The 2015 Brew-vitational judges

The 2015 Brew-vitational judges (top row, from left): Casey Hughes, Andy Hejl, Jake Dean, and Liz Einhorn, and (bottom, from left) John Holl, Fergus Carey, Danya Henninger, and Rick Nichols.
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Casey Hughes, this year's special guest out-of-town brewer, should be familiar to local beer fans. He's brewmaster at Coppertail Brewing in the historic Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Fla., but was the head brewer at Flying Fish in South Jersey for more than a decade, where he was himself a Brewvi champ, having won "Best Classic" in 2012 for his Exit 4 American Trippel (plus second place in 2010 for his Exit 16 double IPA). He has also won five medals for his beers from the Great American Beer Festival and been a GABF judge three times.

Andy Hejl is a Grandmaster II judge and associate exam director in the Beer Judge Certification Program, who estimates that he has judged more than 80 beer competitions. A polymer chemist at Dow Chemical by day, he has been homebrewing for nine years and won numerous awards for his beers. Over the last five years, he has taught more than 120 people how to judge and evaluate beer. Hejl (pronounced hail) was also a two-time champion on Jeopardy!

Jake Dean is general manager and director of purchasing for all the Foodery bottle shops, having worked his way up from the bottom (stocking shelves) with an unstoppable thirst and passion for craft beers. In his current role as "chief middleman," Dean keeps each Foodery refrigerator stocked with an epic selection of 1,000-plus labels, most of which he has tasted. Though sours are a current obsession, he has learned to keep an open mind to appreciate quality in every style.

Liz Einhorn, a Cheltenham native, has been with the Boston Beer Co. since 2007 and is a national account manager who oversees sales to all on-premise chain casual-dining and restaurant groups in the Atlantic region. She has collaborated with Di Bruno Bros. cheese mongers for an after-hours beer-pairing program, and is a certified beer server herself. Her new credo ("beer floats are the new budino") may prove to be prophetic. She is also studying for her "level two" Cicerone test next month.

John Holl is the editor of All About Beer magazine, one of America's oldest publications for beer consumers. Holl has been as a journalist since 1996 and worked at a number of newspapers, including the New York Times. He is the author of The American Craft Beer Cookbook and also contributed to The Oxford Companion to Beer. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and other publications.

Fergus Carey is the Irish-born Philadelphia bar legend who started here pouring Rolling Rock at McGlinchey's, then went on to become the co-owner of Fergie's Pub (now 20 years old), Monk's Cafe, Nodding Head Brewery, Grace Tavern, and the Belgian Café. "If you need a beer expert," he replied when asked to join the panel, "I can give you a list of names." Despite the trademark modesty, Fergie can beer-expert with the best of them.

Danya Henninger is weekend editor at news start-up BillyPenn.com and also a regular food and drink contributor to Philly.com and Philly Beer Scene magazine, a restaurant reviewer for NJ Monthly and the Courier-Post, as well as a freelance beer writer. She has been a local editor for Zagat.com and contributed to The Inquirer, Edible Philly, All About Beer, Draft and Craft Beer & Brewing magazine. Find her on Twitter at @phillydesign.

Rick Nichols, Inquirer food columnist emeritus (with a Mount Rushmore-like tribute room in his name at the Reading Terminal Market) is one of the two regulars on the Brewvi panel (along with Craig LaBan). Generally happiest far away from hoppy IPAs, Nichols was delighted at the prospect of this year's focus on wheat beers, even if local versions of hefeweizen didn't quite match the standards of his favorite German imports. On the flip side, Nichols is not such a curmudgeon that he cannot embrace the surprise of an impressively good chocolate porter.