by Buck Reed
September brings us the Great Frederick Fair, and we all have our favorite memories. If you are younger, you might remember that fried funnel cake or some other ingenious food that shouldn’t be fried, but is. Or you might have a special fondness for that one ride that calls you like a siren call every year. Many remember the smell of the pens of animals from the local farms, and, if you are lucky, you might remember the first time you petted a baby cow or goat.
For me, I remember the beer and wine competitions held before the Great Fair, in the Home and Garden Building. It was a fantastic yearly event, filled with lots of good things to taste, friends you didn’t seem to be able keep up with during the year, and just enough agony and intrigue to make it all interesting. I always judged the wines, but when it comes to the beer judging, one name seems to come up as a favorite: Jim Sawitzke.
Dr. Sawitzke has a PhD in molecular biology, which he uses in his job now in Rome, Italy, at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory facility.
Jim began brewing beer in 1992 in Oregon, and he really enjoys introducing people new to homebrew to his beers. “I love how after a hard day’s work, in a few weeks you have something delicious to share with family and friends,” Jim said. He especially loves the look on a skeptic’s face when that person realizes that what Jim created is actually really good.
Later, he moved to Frederick, where he started getting interested in beer competitions. He began judging beer at the Great Frederick Fair in 2008, where he volunteered to be a steward, but was called up to judge, instead. This experience stirred his interest, and he considered the Beer Judges Certification Program (BJCP), a program where you collect points for judging and are moved up in rank by taking tests. After a year of study, he gained the rank of “recognized” judge, and eventually moved up to “certified” and then “national” rankings. He even went on to help found a club dedicated to teaching the BJCP and helping members pass the exam.
In 2015, Jim moved on to his new job in Italy and took his homebrew shop with him. He is still making beer and has even taught three people there how to create it. But fate would also work in his favor, in that the BJCP wanted to expand into Europe. He has helped organize two competitions in Italy, including the first one ever held in Italy. “Since I moved to Europe, the BJCP has been very interested in expanding around the world,” Jim explained. “I am currently the highest ranked BJCP judge that lives in all of Europe. Thus, when there is a new exam, they often offer me to proctor since it is cheaper to fly me there than somebody from the states. In the past year, I have proctored exams in Spain, Italy, Israel, and Poland.”
Jim has a passion for zymurgy, the art and science of producing beer and wine. Although he claims to have a deep interest in the science part of this hobby, I suspect he also has the heart of a poet/artist.
Jim Sawitzke, with the brewing rig he uses to make beer in Rome.
