Judges
Charlene Rooke
Charlene Rooke is a Vancouver-based drinks journalist and educator. She is WSET Certified in both Wine and Spirits, and a WSET spirits educator. She also holds the SWE’s Certified Specialist of Spirits, various category-specific certifications (for tequila, Scotch and more) and studied small-batch distilling at Moonshine University in Louisville, Kentucky. She's the Drinks Editor of the LCBO's Food & Drink and a contributor to many other publications.
Charlene is CASC’s Lead Judge.
Tom Firth
Tom is a drinks writer, consultant, and judge who has been travelling the world and pulling corks for over twenty five years. He is the Managing Editor for Culinaire Magazine and is the Competition Director for the Alberta Beverage Awards. His formal training includes certification with the WSET and the ISG, and Tom has judged at domestic and international competitions around the world.
He has no qualms about tasting first thing in the morning, and his desk is covered in paper and bottles - somewhere under all that, a corkscrew might be found.
Find Tom on Twitter.
Neal McLennan
Janet Dorozynski, PhD, DipWSET
Janet Dorozynski left life as an academic and has been tasting, judging, teaching & communicating about wine, beer and spirits from across Canada and the world for more than twenty years. She holds the WSET Diploma in Wine and Spirits (back when spirits was still part of Diploma studies), a PhD from Concordia University and is a WSET Certified Educator.
Craig Pinhey
Craig Pinhey is a Nova Scotia born beverage writer and consultant. His love of spirits started with Lagavulin while in university in the early 80s. An Engineer by education, Craig worked in Ontario, where he gained his appreciation for local wine and beer in Niagara in the 90s. Returning to the Maritimes in late 1998, Craig became a certified Sommelier and started his new career as a beverage writer in New Brunswick; his weekly Good Drink column has been running for 20 years. Craig travels the world visiting distilleries, breweries and wineries, writes, runs tastings, and judges national and local competitions, and is a regular writer for Quench and Atlantic Business magazine. He loves premium rum and local eau de vies.
Jennifer Tyldesley
Jennifer Tyldesley is a retired Canadian Air Force captain and airline pilot. She moved from the cockpit to cocktails in 2016, launching Free Pour Jenny’s in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. She makes handcrafted cocktail bitters, shrubs, and tonic syrups that showcase the unique ingredients found in the boreal forests of the Yukon. Jennifer is the author, with Michele Genest, of both "Cold Spell, Cocktails and Savouries for a Northern Winter" (Borealchemy Press, 2017) and "Add Light and Stir, Cocktails and Savouries for a Northern Summer" (Borealchemy Press, 2018). Jennifer is certified with a WSET Level 2 in Spirits. When she's not running Free Pour Jenny's, you can find Jennifer spending time with her husband & two daughters, foraging, or restoring a tiny Gold Rush era Victorian home in Atlin, BC.
Joel Carleton
Joel appreciates all forms of spirits, with a deep background in bartending and cocktail competitions. He has served Fortune 500 companies and major global liquor brands, assisting in brand development and special events at distilleries. Previous judge of cocktail competitions and bar/restaurant awards. Joel has traveled North America to tour distilleries and engage in high-level industry events, to bring unique knowledge and products back home. When he isn't judging Canada's best spirits, he is foraging in nature or tending to his plants.
Dr. Paul McLaughlin
About 15 years ago the interest in whisky shifted from a casual appreciation to a proper connoisseur. Paul toured Scottish and Canadian distilleries with a curiosity for flavour and process and enjoyed a considerable stay at the Springbank Distillery where he graduated their whiskey school. His nose for whiskey also earned him a position on the tasting panel for the Isle of Arran Distillery and a position at the Edinburgh Whiskey Academy where he's earned his Diploma in Single Malt Whisky.
Doc is an internationally-accredited Whisky Ambassador, a title awarded by the Whisky Ambassador Program of Glasgow.
Jay Jordan
Jay Jordan is a spirits specialist who has made it his life's work to learn about all things whisky. He also loves craft spirits and agave. Occasionally he likes to mix up a cocktail or two. As General Manager of Cascadia Liquor at Quadra Village in Victoria, BC Jay oversees the store’s operations and develop. Jay has been working in retail liquor since 2016 and prior to that he was in hospitality.
Graham MacKenney
For almost 20 years Graham MacKenney has been visiting distilleries to learn more about the spirits that bring us all together. Speaking with those who make the drinks we love such as distillers, bartenders and historians, Graham is on a mission to uncover the stories of our favourite beverages such as whisky and and Atlantic Canada's beloved history of Rum.
Jenny Book
Jenny Book is a Calgary-based wine educator and competition judge. She is a certified sommelier through the ISG and achieved the Top Canadian Graduate Award in the WSET Diploma in 2012.
Tod Stewart
Tod Stewart has been a beverage alcohol industry professional for over 40 years. He is an award-winning journalist and published author who has worked as a consultant, trainer, and educator to the hospitality industry, the Ontario wine industry, and the beverage alcohol trade. He holds the Certificate and Higher Certificate (with Distinction) from the Independent Wine Education Guild (IWEG), the Level 1 Sake Award from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), and is a Certified Whisky Ambassador (Whisky Ambassador Ltd.). He was also the instructor for the Toronto chapter of L’Academie du Vin, and a past Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) panelist and verifier.
Jennifer Matli
Jennifer is a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, international wine judge, business consultant and part of Vancouver International Wine Festival's Planning Committee. Her passion for wine has driven her to live in the winemaking regions within California, Oregon, Chile, and Argentina before settling into Vancouver, BC where she is rekindling her love of whisky and gin.
Find Jennifer on Instagram
Debbie Shing
Debbie Shing DipWSET is the founder of Quvé, a Toronto-based boutique import agency. She has more than 20 years of beverage business leadership experience across Canada and worked for some of Canada's largest national firms as well as BCLDB.
She is co-founder of Canadian non-profit organization Vinequity, past director on CAPS Ontario's (Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers) board of directors, and has judged for Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants as well as Intervin Wine Awards.
Debbie is also a WSET Diploma instructor at IWEG Drinks Academy and has worked as guest sommelier at Barberian’s Steak House and BlueBlood Steakhouse.
Find Debbie on Instagram