Glenn - Asheville Beer

Anne Fitten has been the trusted source for reliable information about brewing in the western part of the state for as long as I can remember. This piece of literature will be a significant contribution to the North Carolina beer community.

Win Bassett, executive director, North Carolina Brewers Guild, social media and beer education director, All About Beer magazine

The story of Western North Carolinas brew scene is a rich and colorful tale that needs to be told. This book brings it all together in one place.

Tony Kiss, Asheville Citizen-Times entertainment editor and beer columnist

Anne Fitten is as involved in her subject matter as one can bewhich isnt to say shes deep in her cups. Rather, she has managed to be both on the ground floor and backstage as the brewery scene in North Carolina has exploded. Having worked with Anne Fitten in various capacities in my career, I know that there are few people that can match her knowledge and wit in the arena of brews news.

Mackensy Lunsford, food editor, Asheville Scene

The depths to which Anne Fitten has gone to get the background story on beer history has me convinced that this will be a page turner for beer aficionados, curious Asheville locals, newcomers, wannabe residents and regular history buffs.

Oscar Wong, president and founder, Highland Brewing Company

Published by American Palate

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2012 by Anne Fitten Glenn

All rights reserved

Cover image by Bill Rhodes.

First published 2012

e-book edition 2012

Manufactured in the United States

ISBN 978.1.61423.705.1

Library of Congress CIP data applied for.

print ISBN 978.1.60949.631.9

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Contents

Foreword

One daynine Asheville breweriesnine Asheville beers. Okay, it was more like fifteen Asheville beers. Its not like I could have gone to each brewery and tried only one of its beers. Im only human.

While shooting an episode of Drinking Made Easy in the summer of 2011, we (my stunt drinker, Steve McKenna, and I) drank our way through nine Beer City, USA breweries on one long day of shooting. I met the author of this book the next day at the Thirsty Monk Pub. I challenged Steve to see which of us could correctly identify the nine different beers wed tasted the day before. Steve won the challenge. It was devastating, but I digress.

A few months later, Anne Fitten Glenn interviewed me for her Brews News column in Ashevilles newsweekly Mountain Xpress. Then she asked me if Id write a foreword for her book, which is what youre reading right now. I said yes. Just seeing if youre paying attention.

Despite all the shenanigans we get up to on Drinking Made Easy, we really do care as much about the education (information) as we do the entertainment (shenanigans) while making the show. Beer not only tastes good, and enables me to tolerate Steve even better, but it also has a rich history, and were in the midst of a burgeoning revolution. Were in a second coming in American beer history. And a lot of that history is happening in Asheville, North Carolina.

Anne Fittens book covers the history of beer and brewing in the Asheville beer region. She writes about the late 1800s, when downtown saloons were the favored hangout spots for both outlaws (Steve) and businessmen (me). She then tells the tale of the temperance crazies and how prohibition lasted a long, long time around Ashevilleshedding light on the fact that dry counties and towns still exist in Western North Carolina. Then there was the Dark Age itself, prohibition, which ironically gave a boost to the moonshining subculture, which, according to the author, helped pave the way for Asheville brewers. Ive learned not to argue with Anne Fitten, lest she stop paying me in beer.

Much of this book recounts the golden age of Beer City, from Highland Brewings start in a downtown basement in 1994 to the expansion of craft beer giant Sierra Nevada. It explains how Asheville grew from a craft beer wasteland to find its place on the map as Beer City, USA.

Anne Fitten has been writing about beer and the beer business as a freelance journalist for several years, and this book is the culmination of her hopped and fermented passion. Its a great read, especially if youve got a nice frothy pint of some Asheville-brewed beer (and there are plenty to choose from) by your side. This book will make you thirsty, so youd better grab one. And while youre at it, Ill take one, too.

Cheers,

Zane Lamprey

Host of Drinking Made Easy and author of Three Sheets

Acknowledgements

So many people helped and supported me throughout the journey of writing this book. Thanks to each and every one of you.

Special thanks to the fabulous book lovers at The History Press, especially Jessica Berzon for pitching me on the idea of this book and Adam Ferrell for his enthusiastic and professional editorial shepherding of it.

Huge thanks to my interns Rhey Haggerty and Nick Recktenfeld, both of whom provided essential and helpful historical research. Thanks to Pam Alexander for helping clean up the Guide to Asheville Beer appendix and to Erik Lars Myers for providing a goodly portion of the glossary.

Cheers to Zane Lamprey for writing the foreword and putting up with my fan girl glee about his contribution.

Id like to give a shout-out to everyone in the Western North Carolina beer communityfrom brewers to distributors to retailers to beer lovers to everyone in between. Special thanks to every single one of the beer industry people who spent time talking to me.

Thanks to local historian and writer Rob Neufeld for sending me down some interesting paths and to Tony Kiss, the guy whos been writing about the Asheville beer scene the longest, for telling me stories no one else remembers and even digging through the Asheville Citizen-Times morgue for me.

Particular thanks go to the beer folks whom I count as friendswho support me, share beer with me and (almost) always return my phone calls: Julie Atallah of Bruisin Ales, Win Bassett of the North Carolina Brewers Guild, Jason Caughman of Pisgah Brewing, Andy Dahm of French Broad Brewing, Mary Eliza McRae of Budweiser of Asheville, Mike Rangel of Asheville Brewing, Jimi Rentz of Barleys Taproom, Tim Schaller of Wedge Brewing, Dennis Thies of Green Man Brewing and Oscar Wong of Highland Brewing.

Thanks to the photographers and businesses who graciously donated images for the book, especially Bill Rhodes, who shot the amazing cover photo, and the folks at Mountain Xpress, who also have let me pen a regular beer column for more than three years. Particularly deserving of gratitude are my colleagues Rebecca Sulock and Mackensy Lunsford, who were patient when my Brews News column was a little late.

I could not have written this without the knowledge and dedication of the staffs at University of North CarolinaAshevilles Ramsey Library Special Collections and Pack Memorial Public Librarys North Carolina Collection. Special thanks to Colin Reeve and Heidi Penner at UNCA for going above and beyond. Also thanks to Jon Elliston for the library date, where we geeked out on historical research in the North Carolina Collection.