North Carolina Brewers Guild names Win Bassett as new executive director

Posted on — Jeff Fobes

The NC Brewers Guild announces:

Feb. 13, 2012—Win Bassett, an attorney, writer and North Carolina beer advocate, has been named the new Executive Director of the North Carolina Brewers Guild <http://ncbeer.org> . He will assume duties of the position today, February 13, 2012.

Bassett is contributing writer and education coordinator for All About Beer <http://allaboutbeer.org> magazine and its World Beer Festivals <http://allaboutbeer.com/gather-for-beer/world-beer-festival/general-information/> , and he is co-founder and writer at http://ncbrewing.org <http://ncbrewing.org/> . He is also interim secretary of the North American Guild of Beer Writers <http://twitter.com/@nagbw> .

Bassett holds bachelor degrees in electrical engineering and computer engineering from North Carolina State University <http://ncsu.edu> , where he was a Park Scholar <http://www.ncsu.edu/park_scholarships/> . He earned a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law <http://law.unc.edy> and was an editor of the North Carolina Law Review <http://www.nclawreview.org/> .

“All of us were extremely impressed with [his] enthusiasm and with [his] suitability for the Executive Director position,” said Paul Philippon, Founder of The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery <http://www.duckrabbitbrewery.com> in Farmville and President of the North Carolina Brewers Guild Board of Directors.

“The North Carolina beer community is thriving,” said Bassett. “We have over fifty existing breweries and brewpubs, and at least five more plan to open in 2012. With Sierra Nevada <http://sierranevada.com> coming to the western part of the state by 2014, I cannot think of a more exciting time to be a member of this community, which is truly unique due to its extremely collaborative and congenial nature, focus on local and hyper-local communities, commitment to sustainable practices and fervent support from its enthusiasts.”

Bassett stated that he will focus on “communication, transparency and legislative efforts in leading this new era of the North Carolina Brewers Guild.” “I agree with [his] priorities, said John Marrino, Owner of The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery <http://oldemeckbrew.com> in Charlotte. “From my perspective, [he’s] off to a good start.”

About the North Carolina Brewers Guild
The North Carolina Brewers Guild is a not-for-profit 501(c)6 tax-exempt organization comprised of brewers, wholesalers, retailers and craft beer enthusiasts focused on promoting North Carolina beer. North Carolina boasts the largest number of craft breweries in the American South, with more than 50 breweries and brewpubs. It is also the most decorated state in the South with more medals from the World Beer Cup® <http://www.worldbeercup.org/> and the Great American Beer Festival <http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/> than any of its neighboring states. The North Carolina Brewers Guild seeks to preserve and to promote the beer and brewing culture of “The State of Southern Beer.” For more information about the North Carolina Brewers Guild, including a list of North Carolina’s brewery members, visit http://ncbeer.org <http://ncbeer.org/> and follow @ncbeer <http://twitter.com/@ncbeer> on Twitter.

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About Jeff Fobes
As a long-time proponent of media for social change, my early activities included coordinating the creation of a small community FM radio station to serve a poor section of St. Louis, Mo. In the 1980s I served as the editor of the "futurist" newsletter of the U.S. Association for the Club of Rome, a professional/academic group with a global focus and a mandate to act locally. During that time, I was impressed by a journalism experiment in Mississippi, in which a newspaper reporter spent a year in a small town covering how global activities impacted local events (e.g., literacy programs in Asia drove up the price of pulpwood; soybean demand in China impacted local soybean prices). Taking a cue from the Mississippi journalism experiment, I offered to help the local Green Party in western North Carolina start its own newspaper, which published under the name Green Line. Eventually the local party turned Green Line over to me, giving Asheville-area readers an independent, locally focused news source that was driven by global concerns. Over the years the monthly grew, until it morphed into the weekly Mountain Xpress in 1994. I've been its publisher since the beginning. Mountain Xpress' mission is to promote grassroots democracy (of any political persuasion) by serving the area's most active, thoughtful readers. Consider Xpress as an experiment to see if such a media operation can promote a healthy, democratic and wise community. In addition to print, today's rapidly evolving Web technosphere offers a grand opportunity to see how an interactive global information network impacts a local community when the network includes a locally focused media outlet whose aim is promote thoughtful citizen activism. Follow me @fobes
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