ASHEVILLE - Longtime Asheville Citizen Times reporter and editor — and local trailblazer of craft beer writing — has died.
Tony Kiss died just after midnight Aug. 17 in Mission Hospital after a brief hospitalization, according to his sister, Mary Kiss. He was 68. Kiss was born March 14, 1955, in Tennessee as Anthony Josef Kiss.
Mary Kiss said Tony died of complications due to diabetes.
Many know Kiss as "The Beer Guy,” a moniker earned from his personal passion for beer that led him to craft a career in journalism steeped in beer before it was trendy or widely understood or respected, according to Highland Brewing founder Oscar Wong.