Posted on 07/30/2003 1:38:19 AM PDT by DPB101
ATLANTIC CITY - The world has waited too long.
A Maryland man is in negotiations to bring the Beer Hall of Fame to Atlantic City. Or Orlando, Fla. Or Las Vegas. One of those three.
Dennis E. Beuttner, 40, of Severna Park, Md., commissioner of the U.S. Beer Drinking Team, is still deciding.
There are 90 million beer drinkers out there, he says. Where can they go? Aside from, of course, the local pub.
"They have no Cooperstown," he lamented. "They have no basketball hall of fame." They need a place to celebrate their collective love of the brew.
The big idea, he said, is a place that has more beer than anywhere else in the world. More on tap, more in bottles. All that, and big hamburgers.
After visitors to the 40,000- to- 50,000- square-foot facility swipe their membership card, they could get their picture put on the wall for a temporary enshrinement. In the hall, breweriana, industry history and tasty brews would each have their place.
"We would want to have place that they would want to come to from 200 miles away," he said.
Beuttner said he and his two partners are already working with planners and designers. In recent months, he visited the three cities to scope out locations. A decision may come soon, he said.
Beuttner, who works part time for NASA as an operations controller and has spent most of his career in satellite and radio communications, was also an early Internet voyager.
During the 1990s, he registered a handful of casino-related Web sites before selling them.
His current holdings include Orioles.com and cable-tv.com, along BeerHallofFame.com and others.
He started the U.S. Beer Drinking Team several years ago as a way to both share his love of beer and to market on the Internet. He is the team's founder, captain and commissioner. In his office refrigerator Tuesday, he had bottles of Yuengling Lager, Yuengling Light, Guinness Stout, Samuel Adams Summer Ale and "what's this - I just got this yesterday - a Victory 12."
Visitors to the Web site www.usbdt.com, provide their mailing and e-mail addresses in exchange for printable "Beer Buddy" certificates and a heads up for local events.
Like many people with a clever idea and a catchy graphic, he also sells T-shirts. The shirts feature the team's logo, a red, white and blue rendition of a beer mug in midchug.
It all sounded good this week to Scranton, Pa., resident Perry Partyka, 50, who was at the Irish Pub on St. James Place in Atlantic City. He hunkered over a corned beef sandwich and an imported Stella Artois beer Monday afternoon.
His wife and friend laughed as a reporter approached Partyka. "You sure picked the right guy," the friend said.
The love of beer was passed down from his father decades ago. "If you're thirsty, you can drink water, water, water," he explained, "but a beer will quench your thirst."
"I hope they have the hall of fame," he said. "I'll be one of the first in line."
At the Tun Tavern, at 2 Miss America Way in the resort, busboys wear shirts that quote Benjamin Franklin: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
While Atlantic City has good tap water, Tun brewmaster Ted Briggs argued that a beer hall of fame would be better placed in a historic beer city, such as Milwaukee or Philadelphia.
Briggs, who named his dog Ninkasi after the Sumerian brewing goddess, said he would love to see a hall of fame educate drinkers on the styles and types of beer.
Las Vegas would be a fine place for the hall, advocated Heather Manning, manager for Las Vegas's Tenaya Creek Restaurant and Brewery. They are one of half a dozen brewpubs in that town.
"We have the Statue of Liberty, we have the Eiffel Tower," she said in a phone interview. "We pretty much have everything anyway. Why not the beer hall of fame?"
The same can't be said for Orlando. When a reporter tried calling seven pubs that participated in the 2000 Orlando Beer, he found the numbers were either disconnected or the pubs were no longer making their own beer.
The Shipyard Brewpub, housed in Orlando's airport, got the boot from Disney last year, Bruce Forsley said.
While Shipyard still sells beer to travelers, they don't make it. Forsley, a salesman for Shipyard in its Portland, Maine, headquarters, admitted sunny Orlando wasn't a beer hot spot.
"It's been a tough sell for us down there. It's Bud, Miller Light - what's that stuff - Icehouse down there."
Although Beuttner is torn between the three cities, he promised a decision in the coming months. Atlantic City, close to so much of the East Coast, has a lot going for it.
"Hey, you never know," he laughed. "It could turn out to be Branson, Missouri."
Just damn.
If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.