World Cup Beersommeliers

11/06/2026

🏆🍺 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽-𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲? 👀

At the 7th Austrian National Beer Sommelier Championship, Reinhard Feigl impressed the jury and audience alike with his presentation skills, beer knowledge and stage presence — earning the title of Austrian Beer Sommelier Champion 2026.

Thanks to Martin Voigt and proBier, we can now take a closer look behind the scenes and watch the presentation that secured the title.

𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AROSy36yTdw

Whether you're preparing for your own national championship or simply passionate about beer communication, this is a great opportunity to see championship-level beer presentation in action.

Congratulations once again to Reinhard Feigl and thank you to proBIERTV for sharing this insight into the competition.

Doemens
Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers
Bierland Österreich

Ein Auftritt, der am Ende den Unterschied gemacht hat! In diesem Vi...

09/06/2026

A lively look back at the 7th Austrian National Beer Sommelier Championship: In mid-May 2026, Austria’s 20 best beer sommeliers demonstrated their knowledge, sensory skills, and presentation abilities at Mohrenbräu - Das Vorarlberger Bier.

Organized by Bierland Österreich, with operational management and ex*****on by Jens Lukart, Head of Doemens Savour Academy, the film by proBierTV on YouTube traces the journey from arrival through the preliminary rounds, semifinals, and finals to the crowning of the winners. Congratulations to Reinhard Feigl, Julian Selinger, and Katharina Marterer!

A highlight: The top 10 of the preliminary rounds will represent Austria at the 9th World Beer Sommelier Championship in 2027 in Vienna—organized and hosted by the Doemens Academy.

Many thanks to proBIERTV for the excellent compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDEKKDpqdpY

Doemens Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers Bierland Österreich

02/06/2026

Since winning the title in 2025, World Cup Beer Sommelier Champion Léon Rodenburg from the Netherlands has been in even higher demand, especially internationally. The Finest Beer Selection by Meininger & Doemens also invited him to contribute his sensory expertise as a judge. We spoke with Leon about his impressions and experiences.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.
𝗟𝗲𝗼𝗻: It was a lot of fun but also hard work tasting for the Finest Beer Selection. With expert jury members split across several tables, we assessed entries in all kinds of styles varying from pilsners all the way to barrel aged stouts. This requires a lot of focus and attention but is very rewarding after a judging day.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘉𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳?
𝗟𝗲𝗼𝗻: There are two main reasons:
1) Each beer is tasted individually, and not compared to others. You are asked to fill in a full sensory profile and then score the beer as it is presented to you, from a consumers perspective. This differs from most other competitions.
2) The quality and variety of participating beers is very high. This makes it very enjoyable to taste all the beers, even though you don’t know which brewery or brand it is.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘉𝘚 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶?
𝗟𝗲𝗼𝗻: All the judges at the FBS are beer sommeliers, brewers, ingredient experts, consultants or other professionals working with beer. Tasting beers together, during the judging days as well as during the social events, will teach even the most experienced tasters something new. These lessons I learned plus the network of experts I got to meet were of the biggest value to me.

World Cup of Beer Sommeliers - organized by Doemens and supported by Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers

27/05/2026

🇦🇹🍺 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟳!

At the Austrian Beer Sommelier Championship in Dornbirn and Muntlix on the 15th of May, some of the country’s best beer sommeliers competed in highly demanding preliminary rounds, featuring exclusively pale beers — a true challenge for sensory precision, beer style recognition and concentration under pressure.

The competition once again showed why Team Austria is internationally respected as one of the strongest teams in beer sommelier competitions worldwide.

A professional jury evaluated not only technical knowledge and sensory skills, but also stage presence, communication and the ability to present beer culture in an engaging and authentic way.

🏆 Austrian National Champion 2026:
🥇 Reinhard Feigl
🥈 Julian Selinger
🥉 Katharina Marterer

The winners were joined on stage by Florian Berger (Austrian Brewers Association) and Jens Luckart (Doemens Genussakademie & organizer of the championship).

The following sommeliers qualified for Team Austria for the World Championship 2027 in Vienna:

🍺 Stefan Egermann
🍺 Reinhard Feigl
🍺 Thomas Franzke
🍺 Ursula Huber-Kainz
🍺 Johannes Keller
🍺 Katharina Marterer
🍺 Albert Mühlwerth
🍺 Martin Seidl
🍺 Julian Selinger
🍺 Sebastian Voglmayr

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟳 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗻 🌍🍻

🇦🇹 The Austrian Beer Sommelier Championship is hosted by Bierland Österreich and organized by Doemens in cooperation with BierIG - Interessensgemeinschaft der Bierkonsumenten and Mohrenbräu - Das Vorarlberger Bier. The Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers acts as a supporting partner of the championship.

📸 Thank you for the pictures pirart.at

21/05/2026

Finest Beer Selection 2026: Expert tasting featuring 50 international sensory evaluation professionals. Among them, for the first time, were three World Beer Sommelier Champions: Oliver Wesseloh (2013), Simonmattia Riva (2015), and Léon Rodenburg (2025)—a clear indication of the competition’s high professional standards!

World Cup of Beer Sommeliers - organized by Doemens and supported by Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers

Finest Beer Selection by Meininger & Doemens

13/05/2026

In this post, we’d like to give you a closer look at Leon’s daily work, so we asked him three questions:

𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘺?
At the brewery I have a weekly routine: Monday: filling kegs, Tuesday: filling bottles, Wednesday & Thursday: brewday and Friday: fermentation / cellar work
Each day’s routine is different, but I always start with a cup of coffee :) In between the weekly planning I clean our tanks and installation, purchase ingredients, plan our production and perform management tasks

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘺?
As one of the owners I am responsible for the production and quality of our beers, so my main focus is on brewing

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘺?
During the week I mainly use the tasting skills I gathered as a sommelier, for example to assess the progress of fermentation or if a finished product is up to specification. I organize internal tasting panels to systematically assess the quality of our products. Depending on time, I give tours of the brewery and sometimes tastings. Throughout the year we attend multiple beer festivals with our brewery, I join the crew for some of them to pour beer and tell visitors of the festivals the stories around our beer.

Leon describes some really exciting projects here. We’re eager to see what’s next and will be following his progress over the coming months as he continues his work as a brewer and beer sommelier! Stay tuned!

World Cup of Beer Sommeliers - organized by Doemens and supported by Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers

Léon Rodenburg Bierbrouwerij De Magistraat

11/05/2026

🏆🍺 All eyes on Austria this Friday!

On May 15th, the 7th Austrian Beer Sommelier Championship will take place in Muntlix, Austria. The country’s top beer sommeliers will compete in knowledge, sensory skills and presentation to earn the national title. 🇦🇹

But there is even more at stake:
The semi-finals will already determine who qualifies for the Austrian National Team for the World Championship of Beer Sommeliers 2027! 🌍🏆

Can’t join live on site?
No worries! 👀

👉 Follow the social media channels of the Association of Beer Sommeliers (Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers) and the World Cup of Beer Sommeliers for:
🍺 behind-the-scenes insights
🎤 competition impressions
🏆 highlights from the finals
👏 exciting moments throughout the day

We wish all participants the best of luck and look forward to a fantastic day full of beer knowledge, passion and beer culture! 🍻

17/04/2026

A lot has changed for Léon Rodenburg since the last World Cup of Beer Sommeliers in September 2025: As the first Dutch world champion, he has been the center of attention ever since. In his role as world champion, he attends numerous events around the globe — the series of photos shown here offers just a small glimpse into his full schedule.

According to Léon, the demand and interest in him show no signs of abating. As a worthy champion and ambassador, he represents the spirit of beer sommeliers not only in the Netherlands but also internationally. We will continue to report on his activities. Stay tuned!

World Cup of Beer Sommeliers - organized by Doemens and supported by Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers

25/03/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 Léon Rodenburg 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗿 – 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿?

His journey began in 2017 with homebrewing in a local brew club. What started as curiosity quickly turned into dedication.

He began his formal beer education (StiBON) to deepen his understanding of beer. During this time, he met one of the founders of Bierbrouwerij De Magistraat, a brewhouse in Almark, Netherlands – which eventually led to him starting to brew there part-time.

In 2022, he successfully completed his Beer Sommelier education. In May 2024, he began brewing full-time and became a shareholder of De Magistraat.

Along the way, he continuously challenged himself – competing in national and international championships:

🏆 Dutch Championships – 2022 (4th place), 2023 (3rd place), 2024 (1st place)
🥉 World Championship 2022 (3rd place)
🥇 World Championship 2025 (1st place)

Today, Léon is not only a brewer and an ambassador worldwide, but also a Beer Sommelier and World Champion – combining craftsmanship, knowledge, and passion.

And this is just the beginning of the story. Follow his story and share your comments!

The World Cup of Beer Sommeliers - organized by Doemens and supported by Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers

29/09/2025

It was a neck-and-neck race: Léon Rodenburg from the Netherlands impressed the jury in Munich on September 14th, 2025, with his outstanding stage presence and excellent communication and sensory skills – and was crowned the eighth world champion of beer sommeliers.

He succeeded most impressively in inspiring the jury and audience with his profound knowledge of La Trappe Tripel, coupled with presentation skills and emotion.

Check out the winners' presentation! Open a beer, sit back, and relax: https://youtu.be/wz3BcQfssDY

Doemens Verband der Diplom Biersommeliers

It was a neck-and-neck race: Léon Rodenburg from the Netherlands impressed the jury in Munich on September 14th, 2025, with his outstanding stage presence an...