Jim Yergey of Center Valley's Lehigh Valley Brew Week #3 will be the official beer of Lehigh Valley Beer Week during February 15-22, 2015.

About 20 years ago, Jim Yergey was working in Montreal and unhappy with what he was drinking.

"I was tired of drinking yellow fizzy beer," Yergey says.

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He developed a taste for masterful craft beer. And the chemist-by-trade began to tinker with his own home brews.

In late August, the Center Valley resident's beer "Hoptileitious" was named the winner of the Lehigh Valley Beer Week's Be Our Brewer For a Day competition. That beer, adapted and processed through Fegley's Brew Works and renamed "LVBW3," is available at about 30 bars and restaurants during Lehigh Valley Beer Week. The week-long celebration of all things craft beer runs through Sunday at dozens of venues throughout the Valley.

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Yergey beat out more than 40 other home brewers to capture the public's vote. LVBW3 is an Imperial IPA, with a twist. For you non-beer drinkers, IPA stands for India Pale Ale, a type of beer that usually has a strong hoppy flavor. An Imperial IPA has an even stronger, very hoppy flavor and a higher alcohol content.

Funny thing about the beer is that it didn't win a contest that Yergey's family holds every year. Every Christmas his family members take each other on to see who has made the best-tasting beer.

"We decided to have a yearly family home brew challenge," Yergey says. "You get a new pewter mug for the prize. In 2013, the style for the challenge was IPA and I brewed the Hoptileitious for that and didn't win."

Yergey will tell you it took him a while to enjoy IPAs.

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"With regular IPAs, all you smell is citrus or pine. And that's all you taste then till you get the bitter at the end," Yergey says. "There's very little malt character to it."

•Where's Jim? The winner of Be Our Brewer For a Day competition will be at two venues in Easton on Friday to meet with fans: 5-7 p.m at Porters' Pub and Restaurant, 700 Northampton St., and 7-9 p.m. at Black and Blue, 683 Walnut St.