Board of Directors
Marty Nachel
Founder, President
Illinois
Marty has been involved in the American craft beer scene in one form or fashion almost since the beginning. Over the past forty years he has been a freelance beer writer for multiple print and online publications (author of “Beer Across America,” “Beer for Dummies” and “Homebrewing for Dummies”), a professional beer judge with international credentials, and a college level beer educator -among other things. In visiting more than 600 American breweries and judging at the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, he has met, interacted with, and written about many of the craft beer luminaries who will likely be enshrined in the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame.
Motto: Every beer is an education
John Freyer
Vice President
Illinois
John Freyer is 35-year veteran of the craft beer industry, starting in the late 80s at Weinkeller Brewery, one of Chicago’s first brewpubs. He went on to start Chicago’s first exclusively craft beer distributorship, Joseph Gies Imports in 1992. After selling the distributorship to Louis Glunz Beer in 1996, he was a Founding Partner for Three Floyds Brewing Company. He has also built other brands in the Midwest, like Dogfish Head and Founders. Freyer is an author of four books about baseball history, including 19th Century Baseball Ball in Chicago. He has also been on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Baseball Hall of Fame, also as a historian and Director of Procurement. And he recently has been appointed to the Board of Directors at the Vintage Base Ball Association, as Treasurer.
Aaron Gore
Secretary
South Carolina
Aaron MJ Gore is the Director of Partnerships and Community for Arryved, helping to connect craft breweries with the tools and resources that they need to succeed. With a decade of sales, retail management, and business analytic experience in the craft beverage industry, he loves the opportunities that he has every day to make a difference for small business owners across the country. He is an Advanced Cicerone, Certified Pommelier, Certified Cheese Scholar, and is (AF)(NA) Beer Certified. Additionally, he is an active industry advocate, public speaker, beer educator, and the father of two daughters who are the true passion of his life.
Lisa Morrison
Oregon
Board Member at Large
Jay R. Brooks
Historian & Biographer
Jay R. Brooks has been writing about beer for over 30 years. He is currently a syndicated newspaper columnist for the Bay Area News Group with his bi-weekly column, “Brooks On Beer,” which appears in at least half-a-dozen papers. Mr. Brooks studied brewing at U.C. Davis and has judged beer competitions on every continent (except Antarctica). He has written and contributed to several beer books. In early 2015, Brooks developed and taught a Beer Appreciation course for Sonoma State University. Brooks co-founded San Francisco Beer Week, the North American Guild of Beer Writers, and also started the Bay Area Beer Bloggers. In 2014, Brooks was made an honorary “Knight of the Brewers Mash Staff” in Belgium, knighted by the Belgian Brewers Guild.
A longtime journalist, Lisa Morrison cut her teeth early in the craft beer scene, reporting for any publication that would let her write about the subject. She has taught beer classes for women and mixed audiences and hosted a beer radio show/podcast called Beer O’Clock. In addition to writing “Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest,” she has contributed to several other beer books and guides. A local and internationally experienced beer judge, Lisa was the first woman to be inducted into the Oregon Beer Hall of Fame. She owns Belmont Station beer store and bar in Portland, Oregon.
Matt Simpson
Board Member at Large
Georgia
Matt Simpson founded The Beer Sommelier® craft beer consultancy in 2007, has four certifications (including BJCP, Siebel/Doemens, and KCBS BBQ Judge), was a GABF and World Beer Cup judge for 10 years (being honored with table captain several of them), has won multiple homebrewing awards, including the National Homebrew Competition, and created Beer AID® digestive supplement. He's written dozens of articles and columns on beer, and contributed to/consulted almost every national media outlet and publication in the U.S. in that regard. He also really likes whiskey.
Board of Advisors
The following people participated in the nomination
process for the first Inductees into The Hall:
Roger Baylor
Tom Bedell Kate Bernot
Tom Bobak Lew Bryson
Andrew Coplon Tom Dalldorf
Michael Ferguson Max Finnance
John Freyer Aaron Gore
Rex Halfpenny Michael L. Hall
Steve Hamburg Herlinda Heras
Stan Hieronymus John Holl
Julie Johnson Marty Jones
Colin Kaminski Greg Kitsock
Kelly Kuehl Rick Lyke
Annette May Gary Monterosso
Lisa Morrison Marty Nachel
Tara Nurin Owen Ogletree
Brad Ring
Michael Roper Lucy Saunders
Ken Schramm Dow Scoggins
Matt Simpson Carolyn Smagalski
Ron Smith Jeremy Storton
Neil Witte Brian Yaeger