The “Wings” in the hall

When discussing the set-up of The Hall of Fame website, the ACBHOF Board of Directors knew that The Hall would be about much more than just brewers or the people who opened craft breweries.  Of course, there would be no Hall without them, but there are also a lot of people from a lot of other areas who played important supporting roles in the American craft beer industry.  We knew we had to make room in The Hall for those equally-important people, too.

Taking a page out of the Baseball Hall of Fame playbook, we set out to create various “wings” to accommodate the many people from different areas of the craft beer industry.  Just as the Baseball Hall of Fame has separate wings for Players, Managers, Executives, and Umpires, the ACBHOF has wings for Brewers, Founders & Owners, Retail & Distribution, and Advocates & Innovators.

The Brewers wing is pretty self-explanatory, and will likely be where a large percentage of ACBHOF inductees reside.  The Founders and Owners wing will obviously be for those who either started a brewery from scratch, or those who took over an existing brewery and oversaw measurable improvements in it.

The Retail and Distribution wing will recognize the people who represent the second and third tiers in the 3-Tier system; they form the bridge between the brewery and the consumer.  This wing includes wholesalers, and others, who moved the beer from its source to its target market.  This wing also welcomes retailers –both on-premise (bars and restaurants) and off-premise (beer stores and bottle shops)—who ultimately and attentively introduce the product to the end user. 

The fourth and last wing is named for the Advocates and the Innovators who support the craft beer industry by supplying equipment, ingredients, and consultation (all allied trades), along with beer education and other forms of public outreach -including beer chefs.  Beer media will also be found in this wing, including publishers, writers, authors, bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, and radio show hosts.

Together, these four wings represent inclusive nature of The Hall and our goal of recognizing all those who have contributed to the greatness of the American craft beer industry.