For his friendship, for suggesting me as a possible author for this book, and for providing the base for what became the North Carolina beer history timeline, I thank Jonathan Surratt, proprietor of beermapping.com, a tool that should be in the back pocket of every beer tourist, and beerinator.com, a wonderful online North Carolina beer community.
Thanks to the fantastic staff at John F. Blair, Publisher, for taking a chance on an untested author and helping me through the process with professional grace, humor, and enthusiasm.
A huge thank-you to the North Carolina craft beer community, from brewers to drinkers to everyone in between. The enthusiasm and drive that all of you show are both inspiring and humbling. I would especially like to thank Sebastian Wolfram of Natty Greene’s and Sean Lily Wilson of Fullsteam for their friendship, unending support, and passion for North Carolina beer.
I offer thanks to John Schlick, Adam Rowe, Sarah D’Amato, Stuart Arnold, Glenn Powlas, Larry Jones, Mike Ranck, Jim Looney, Chris Darling, Joe Mecca, Jeremy Fanning, Adam Ledford, Daniel McKinnin, and Jon Odgers for help in tracking down bottle shops around North Carolina.
Thanks to my left hand, assistant brewer, and good friend Chris Shields for compiling an enormous amount of the information in these pages and especially for taking some of the pressure of starting Mystery Brewing Company off my shoulders while I finished the book.
No amount of thanks could possibly be enough for my lovely wife, Sarah Ficke, who spent hours combing through historical documents, even more hours being the first reader on the book, and still more hours putting up with me while I worked on it. I could not do this—or anything—without her.