Meet a Cicerone® - AC Jesús Mártir of Baja Canning

Beer Scholar

Jesús Mártir is the first "graduate" of the Beer Scholar Advanced Cicerone® Coaching Program!

About nine months ago, AC Scott Fielder and I launched our Advanced Cicerone® Coaching Program, the first of its kind, with an initial cohort of ten amazing beer geeks from all over the world and all over the beer industry. Jesús is the first of the bunch to pass the exam and get the title of Advanced Cicerone® on his resume! Huge congrats to Jesús!

Jesús is based in Tijuana, Mexico. He's an electromechanical engineer by training and says, "what is brewing if not applied engineering?" He entered the beer industry in 2017 and spent several years brewing for Kaminari Brewing. He thought he was out of the beer game for a period...but a friend at Baja Canning pulled him back in with a great job offer! Jesús is currently the Operations Manager at Baja Canning in Tijuana, where he's managed the packaging of nearly 3 million beers to date!

Jesús passed the Certified Cicerone® exam in late 2022 and passed the Advanced Cicerone® exam in early 2024, after going through our AC Coaching Program. Jesús is also a BJCP Certified beer, cider, and mead judge, an American Cider Association Certified Cider Guide, and he's got an Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD) General Certificate in Beer Packaging, Can Specialist. Not only all that...phew, I'm running out of breath over here....Jesús is currently pursuing a Master's in Brewing and Distilling from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in Scotland!

Basically, Jesús is an absolute superstar. He's been traveling all over Central and South American to judge major beer competitions and he's now one of just five Spanish speaking Advanced Cicerones® in the world – though we're expecting to see several more Spanish speaking ACs come out of our coaching program in the next year! Scott & I sat down with Jesús to talk about his experience in the Advanced Cicerone® Coaching Program, his career path, and what fuels his drive for knowledge. If you're thinking about pursuing some certifications in the booze biz, and especially if you're wondering about going for the AC, listen up!

The “Meet a Cicerone” podcast is about sitting down with folks who are “all in on beer” to understand why folks do it, how they're applying what they learn, and how it has enabled them to make their own futures and careers. Let's do this.

P.S. If you’re interested in becoming an Advanced Cicerone in the easiest and most efficient way possible, please reach out to me at [e-mail] or Scott at [e-mail] right away so we can start getting you ready to join the next cohort of the Beer Scholar Advanced Cicerone® Coaching Program! Thanks so much for listening! –Chris

Get a free Study Guide for the Certified Cicerone® Exam here: https://www.thebeerscholar.com/certified-cicerone-study-guide