September 23, 3:00pm-6:00pm: A Glass of History

Kimberly Puryear currently serves as the Destination Project Manager with Explore Asheville as well as the co-founder and Executive Director for the North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum. This museum tells the cultural, social, and economic history of our state through the lens of craft beverages with three exhibits currently located in downtown Asheville, regular educational programs, as well as a traveling exhibit that launched last year, set to arrive in Raleigh, NC in May of 2023. Kimberly spent the previous six years as Site Manager at the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site, managing the preservation and interpretation of seven historic buildings as well as the visitor center and museum. Kimberly has worked in the field of public history for seventeen years beginning as the education manager at Mordecai Historic Park in Raleigh in 2006. She completed her master’s in public history from North Carolina State University in 2008 and has continued to work in museums and the tourism industry including the education department at the North Carolina Museum of History. From 2009 to 2012, Kimberly was the Assistant Manager at Historic Stagville, a constituent of the NC State Historic Sites system. From 2012 to 2016 she served as the Assistant Director of the City of Raleigh Museum where she organized social, historic, and cultural programming. She has managed the research and design of numerous permanent and temporary exhibitions and maintained artifact collections across local and state agencies.

Jeff “Puff” Irvin earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Iowa State University. He went on to complete the Master Brewers program through the University of California – Davis, and then became a Diploma Brewer through the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD). He spent over ten years at Olde Main Brewing Company in Ames, IA as their Head Brewer, where he established and continually improved brewing processes and recipes, and managed brewery operations. In August 2013, he became the first full-time instructor for the country’s first accredited Associate of Applied Science program in Brewing, Distillation, and Fermentation at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. Puff currently serves as the Department Chair for Brewing, Distillation, and Fermentation and as the Director of the Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast. Puff created and hosts the Consuming the Craft podcast exploring the craft beverage industry, which you can find through your favorite podcast app.