The awaken of the beer geek inside me
If we've made it this far, I don’t need to say that I've always liked beer. And anyone who knows me also knows it's not just a little bit. However, it took me a long time to admit that, after all, I don’t just enjoy the taste and the buzz. I don’t like drinking the same beer repeatedly, and I enjoy seeking out the aromas and flavors presented in each one (there's still a lot to develop in the sensory aspect). I love brewing beer, smelling the freshly milled malt, the fresh hops, and of course, I enjoy filling my mouth with a good beer.
But, I ended up finding a professional path that didn’t naturally lead me into the brewing industry, so this passion was only explored and nurtured in my spare time. And that’s how it went until I had an existential crisis. I quit my job, moved to another country, and faced a lot of—truly, a lot of—difficulty in finding myself again. With anxiety running high, one day I decided to try some design thinking methodologies. And who kept showing up in my ideas? BEER! Creating a brand? Having a store/distribution business? Becoming a Sommelier? A Beer Competition Judge?
The options that don’t involve a large financial investment are, for some reason, the same that do not sustain anyone. Therefore, in a such uncertain moment and with limited funds, the bigger the investment, the harder it is to recoup, and ultimately survive from it. So, it wouldn’t hurt to explore this passion through a blog and make the habit of drinking beer a shared discovery. The primary goal of this journey will be to become a certified judge of the “Beer Judge Certification Program” (BJCP). Don’t worry—you’ll be hearing a lot about this.
Since I’m a bit of a procrastinator and a firm believer in personal and professional development, I signed up for a beer course to give myself a little push towards my goal (there’ll be a post on this too).
After making this decision, a few pages helped awaken the beer geek inside me. Studying for the BJCP exams seems like a Herculean task, but thankfully I found a YouTube channel that was tasting and describing BJCP styles in a very simple and easy way. I'll leave the link to the channel here to give due credit and thank them for inspiring me to move forward with this project. The channel in question stopped at video number 3 of the 21 beer styles that must be studied for the exam. In other words, it seemed once again that this Herculean task would have to be tackled alone. Until I thought I could share it with you 🤓 For now, many of the posts will be about beer evaluations and beer styles studies (🤤).
Some influencers also helped me see that talking about beer might not be that boring. I’d say that Priscila Colares and Jamal Awadallak (from the YouTube Beer School) are the ones I follow the most (Portuguese content, sorry!), and there's a live session from the pandemic period with Jamal and Henrique Giraia that also inspired me specifically to be a judge and make this project a reality. So, I’d like to express my admiration and gratitude to their work here.
And for those who don’t know yet, Boni is the more tipsy alter ego of Diego Olschowsky Borges. I'm a biomedical professional, Master of Health Sciences, and PhD in Molecular Bioscience. I've developed my career around Health Sciences and Biotechnology, but never anything related to beer. Would that be a good idea? 👀
