Drinking Local: Western NC’s Sudsy Beer History

Over the past 200 years, Western North Carolina has evolved from a mountainous frontier known for illicit moonshine production into a renowned destination for craft beer. The business of beer attracts jobs, tourists, and dollars, but it is not without controversy. On Saturday, October 7, at 3 p.m., Hickory Public Library encourages patrons to come out to hear from award-winning beer writer and historian Anne Fitten Glenn. She will be sharing her sudsy story from the wild days of saloons and the 19th century in Western North Carolina breweries through one of the longest Prohibitions in the nation. Drinking local, whether legally or not, is ingrained in and intertwined with the history of WNC. Anne will also share tales of bold entrepreneurs who started the region’s first modern breweries. 

Anne Fitten Glenn has written two beer history books: Asheville Beer and Western North Carolina Beer. As a longtime journalist, she has written about beer, food, parenting, small business, and more. Anne has written for a myriad of publications, including the Asheville Citizen-Times, Mountain Xpress, Edible Asheville, WNC Magazine, Smoky Mountain Living, All About Beer, Explore Asheville, and CraftBeer.com. She was the East Coast marketing director for Oskar Blues during that brewery’s first three years in Brevard. She regularly speaks at conferences and special events about the world’s favorite alcoholic beverage. She has resided in Asheville with her family since 1997. Be sure to mark your calendar to hear these stories directly from the author herself.

To see a full listing of the calendar of events, check out the library's new online calendar at https://hickory.librarycalendar.com/events/month.

For more information, please call 828-304-0500 or visit www.hickorync.gov/library.Patrick Beaver Memorial Library is located at 375 3rd Street NE on the SALT Block. All library programs are free and open to the public.