Stumbling upon an abandoned homebrew starter kit in Woods Hole, MA in 2003, Alex Sheftel brewed his first (and only) Squid Ink Stout. Becoming instantly enamored with the blend of art and science that is beer brewing and realizing how easy it was to make excellent beer on one's own (and to the chagrin of his then wife-to-be), Alex returned to Montréal a homebrew and craft beer convert.

Once home, the MontreAlers welcomed him with open arms, practically forcing all-grain brewing equipment on him and introducing Alex to beer judging in "March in Montréal" homebrew competitions. In parallel, he began posting beer ratings on RateBeer.com, where he logged over 3000 ratings.

In early 2007, after completing his doctorate in Human Physiology, Alex moved to Marburg, Germany to pursue postdoctoral training. Alex took advantage of his time in Europe to expand his beer tasting knowledge and experience, attending several RateBeer European Summer Gatherings and the European Beer Festival (Copenhagen, 2008), among many other travels to beer destinations in Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic and the U.K.

Returning to Canada in 2010, Alex found himself one of the most experienced judges in the Ottawa, Ontario region, despite not yet achieving BJCP recognition. The latter occurred in 2012 and Alex earned BJCP National judge status in 2015. Since then, he has administered and proctored several BJCP exams and directed several Canada-wide homebrew competitions with lots of help from his local homebrewing club, the Members of Barleyment (MoB).