Will Dogfish Head bring home a Beard Award?

Is the seventh time the charm for Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione?

Let’s hope so. Tonight in Chicago, Calagione, founder of the Milton craft brewery, finds out if he will bring back to Delaware the James Beard Award for most Outstanding Wine, Beer, or Spirits Professional.

The award, which is actually a medal with no cash prize, is given to a beer, wine, or spirits professional who has made a significant national impact on the restaurant industry.

Calagione, who founded Dogfish Head in 1995 with his wife Mariah, has received seven consecutive nominations for the honor, but, each time, he’s come home from food prom empty-handed.

Tonight, Calagione will be competing against fellow nominees Diane Flynt of Foggy Ridge Cider in Dugspur, Virginia; Miljenko Grgich of Grgich Hills Estate in Rutherford, California; Aldo Sohm of New York City's Zalto Glass; and Rob Tod of Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine.

Save the Susan Lucci jokes. Calagione has heard them all. Quite often.

If he wins, he’ll be the first Delawarean to take home a Beard medal since the late Sussex County restaurateur Matt Haley received the organization’s Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2014.

The James Beard Awards are considered the country's most prestigious beverage/culinary arts honors.

Look for our live coverage of the Beard Awards on delawareonline.com The awards ceremony, which can be viewed live at www.jamesbeard.org, starts at 7 p.m. EST. It will be hosted by hosted by Jesse Tyler Ferguson of  the ABC TV show, "Modern Family."

Contact Patricia Talorico at (302) 324-2861 or ptalorico@delawareonline.com and on Twitter @pattytalorico