About Celebrator Beer News

Celebrator Beer News

Celebrator Beer News was the oldest craft beer newspaper in North America — "the first publication to focus exclusively on craft beer" — published from 1988 until its print edition was suspended in 2018 after 30 years. Under editor and publisher Tom Dalldorf, who took over the paper in 1990, the "brewspaper" covered beer styles and history, festivals, and emerging craft markets, earning a devoted following that called it the "Bible of the Brewing World." Its website is Celebrator.com, preserving the brewspaper's digital presence after three decades chronicling American craft beer in print — the oldest craft beer newspaper in North America.

The 1988 Founding

Celebrator Beer News was founded in 1988 — the oldest craft beer newspaper in North America. It arrived at the dawn of the American craft beer movement, when the nation's small breweries could be counted in the dozens and the idea of a newspaper devoted entirely to beer seemed quixotic. The paper's founding made it the first publication to focus exclusively on craft beer — a pioneering claim in an industry that barely existed. In 1988, America's small breweries numbered in the dozens; the idea of a newspaper devoted entirely to their world required either folly or faith. The Celebrator had both — and the faith proved justified as the movement it chronicled grew into a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Tom Dalldorf Takes Over

Tom Dalldorf took over publication of Celebrator Beer News in 1990. A long-time beer enthusiast and wine educator, Dalldorf had opened the Vintage Cellar Wine Bar Café in Hayward, California, in 1979, and brought nearly forty years of beer, wine, and food industry experience to the paper. He had lectured for UC Berkeley Extension on the wines of California and Europe, judged at major competitions including the American Wine Competition in New York and the West Coast Wine Competition in Reno, and served as head judge for the California State Fair Craft Beer Competition. He was also, improbably, a wine-oriented speechwriter for the late comedian Pat Paulsen — and the lead singer of the Rolling Boil Blues Band, the brewing industry's premier musical group.

The Brewspaper

Under Dalldorf, the Celebrator became a "brewspaper" — a newspaper-format publication covering the gamut from beer styles and history to festivals and emerging craft markets. The San Francisco Chronicle called Dalldorf "quick-witted and impassioned," noting the following of loyalists he gathered over his years as publisher, editor, and columnist. Dalldorf traveled extensively across the United States to cover the beer scene and visited breweries in England, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Thailand, Canada, and Mexico — a reporting range that gave the modest brewspaper an international perspective rare in the American beer press — reporting that gave the paper an international perspective rare in the American beer press.

The Honors

As a beer-drenched publication, the Celebrator earned high honors across North America. As early as 1996, the Ale & Lager Examiner listed Celebrator as the Number One Brewspaper in its annual readers' survey and among the Readers' Choice Top Ten Beer Publications. HappyHours.com named it the Top Pick in the Brewspaper Category, and the Horse Brass Pub in Portland, Oregon — one of America's great beer bars — called it the "Bible of the Brewing World." The San Francisco Chronicle described it as "the oldest running publication of its kind in the United States." For a free-distribution brewspaper to earn that kind of institutional respect — the 'Bible' designation from one of America's great beer bars — testified to three decades of consistent, knowledgeable coverage.

The 30th Anniversary

The paper celebrated its 30th anniversary in February 2018 with a bash at Trumer Brewery in Berkeley, California, held at the end of SF Beer Week — "30 Years of Cheers & Beers!" The anniversary party drew the paper's writers and the Bay Area beer community, a celebration of three decades covering an industry that had grown from a handful of pioneers to thousands of breweries. It would be the paper's last anniversary in print.

The End of Print

In 2018, Dalldorf announced the suspension of the printed version of the 30-year-old brewspaper. "After 30 years of publication the Celebrator Beer News, the first publication to focus exclusively on craft beer, has suspended its print edition," the announcement read. "The economics of a print magazine requires an advertising base that simply is no longer viable. The pervasive use of electronic media has rendered print media superfluous. The expense of design and layout and printing and distribution doesn't work for the beer enthusiast the way it did just a few years ago. The craft beer world has grown tremendously in the last twenty years and beer enthusiasts, craving news and opinions on their favorite subject, are depending on websites and apps for news and reviews."

The Changing Media Climate

The closure reflected the media climate of the late 2010s: many breweries had shifted to guerrilla marketing and social media over traditional journalism, advertising dollars were spread across a greater number of media outlets even as the brewery count grew, and readers consumed beer news through websites and apps. The Celebrator joined All About Beer, Draft Magazine, and BeerAdvocate's print edition among the era's print casualties — the economics of the brewspaper no longer working "the way it did just a few years ago."

Nevada City

Dalldorf moved to Nevada City, California, in 2008 with his wife Arlene, and the paper operated from PO Box 844, Nevada City, CA 95959. The Sierra Nevada foothills town — itself home to a vibrant beer culture — became the unlikely headquarters of America's oldest craft beer newspaper for its final decade — the foothills base from which Dalldorf covered festivals, beer styles, and the ever-expanding craft market into the paper's fourth decade.

The Legacy

For 30 years, Celebrator Beer News was the paper of record for American craft beer's formative decades — from the movement's infancy in 1988 through its explosive growth. Dalldorf, who turned 84 in 2026, remained a fixture at beer events nationwide, his picture a familiar sight in the paper's pages. The "Bible of the Brewing World" may have ceased print, but its three-decade archive — from the movement’s infancy in 1988 to its maturity in 2018 — remains a primary source for the history of American craft beer.

The Brews Cruises and the Swimsuit Issue

The Celebrator was never just a newspaper — it was a social institution. The paper organized Brews Cruises, including a 2017 Alaska sailing from Seattle and 2019 cruises to Amsterdam (April 1–8 with Avalon Waterways) and Alaska (August 16–23 on Celebrity's Millennium from Vancouver, B.C.). And its Brewers Swimsuit Issue — celebrated in a 2018 retrospective — "got its start as a gag or spoof," becoming one of the paper's beloved traditions. The paper also chronicled the festivals of its Nevada County home, including the Sierra Brewfest, northern California's oldest beer festival, whose 29th incarnation took place August 25, 2018, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds.

Official Website

Celebrator Beer News' official website is https://www.celebrator.com. The paper was published from 1988 to 2018 — the oldest craft beer newspaper in North America — under editor and publisher Tom Dalldorf from 1990.