The Gaston Brewing Company Story: When Vision Meets Passion

Littleton, North Carolina is home to one of the state’s most beautiful vacation destinations: Lake Gaston. Peaceful and quaint, it is also one of Darrin Jones’ favorite locales. One fateful day, while Darrin relaxed lakeside, sipped cold suds and reminisced about his summers at the lake, inspiration suddenly struck: He would start his own craft beer company.  This company would embody everything Lake Gaston meant to him; swimming and fishing at the lake, unwinding at the campfire.  Fond family memories.  He needed two things to actualize his vision: a location and a brew master.

Fort Bragg beckoned Darrin Jones; a proud veteran paratrooper of the United States Army’s prestigious 82nd Airborne Division, Darrin felt compelled to bring the world of craft brew—and with it, a little Lake Gaston nostalgia—to the home of the Army’s largest installation. 

Unbeknownst to Darrin, a fellow veteran—and as it happens, a talented brew master—was also seeking to start his own craft beer company.  Troy Rassmussen, a Green Beret and consummate Cheesehead, first started brewing in 2004, when he received a “Mr. Beer” brewing kit from one of his family members.  Although his very first batch didn’t quite turn out as he’d hoped, he was hooked.  His passion for brewing grew as he honed his skills over the next several years.  He had discovered his “raison d’etre,” his purpose.  He would become a professional brew master. 

In early 2015, the fates of the two long-term craft aficionadas became intertwined. 

Troy, along with his wife Trish, had recently relocated from Colorado to Fayetteville, NC—precisely where Darrin sought to establish the Lake Gaston-inspired brew company.  Though Darrin had succeeded in securing a prime location downtown Fayetteville, he still needed a brewer to operate and manage the business. Some would say sheer coincidence brought Darrin and Troy together; others would argue ‘twas providence which called them to the right place and the right time. In either case, if it weren’t for both of them working with the same realtor, Fayetteville may not have become home to the Lake Gaston Brewing Company. 

Today, the Lake Gaston Brewing Company invites you to Fayetteville’s historic downtown Hay Street, to the celebrated Horne building, where cold, locally brewed craft , complementary chef-prepared fare, and memories of summers at the lake await.

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