Master Homebrewer Program

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Zymurgy Magazine

By Charlie Scudder

Carl Teachey had set out on a mission to brew every BJCP style. Soon, he had too much extra beer in his cellar and didn’t know what to do with it. Stephanie Butler is an experienced homebrewer who has won National Homebrew Competition gold, but wanted a new goal to reach for. Chris Daily wanted to revamp his local homebrew competition and hoped to make it one of the best in the country.

They all found the Master Homebrewer Program (MHP), a new grassroots initiative that’s dramatically changing the competitive brewing landscape in the United States. The program aims to connect brewers from around the country through competition; at the same time, it’s reshaping how the nation’s top brewers compete.

“It’s really stretched our community,” says Matthew Herrold, founder and president of the Master Homebrewer Program. “We have this camaraderie that we never really had before nationally.”

Think of it like Pokemon meets Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Brewers compete to catch ’em all–all 122 BJCP styles, that is–and earn badges based on competition scores to celebrate their success along the way.

“Everybody’s aiming for the medals, of course, but this gives us something to all reach for and be able to be recognized,” Daily says. “It’s getting to the point where I’m looking for those scores almost more than the medals.”

Here’s how it works…

Access the full article in the January/February 2024 Zymurgy magazine.