also help oversee category planning, judge recruitment, panel assignments, and the systems that support a consistent and credible evaluation process.
The Pursuit of Certification
Continuing to sharpen the palate.
Certification has given me a formal way to test what I know, identify areas that deserve more study, and continue building depth as a taster, evaluator, and educator.
Beer remains at the center of that work, while additional study in wine and bourbon has broadened how I think about aroma, structure, production, service, and pairing. The pursuit continues through regular study, blind tasting, judging, teaching, and calibration with other professionals.
Proctoring & Judge Development
Helping judges and industry professionals grow.
Part of my work now focuses on supporting the educational systems that helped shape my own development. I proctor Cicerone Certification Program exams, proctor and grade BJCP tasting exams, and lead training for new and developing beer judges.
Pairing Work
From the judging table to the dinner table.
Beer and food pairing has been part of my work since hosting multi-course dinners during my years at Motorworks Brewing. It now continues through Best Florida Beer’s Try This! series, private events, collaborative tastings, and television appearances.
Each pairing begins with the dish and beer as complete sensory experiences. From there, I consider intensity, texture, aroma, sweetness, bitterness, acidity, heat, carbonation, and the way those elements develop together from bite to sip.
The Latest Chapter of My Pairing Work
Pairing with Pros brings years of tasting, teaching, and pairing experience together in one cookbook.
Pairing with Pros features 66 recipes and beer pairings, including 50 of my own and 16 contributed by respected voices from across the beer industry.
Each recipe explores the dish, the beer, and the sensory reasoning that connects them. The book was created for beer lovers who want to understand why pairings work and build the confidence to create thoughtful combinations of their own.
Releasing October 16 2026.