Richard Cohen

President

I’ve been homebrewing for the past 11 ½ years, am one of the founding members of the club since our organizational meeting on December 18, 2012, have been a Board member for 7 ½ years and a BJCP Certified beer judge for more than 6 years. I love supporting all homebrew competitions (having judged at 58 during the past 9 years). And I have enjoyed spearheading the prize donation effort for our Motown MASH Homebrew Competition since 2017.

I took over Presidential duties for MASH the week that New Jersey shut down due to the Pandemic in March of 2020. We quickly shifted to remote gatherings, masked beer handoffs for tastings and I arranged for as many guest speakers at our monthly remote meetings for the next year and a half to keep up the momentum. I can happily say that as difficult a time as that was, MASH came through it with flying colors and we are a better club today for our efforts at that time. We have welcomed a large number of new members over the past few years, but still retain many core members from five plus years ago.

MASH is a place where homebrewers can feel comfortable sharing their beers (good, bad or indifferent), asking for feedback (formally with a Rate My Homebrew scoresheet or informally at a meeting)and learning about off flavors during one of our educational MASH Labs. We welcome homebrewers of all levels of experience. Bring some of your homebrew and join us at one of our monthly meetings (always the third Tuesday of every month).

Stephen Hocken

Hello! My name is Steve Hocken. Over the last two years, I have led the Competitions committee. Last year we had another fantastic edition of Motown Mash, and a wonderfully competitive HBOTY. It’s been a joy to follow the progress and glory of our competitive brewers! In the background, I supported this by creating robust process documentation for the execution of Motown Mash, so that we can continue to run it smoothly whoever is in charge. We are in great shape for 2024! This year, I will continue to support our competitions, however I will look to gain more experience in another area of the board, should the opportunity arise. 

Eric Blaine

I am excited to spend 2024 continuing to help support our club and its members. MASH is an important part of my life and I feel strongly about contributing to the club and giving back to all of its members. 

I’ve been brewing for 12 years or so and will occasionally produce a decent beer. Being a part of MASH has enabled me to become friends with all of you, learn a ton about how I can improve my approach and process for brewing, become a beer judge, take an amazing trip to Vermont, go on fun beer bus trips, and drink a lot of great homebrew. I want to make sure that MASH continues to be a resource for others to get the same benefits that I have and so I pledge to do my part to support the club, its members, and the amazing NJ homebrew community in 2024.

Micha Stark

My name is Micha Stark. I brewed my first batch of home-brew about 9 years back, a Belgian Triple, and fell in love with it.  I found MASH and joined about 5 months later.  I was welcomed with open arms and open bottles and instantly knew I wanted to be a part of it.  Much of my growth as a brewer was inspired by our meeting topics, activities, and the enthusiastic encouragement of my fellow MASHers.  As I’ve matured as a home brewer, my involvement with MASH has grown.  I served as the 2017 – 2023 Motown MASH Cellar Master as well as a member of the board in 2018 – 2023.  I would like to serve a great group of brewers who all are so willing to share their time, knowledge, and most importantly, a good beer while growing the local brewing community.