When can you call yourself an "expert"?

There is a growing debate online about just who is really qualified to write about food, wine, beer, whatever, in terms of what the difference is between an opinion and a valid critique. 

I've always operated under the assumption that expertise is something you just can't claim to possess.  There has to be some standard against which you can be measured.  Something that can support, in some clear manner, why your advice on a specific topic might have more validity, and value, than the loudmouth at the end of the bar who keeps proclaiming their love of Bud.  Or a new pub that proclaims itself a "gastropub" or a man who declares himself "handsome".  These are things OTHERS assign to you, and not things you can self proclaim.

This is a growing concern simply due to the openness and size of an audience afforded by the internet.  Anyone with a keyboard, and an internet connection, can be a food blogger, or pretty well any kind of blogger.  But how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?  

There are two ways to acquire expertise.  Study and practice. Usually expertise is best acquired when there is a combination of those two. I strongly believe that in the beverage world, practice includes travel. You cannot understand Burgundy unless you have been there.

So, for those of you who might question what I have to say about wine and beer, here is a "resumé" of sorts for me in that regard.  So you at least know I am not just making things up as I go along.  

And if you want a real professional's take on things wine and beer related, visit my brother's site  www.frogspad.ca for better writing, more informed opinion, and a better travelled and practiced wine palate. He's got a pretty good beer palate too - but I'm not giving that up to him yet  ;-)

Anyway, I think the following tends to validate my opinion on wine and beer a bit more than the average person.  But that's not for me to decide, is it?

Jeffrey Pinhey is a co-founder and member of the Brewnosers Homebrewing and Beer Appreciation Club in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He is one of the most experienced beer judges in Canada - one of only 19 BJCP National level or higher judges in the country - and has overseen the sitting of seven BJCP Exam Sessions as a proctor.  He is also a BJCP Exam Grader, one of only three in Canada.

He’s been Best of Show Beer Judge for the Great Canadian Homebrew Championship four times, judge at three National Final Round American Homebrewing Competitions, ten time judge at the Canadian Brewing Awards (professional brewing), including three Best of Show tables in 2012 and 2014 and 2017. He’s judged at numerous home brewing competitions including many times at the CABA March in Montreal and All About Ales competitions. Jeff was an invited Judge at the Minnesota Craft Brewers Competition, the World Beer Cup, several times a judge of the Garrison Brewing Category competition, the Big Spruce Invitational, the Boxing Rock Black Box Competition, and twice a judge of Niagara College Brewing Program’s annual Student Competition.

In the wine world, Jeff has been a judge at the 2008 and 2009 Canadian Amateur Winemaking Championships, and is a regular judge at the Atlantic Canada Amateur Wine Awards. Judge at the 2006 and 2007 New Brunswick World Wine and Food Festival wine competitions. Twice Head Judge at the Atlantic Canadian Wine Awards, three times a judge, and recently a co-organizer of the ACWA’s. He is one of only 6 people to have judged all of the annual Lieutenant Governor’s Wine Awards in Nova Scotia.

Jeff was one of the original organizers of the Atlantic Canada Beer Awards and has judged them every year they have been held. He was a long time Board Member of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers - Atlantic Chapter, and past member of the Board of the Canadian Amateur Brewers Association.

Mr. Pinhey has worked at and attended many wine and beer trade shows, including most Nova Scotia Port of Wines Festivals, Moncton World Wine and Food Festival, i4C in Niagara, Toronto’s Gourmet Food and Wine Festival, Madison Wisconsin’s Great Taste of the Midwest, Mondiale du Biere in Montreal, the Chicago Cask Ale Fest, several cask ale festivals in the UK, and Octoberfest in Munich.

Jeff has travelled to various wine regions, spending time learning and understanding the terroir and meeting with numerous producers from those regions, which include the Okangan Valley, New York’s Finger Lakes, Niagara Ontario, Niagara New York State, Prince Edward County, Quebec’s Eastern Townships, and Atlantic Canada.  The Alentejo and Algarve in Portugal, and Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. The Peljesac Peninsula in Croatia. Tuscany, Piedmonte, Umbria, Emiglie-Romagna, and Lombardia in Italy.  Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Pays d’Oc and Languedoc, Bandol, Alsace, the Loire River Valley, and the Midi-Pyrenees in France. The Constantia, Stellenbosch, Franshoek, Robertson, Paarl, and Walker Bay regions in South Africa.

Mr. Pinhey consulted to a long time successful Halifax restaurant, “janes on the common” which changed how wine lists were done in the city. He has assisted three successful restaurants in Halifax - “EDNA", "Salvatores" and "Rinaldos" with their beverage and wine list.

In recent years, Jeff has been a part of the barrel tasting and blend selection process for Bachelder Wines, providing support and critique as part of the winemaker's approach to making some of the finest wine in Ontario.

Beverage Education

Master Class - Wines of South Africa - Will Predhomme, CAPS
Master Class - Wines of Bordeaux, Bordeaux Wine Institute

Master Class - The Wines of Burgundy, International Sommelier Guild.

Master Class - Lambic Beers, Brewers Association of America

Master Class - Wines of South America, CAPS

Master Class - Wines of South Africa, Richard Kelley, MW

Master Class - Wines of Northern Italy, Michael Palij, MW
Master Class - Wines of Chile, CAPS
Master Class - The Art of Spanish Wines, The Spanish Fine Wines Institute