More than 40 years after the birth of the craft beer movement, the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame has been established to “honor, celebrate, and commit to history those people who are responsible for initiating, sustaining, and promoting the American craft beer industry.” The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame celebrates not the beer itself, but the wide diversity of individuals who have collectively revolutionized beer culture in America.
While the ACBHOF is not yet a bricks-and-mortar location, it will reside online for all to visit and to enjoy. “In addition to biographical information about the inductees, the website will provide historical perspectives of the industry, details about the key events that helped form it, and the greater significance that craft beer brings to other areas of American life,” according to a ACBHOF press release.
People from all areas of the industry, including brewery owners, brewers, writers, educators, and others—will be recognized by the ACBHOF, chosen for their involvement in and support of the American craft beer industry. The web site will have four “halls” to honor industry members who were founders, brewers, from the retail and distribution sector and those who were advocates and innovators.
The ACBHOF is the vision of Marty Nachel, a long-time beer writer, beer judge, and beer educator, who wanted to recognize and memorialize the people who made the American craft beer industry happen. For this project, Nachel has organized a team of Directors, Advisors and Electors that is a veritable who’s who in the American craft beer world.
“American craft brewers have changed the global landscape of beer,” says Nachel, “Forty-plus years into this ‘renaissance,’ I think their stories need to be etched in history.”
The inaugural class of inductees to The Hall will be announced in the Fall of 2024.