Award-winning author Anne Fitten Glenn has been writing for publication since she was the “Dear Annie” columnist for her fifth grade newspaper. AF (yes, that’s what her friends call her) moved to Asheville in 1997. After having a couple kids, teaching college, and working with nonprofit organizations, she started writing about beer, food, business, and entertainment.
For the first decade of the 21st century, AF primarily wrote for local newspapers, including the Sunday “Small Business of the Week” feature for the Asheville Citizen-Times, a weekly parenting column called “Edgy Mama,” and a weekly “Brews News” column (both for Mountain Xpress).
The History Press published her first non-fiction book, Asheville Beer: An Intoxicating History of Mountain Brewing, in 2012. Her second beer book, Western North Carolina Beer: A Mountain Brew History, was released by the same publishing house in 2018. She’s also written a suspense novel, Storm Mountain, which is now available as a Kindle e-book.
She pens the “Mountain Brew” feature for Edible Asheville and hosted a radio show and podcast called “Imbibe Asheville.” AF has written for and had photos published in numerous publications, including: USA Today, 750 Daily, Thrillist, All About Beer, Paste, Smoky Mountain Living, WNC Magazine, Charleston Magazine, Edible Aspen, Explore Asheville, Vanity Fair, Virginian Pilot, and CraftBeer.com. Additionally, she has consulted to breweries and restaurants in the realms of public relations and communications.
Her alter ego, Brewgasm, spends too much time on social media dishing about beer, bikes, and history.
Ken Grossman
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.Anne Fitten Glenn is the beer historian of Western North Carolina. She has done in-depth research into that tradition, challenging our beliefs about the past and projecting a flourishing future…Grab a beer, ideally one made in Western North Carolina, and settle in for a story of malt, hops and determination.
What People Are Saying About Anne Fitten
Carolina Beer Guy: New book explores mountain brewing
The story of Western North Carolina beer is a fascinating tale filled with groundbreakers and risk-takers. – By Tony Kiss
Tapping into the past, present of Appalachia
Luckily, we have folks like Anne Fitten Glenn. A longtime craft beer writer and industry insider, Glenn has spent several years wrangling in these feral cat breweries that seemingly pop-up overnight, each now a cornerstone of the local business sector and a regional economic driver — a return of blue-collar jobs in a booming tourism market. – By Garet K. Woodward
The Brew that We Do
An aficionado shares the scoop on WNC’s ever-growing beer story. – By Jason Sandford
Asheville food reads: New cookbooks, a local beer bible and more
Interesting factoids include information about long-gone breweries and unearthed tidbits about WNC’s lesser-known cities. – By MacKensy Lunsford
MacKensy Lunsford
Food and beverage reporter, Asheville Citizen-TimesAnne Fitten is as involved in her subject matter as one can be—which isn’t to say she’s 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 brew news.
Garret K. Woodward
DesigArts and entertainment editor, The Smoky Mountain News/Smoky Mountain LivingnationBy the time you get a grasp on the enormity, complexity, and staggering cultural and economical impact of the craft beer scene in Western North Carolina, it’s already moved two steps ahead of you. It’s a ‘catch me if you can’ industry in these parts, with Anne Fitten Glenn seemingly the only one who can—and does—keep up.
Mike Rangel
President and founder, Asheville Brewing CompanyWinston Churchill once said, ‘History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.’ Luckily for the WNC brewing community, we have historian and writer Anne Fitten Glenn to take all of the spirit and toil of our local brewery revolution and pour it into a crushable, but full-bodied, book.
Tony Kiss
Beer reporter, Mountain XpressThe story of Western North Carolina’s brew scene is a rich and colorful tale that needs to be told. Anne Fitten Glenn has lots of experience writing about beer and breweries. Her engaging new book tells how Western North Carolina became such a key place for craft beer.