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January 26, 2025 15 mins
We are joined by Marty Nachel, founder of the United States Craft Beer Hall of Fame. Michelle Lam offers PR tips for marketing beverages, and Dogfish Head news.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is a very special episode of Beverage Chronicles because
of our guest, mister Marty Nachel, the founder of the
American Craft Beer Hall of Fame. Marty is a well
respected beer writer, educator, and judge with decades of experience
in the craft beer industry. He is perhaps best known
as the author of Beer for Dummies, a widely popular

(00:26):
and accessible guide for both beer enthusiasts and newcomers. Nachel
has also written home Brewing for Dummies, which serves as
a valuable resource for aspiring homebrewers. His work often combines
a passion for beer with an approachable writing style, making
beer culture and history easy to understand and appreciate. Nachel
is a certified beer judge and is served on panels

(00:48):
for prestigious competitions such as the Great American Beer Festival
and the World Beer Cup. His expertise spans beer styles,
brewing processes, sensory evaluation, and the history of Beyond his
writing and judging, Natchel has conducted beer tastings, classes and workshops,
helping to educate others about beer appreciation and the craft
beer movement. He is a knack for demystifying beer culture

(01:12):
and is widely recognized for his contributions to spreading knowledge
about the diverse world of beer, and on this episode
of our show, Marty will answer questions about the American
Craft Beer Hall of Fame and offer an important announcement.
Here is our interview. What inspired you to start the
American Craft Beer Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
In late twenty twenty three, I was just wondering about
the possibility that there might be some kind some form
of Hall of fame out there that I hadn't heard of.
I had never seen it anywhere, I had never heard
anything about it, and so I started doing Google searches
and changing up my search words. My search terms I

(01:53):
kept coming up empty. I was just really surprised that
there wasn't such a thing, and so I just I
had kind of within it that week that something had
to be done about it. Then, even though my first
inclination was to hand that idea off to someone else,
ultimately I decided that I guess I should just do it.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
How did you decide which achievements or quality you should
be celebrated in the Hall of Fame?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, we didn't come out of the gate with a
set of guidelines. We kind of arrived at the We
had the thought process that said, well, we know it
when we see it, but we realized, of course, that
we had to be a little bit more definitive about that,
so we came up with this definition. We arrived at

(02:40):
this by consensus. Any person who has had a long
term positive effect or influence on the American craft brewing
industry at large is eligible for nomination.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Was there a special moment or event that made you
realize the Hall of Fame was necessary?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Not really, but it goes back to what I was
saying about my thought process that a hall didn't exist,
and that I just felt that somebody had to do
something about it, and I guess I just kind of
took the reins and ran with it.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
What were the biggest challenges you faced in starting this?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well, the biggest challenge so far it has been and
still is to this day. Funding. Obviously, we need money
to be able to put things together. In the beginning,
we had to pay a lawyer to make us a
legal not for profit organization according to the i R S.
We had to build a website, we had to have

(03:43):
logos designed. We've had more expenses since then, so yes,
funding is our number one challenge.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
What do you hope the Hall of Fame will achieve
in the long term?

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Well, in the long term, and I do mean long
as in decades. I'm hoping that the people who inspired
the American craft beer industry and those who actually made
it happen will be remembered. They will get their due,
and who they were and what they did, what they

(04:15):
created will not be forgotten.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
When will the inaugural class of inductees be announced?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
The inaugural class of inductees will be announced on Saturday,
February fifteenth, twenty twenty five. We had nineteen nominees. Of course,
not all nineteen nominees will make it into the Hall.
We're going to be winnowing that number down to those
who were duly elected. So tune in.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Is the Hall virtual or are their plans for a
physical structure?

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yes, As of now, the American Craft Beer Hall of
Fame is strictly virtual. We knew coming in with our
long range plans that we had to establish our presence online,
and we are obviously still very much in the middle
of that. It's going to take us a while, but

(05:05):
in due time, we hope, with proper funding that we
will eventually be able to create a brick and mortar
location where people can come and visit.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
What does it mean to you personally to see this
project come to life?

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Speaking personally, this is They talk about a labor of love,
and that's what this is for me. I've been in
and around the craft brewing industry for about forty years now.
I've gotten to meet with, and speak to, and judge with,
and bend elbows with a lot of great people in

(05:41):
this industry. And because the industry is in a little
bit of a downturn right now, I'm concerned that all
of their work and all their dedication will be lost
and forgotten. So it's important to me to see that
that doesn't happen. You know, I'm now sixty six years
old and retired. A lot of these other folks are

(06:03):
considerably older than me or my own age, and you know,
some of them are retiring, some of them are getting ill,
and yes, some have passed away. So this project takes
on more and more importance every day.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Can you provide a website for the public to remain
current regarding the whole.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yes, of course I'd be glad to It's www Americancraftbeer
Hall of Fame dot com. It's all one word, no spaces,
no underlines, know nothing, so come and check it out.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Thanks so much, Marty. That was great, and we're really
so excited about the upcoming announcement in February, looking very
much forward to it. You've done just a remarkable job
and speaking, I guess for just about everyone in the
beer community. Thank you. Now here's more beverage chronicles.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
All right, every welcome back for another deep dive with us,
and this time around we're looking at something kind of different.
We're looking at a press release from Dogfishead Brewery. Always
exciting and you know you might be thinking, okay, so
like new beer announcement, but this one is a little different,

(07:18):
and it's got a little bit of a cultural tie
in too.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
It does.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
It ties into this idea of Quitter's Day, which we'll
get to it a little bit, but for anyone who
has ever made a New Year's resolution and like maybe
not totally stuck to it, this one might resonate with you.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
So yeah, definitely, and it's interesting to see how they're
kind of, you know, piggyback in on this cultural phenomenon
to market this.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Product well, and I think that's what makes it a
deep dive worthy topic for usly, there's a little more.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
To it, Yeah, So more than just a product launch,
there's this whole other layer to it.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah. So let's talk about what the beer is first.
So it is called thirty Minute Light IPA, okay, and
it is part of their Minute series of IPAs. I
think most craft beer fans out there are familiar with
dogfish Heads sixty minute IPA yep, And so this is

(08:11):
part of that family of beers exactly.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
And they've got a whole range, right like they do.
They've got the ninety minute, they've got the one twenty,
so it's like this whole spectrum of happiness and intensity.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Yeah. So thirty minute Light IPA clocking in at a
very reasonable ninety six calories and three point six grams
of carbs. That's pretty per serving, which you know, for
folks who maybe are trying to you know, stick to
their New Year's resolutions about you know, eating a little
bit healthier and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
This is you know, it's definitely peeling. It's nice to
see options out there for it, exactly, but you know
what's really cool about this beer is not just the
stats on it, it's kind of how they came about
this whole process process. And so the founder of Dogfish Head,
Sam Kellaginie, was watching TV one day and he was

(09:04):
watching a chef make soup interesting, and the chef kept
adding pepper to the soup throughout the whole process.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Oh okay, and so that got him thinking about hoppin' interesting.
He's like, huh, what if we instead of just doing
like one big hop edition, yeah, or you know, a
couple of hop editions.

Speaker 5 (09:23):
What if we like continuously just keep it adding hops,
you know, at the boil, throughout the boil.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
And so that's kind of what they do.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
Yeah, that's really cool.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
With this with this series of beers.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
Is they just it's a unique approach, Yeah, they keep
It's not something you typically see in brewing.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah. It makes you wonder if there are other things,
you know, from totally different total industries that you know,
brewers or you know, anybody could pull from and be like,
huh that's yeah, absolutely kind of a cool idea.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Like what other disciplines or whatever could they draw inspiration from?

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, And I think that's why dogfish had in a
lot of ways has been they've been innovative kind of like, yeah,
on the cutting edge of craft beer for so long.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
I think that's a good point.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
If they're not afraid to experiment. Yeah, and they're thinking
outside the box.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
They're not just following, you know, the traditional methods.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
They're trying to.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
Find new and interesting ways to brew beer.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
So this beer is tied into Quitter's Day. Yes, So
for those who don't know, Quitter's Day is the second
Friday of January. Oh okay, and it is statistically the
day when most people give up, oh wow on their
New Year's resolutions.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
I can see why the holidays are over.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Excitement's worn off totally.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
The weather's probably terrible, probably, yeah, depending on where you are,
and you're just like and you're.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Just over it. I'm dead. Yeah. And so it's interesting
that dogfish Head is kind of leaning into it, leaning
into it, yeah, right, and they're saying like, hey, if
you're going to, you know, if you're going to fall
off the wagon, fall off the wagon a little bit,
you know, maybe this is a great a good option
for you, A good option for you. I'm curious, I mean,

(11:01):
have you had this experience with New Year's resolutions.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
Oh totally. I think everyone has, right, I mean, how
many times have we all set these like really ambitious
goals in January. I'm going to go to the gym
every day, yeah, or I'm going to you know, learn
new language, whatever it.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Is, and like two weeks in you're like, this is
not happening. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
So yeah, I think dogfish Head is really smart to
kind of tap into that shared experience that we all
have these resolutions.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
And also kind of like reframing quitter's Day is yeah
maybe not a bad thing, right, Maybe it's an opportunity
to say, like, okay, well that didn't work, so what
can I do differently exactly? Or what is a more
attainable goal?

Speaker 6 (11:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (11:45):
Maybe it's about reassessin yeah, and adjusting.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Your course instead of beating yourself up about not breaking
it to day forty five at the gym or whatever.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
Right, Or maybe it's just about giving yourself permission to
enjoy the journey a little bit more, yeah, you know,
and not be so folks used on the end result. Yeah,
but to just kind of like savor the process.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yeah, maybe quitter's Day is less about like giving up
and more about like reassessing, taking a breath and reassessing,
then saying, Okay, how can I what did work for
me make this work for me? Yeah, So that's something
to think about for all of us out there, is,
you know, as we kind of get through January, Yeah,
and we get past that that second Friday, uh huh.

(12:25):
You know, maybe that's not a day to be like,
oh man, I failed, I failed. Maybe it's a day
to be like, Okay, how can I adjust? What can
I do differently? How can I make this actually work
for me? Exactly? So yeah, I think that's a really
cool kind of that's cool way to look at it,
and cool kind of way to tie in from dogfish Head.

Speaker 6 (12:45):
To market a beer.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
I mean it's definitely going to make me think about
Quitter's Day a little differently.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Now, Yeah, me too. So so cheers to that, I guess.

Speaker 4 (12:52):
Cheers to Quitter's day, you know, and new beginning, new
beginnings exactly.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
And delicious low calory beer. There you go, all right, everybody,
So think about that, think about how Quitter's Day might
be a new beginning for you, a fresh start, and
we'll catch you next time for another deep dive.

Speaker 6 (13:13):
Hi, I'm Michelle Lamb, CEO of Brooklyn Night Media and
today I'm Beverage Chronicles. I'm sharing my top three PR
tips for marketing beverages. Let's kick off with public relations palette,
focusing on tasting the difference between traditional PR tactics and
modern approaches. Number one PR one oh one traditional versus

(13:37):
digital PR in the beverage world. For example, compare the
effectiveness of print ads with social media campaigns. Ask yourself
what PR approach aligns best with my brand's goals? Number
two the role of influencers, bloggers and online publications. For example,

(14:02):
leverage digital voices to promote your products authentically and ask yourself,
how can influencers help expand my reach and build trust
with consumers? Number three how to integrate traditionally and digitally
PR for maximum impact. For example, combine media placements in

(14:25):
magazines with online content strategies to create a cohesive campaign.
Ask yourself, am I taking a holistic approach to my
PR efforts. Well that's all for today, until next time.
For more additional public relationships, you can find me on
www dot Brooklynnightmedia dot com. We're also on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram,

(14:51):
and Facebook. Until next time, on beverage chronicles, have a
great day.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
We'll see you next week.
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