Beer Hall of Fame narrows list of candidate cities

Modern Brewery Age, Oct 25, 2004

AP--San Antonio is the latest city winnowed from the running to host the nation's Beer Hall of Fame. The city made the list of 12 finalists, but now it's the latest to drop out of the running.

The idea for a beer hall of fame is being sold by Maryland-based Leisure Technician LLC, which also syndicates a show called Beer Radio and runs the U.S. Beer Drinking Team, which sells beer-related shirts, caps and other merchandise.

The company's vision of the hall of fame includes theme restaurants, a microbrewery, brew pub and a beer "education center."

When the company floated the idea, 28 cities bellied up to the bar. But since the dozen finalists were named, half have dropped out of the bidding: Chicago; Cincinnati; Covington, Ky.; Decatur, Ala.; Portland, Ore.; and now the second largest city in Texas.

San Antonio real estate tycoon Al Rohde said the tab was just too high.

Rohde said he was told to incur nearly all the costs and pay Leisure Technician $500,000--plus an annual fee of $100,000 and a cut of the profit.

"Further understanding of the group requirements was found to be an 'empty keg' real estate development and cost-prohibitive," Rohde told the San Antonio Express-News.

The cities still in the running are St. Louis, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Frankenmuth, Mich. Leisure Technician officials have promised to announce a winner Oct. 30.