One of the brewers I met during my trip to South America earlier this year for the South Beer Cup was Alexandre Bazzo, owner and brewmaster of Micro Cervejaria Bamberg in Votorantim, Brazil. Bazzo studied brewing in Germany and his brewery consistently makes some of the finest German-style beers I’ve had outside of Bavaria, which is all the more impressive given the scarcity of ingredients in South America. In fact, every Bamberg Bier I’ve tried has been top notch. Plus, he’s a terrific person who is very passionate about his beer.

Alex, with Stephen Beaumont, speaking at a beer dinner Melograno in Sao Paulo this May.

A prominent magazine in Brazil, Alfa, has a contest online, asking people to vote for Brazil’s Man of the Year 2011. There are about 50 people nominated, and the list includes a number of famous people (in Brazil), including formers presidents, artists, and athletes, but only one brewer. Bazzo’s currently in second place, so he could actually win this thing. I think it would send a fun message that a brewer could be declared “Man of the Year.”

It appears that anyone can vote — I did — and you don’t have to register or anything. Just go to the contest page at Alfa Magazine. There you’ll see a roster of small icons for each of the nominees. Alex is on the top row, second from the right. Just click on the “Alexandre Bazzo” square and a pop-up window will appear, it looks just like below. Just click on “ENVIAR SEU VOTO” to vote for Alex.

Below is the translation for the voting pop-up page:

Bazzo Alexander, 35, is the founder and brewer of Bamberg, one of Brazil’s most award-winning microbrews. In 2011, Bamberg took the award for best brewer in South America, at the South Beer Cup, held in Argentina, and four of their labels won silver medals. In the Australian International Beer Awards, five of them won bronze medals. This year, sales of Bamberg increased more than 35%. Twitter: @BambergBier.