Jared Simonson

Spending my adulthood in San Francisco and the surrounding areas such as the great Napa valley wine region I was fortunate to experience some of the best food in the world. As my wife and I continued to grow our culinary knowledge I never gave beer a second thought, beer was that yellow fizzy stuff that I drank when I was younger. If asked to describe the beer I was familiar with at the time I don't know if I could have, beer tasted like.....beer I suppose. Then, at dinner one day not feeling like a cocktail or wine I decided to order a Belgian beer I couldn't pronounce. This was a revelation and unlike anything I'd ever had and the real eye opener was that it paired with my wife's duck better than her French Cote du Rhone wine, figgy, jammy with a taste of bread crusts and black pepper. That is when my awakening happened and I haven't looked back. Over the following four years I made it my mission to understand everything there was about beer. I've travelled from California to New York and from Belgium to Germany to understand all aspects of this wonderous elixir. I've gained an expertise in beer history, food pairing, brewing process, off flavour analysis and proper receiving and serving culminating in my status as a Certified Cicerone®. I am proud to have been selected as one of the jury for the 2015 Brussels Beer Challenge international competition and most recently the 2017 International Beer Challenge held here in London. After growing Brew By Numbers retail side along with introducing a bigger, bolder and more exciting beer offering in conjunction with the head brewer I helped Brew Republic start their subscription based service by curating their range as Head of Beer and Merchandising. I am now providing beer tasting and education from my new home on beautiful Lake Como in Northern Italy.