The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel

Steve and I did an Instagram Live Happy Hour the day before the very first Great Lakes beer was hitting the stores in Tennessee, and after we had dropped the episode where we talked to Chris Brown and Josh Sazy from Great Lakes making the announcement.

This was just to get the word out and discuss it amongst ourselves and see if anyone wanted to hop on with us to further discuss. Rich from the Foamy Heads joined us for a couple of minutes too.

We're not really counting this as an episode, but it's an hour's worth of content and just some fun conversation about Great Lakes beer being distributed into TN.

Although some of the info is a little dated, as the beer is here now, we wanted to continue the passion we have for Great Lakes Brewing Company.

We hope you enjoy, we didn't want to bury this in the archives and thought this was as good of a place to put it, as any.

Cheers!

Emily Hutto is the founder and owner of RadCraft as well as a writer, freelancer, author, strategic marketing professional, podcaster, and public speaker specializing in the craft beverage supply chain.

RadCraft is a marketing and communications agency that focuses specifically on the craft beer industry. They help breweries, maltsters, and other companies in the craft beverage supply chain promote their brands and tell their stories.

In this episode we ask Emily where the RadCraft name comes from and how Radcraft was born. We also talk about why sourcing local grains and why a brewery knowing their malt house is important. Emily was a home brewer and went Pro, but instead of brewing beer at a brewery, she created RadCraft.

We have some fun with Emily at the end of the episode and give her a scenario about a fake brewery that has some issues, and ask her what she would do to fix it.

One of the best things about doing this podcast is meeting people in the industry through other contacts, who we were not originally on our radar, and this episode was literally born because of that.

We met Emily while we were connecting with Brent Manning from Riverbend Malthouse (Episodes 98 and 99), as RadCraft does all of their marketing, and we are so thankful for that. Not just for her joining us on the episode, but forming a friendship with her, and her having continued contact. Stay tuned for more things with Emily coming soon.

Emily and RadCraft are truly at the top of their game and we can't thank her enough for joining us, and we look forward to chatting with her again in the future.

You will know the names Emily Hutto and RadCraft after listening to this episode!

Cheers!

Steve and Scott

-The Brewery Underground Podcast

Welcome to another Foamy Underground Production!

We welcome Braden Gall and Chris Chamberlain to the podcast along with our good friends Mitch and Rich of The Foamy Heads.

Braden and Chris created and narrated a 7 part Podcast series called 'Mashville: An Improbable History of Nashville Craft Beer', that all of us thoroughly enjoyed.

Mashville was well researched, produced and narrated, and we were along for the journey, as all of the places they talked about, were familiar to us.

Chris is a Food, Drink and Travel Writer for the Nashville Scene and is a patron at many local establishments.

Braden is Owner of 440 Sports / Media, Host on ESPN Sports and also loves the local craft beer scene, especially in East Nashville.

We had a great time talking to Chris and Braden, they're funny, witty, and speak the same beer language that we do.

Cheers!

Steve and Scott

Cincinnati, Ohio is known for great tasting beer. Northern Row Brewery, Distillery & Taproom is carrying on that tradition. We are joined in this episode by General Manger Josh Lively and Head Brewer Justin Devilbiss

Northern Row is located in the OTR (Over the Rhine) section of the city, where the building itself has a lot of stories to tell. Our Cincinnati Correspondent Liz also joined us in this episode. Her and Steve got a tour back in December and talked about their experience.

It's a busy time of the year at Northern Row. In early March, they will be involved in the 24th annual Bockfest celebration. This time-honored event brings out the crowds to try some of the best Bock beer you will find anywhere.

Bock beer isn't the only style we talked about here. Northern Row is known for its Lager game, a style Josh is extremely passionate about. But it's not just Lagers either. If it's a Kolsch you're after or an IPA. They have those to. Oh yeah, we can't forget the spirits for those of you looking for something different.

Cheers!

It's not everyday that beer dreams come true, and although that sounds like an exaggeration, it is NOT in this case.

If any of you have spent 5 minutes following us, you know that we've been lobbying for Great Lakes Brewing Company to distribute their beer into Tennessee AND IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!!!

Starting on 3/2/26 Great Lakes beer will be sold in Tennessee and absolutely NOBODY could be happier about it than us!

In this episode we talk to Chris Brown who is the Co-CEO of Great Lakes and Josh Sazy who is the Regional Sales Manager for the Southeast, and they were nice enough to include us in this announcement. We are honored and humbled to be a part of this.

We started a petition, we have a Bring Great Lakes Beer to TN Instagram account, and we made several IG posts about Great Lakes beer, we've talked about it many times, and it all paid off.

Great Lakes heard us and saw our posts and our passion for their beer and it's surreal that it's actually happening.

We realize the headline of this episode gives away the subject of the episode, but it's absolutely worth listening to, plus it's only 38 and a half minutes long.

Thanks to 51st North Taproom in West Nashville for hosting us for this interview.

We can't wait to hear from you all about this extremely exciting episode.

Cheers!

Brandon Bingman is the owner of Middle Ground Brewing Company in Murfreesboro, TN and we got to sit down with him at his brewery, along with our homies Rich and Mitch of The Foamy Heads to talk about all things Middle Ground.

In this episode we talk to Brandon about his history in the beer business - including working at Yazoo. Why he chose Murfreesboro to put his brewery, how much he likes making IPA's and why they're important to a brewery.

Are IBU's a thing? Will they make a PB&J beer? How do they feel about mixing beer?

Untappd comes up (as it usually does), we also talk about how Middle Ground views beer as community and their taproom reflects that in their layout, their mug club memberships, and what 2026 holds for them.

Additionally, we try multiple of Middle Ground's beers throughout the episode including a Helles, a Stout, an IPA, and a cherry cordial. Mitch even shares his clarified milk punch that he made, and it was delicious.

We always love doing these in-person interviews with The Foamy Heads, and Middle Ground Brewing Company is another example of that with their great space.

We thank Brandon for hosting us, sitting down with us for so long, sharing his story and beer with us and for just being cool.

We hope you enjoy the episode and go visit Middle Ground Brewing Company in Murfreesboro, TN.

Cheers!

The Brewery Underground Podcast heads to East Nashville for an on-location conversation with Chad Mueller and Mike Morbitzer of Stoke House Brewing and Barbecue.

Stoke House may be one of Nashville’s newer breweries, but Chad and Mike brought years of brewing, food, and hospitality experience into creating a neighborhood brewery built around two things they take seriously: great beer and great barbecue.

We dig into the story behind Stoke House, from writing a business plan and considering building a brewery from the ground up to taking over the former Crazy Gnome brewery space in East Nashville. Chad shares what goes into launching a brewery, dialing in a new brewhouse, developing recipes, maintaining quality, and knowing when a beer simply isn’t good enough to serve.

We also explore Stoke House’s beer lineup, including Original, their crisp Southern-inspired lager brewed with Tennessee barley and corn along with jasmine rice; Classic English-style pub beer; Premium and Reserve IPAs; and Signature, their lightly smoky dark English ale. Chad also explains why patience matters in brewing, how they approach quality control, and how their beers are intentionally designed to pair with food.

Then we get hungry.

Mike joins the conversation to talk about Stoke House’s barbecue program, including brisket, Memphis-style ribs, pulled pork, smoked burgers made from brisket trimmings, sausage, and the time and attention required to produce fresh barbecue without taking shortcuts. We also discuss beer and barbecue pairings and how Stoke House incorporates house-smoked malt into its beer.

Beyond beer, Stoke House is creating an inclusive East Nashville hangout with house-made sodas, hop water, non-alcoholic options, vegetarian choices, great food, and even some old-school Nintendo 64.

This is more than a conversation about opening a brewery. It’s about building a neighborhood destination, taking chances, maintaining quality, supporting Nashville’s local beer community, and creating a place people genuinely want to hang out.

If you love Nashville craft beer, brewery stories, barbecue, beer and food pairings, or discovering great breweries while traveling, this episode is for you.

🍺 Brewery Underground Podcast
🎙️ Hosted by Steve Sullivan & Scott Touron
📍 Recorded on location at Stoke House Brewing and Barbecue in East Nashville, Tennessee

Cheers! 🍻

Mayday Brewery was the OG brewery in Murfreesboro, TN and the man at the helm was Ozzy Nelson!

Along with our good pals, The Foamy Heads, we get to talk to Ozzy in this collab episode, all about Mayday.

We discuss the history, the beer, the good times, the famous tours he would give, the space itself and the reason he got out of the brewery business.

We also talk to him about his new ventures, which include hosting SINGO and drawing caricatures, all while still doing his day job (which he has always had).

Ozzy is an extremely interesting guy, who is also colorful, knowledgeable, funny, and very charismatic.

We all have Ozzy and Mayday stories, and we know Ozzy has touched and helped many people in the beer industry, and he will always be beer royalty to us.

Crack open a cold one and sit back and let Ozzy, Mitch, Rich, Steve and Scott take you on a little beer journey.

Cheers!

Steve & Scott

Sweetwater Brewing Company in Atlanta, GA, is a brand everyone is familiar with, in the craft beer world, and have been around since 1997.

We talked with Evan Woolard, who is the Senior Brand Manager with Sweetwater, while wearing our "sweet" Sweetwater gear, and he was fantastic.

We talk about some of Sweetwater's newer releases, their original releases including 420, IPA, 420 G-13 strain and Blue, and about some of their mixed cases.

The Dank Tank is a topic of conversation, that we learned a lot about, and had a lot of fun discussing. Make sure to check out that video that Sweetwater put out about it - it's great and very funny. We'll post a link to it on social media.

Ever heard of 420 Fest? Well, it's an annual music and beer festival in Atlanta, and it's a pretty big deal. We discuss that and the upcoming 2026 lineup.

Sweetwater is proud of being from the South, and they love Southern Culture, and are partnered with many local businesses and organizations within the community.

Additionally, Sweetwater Brewing Company is involved in clean water initiatives like Water Keeper Alliance, that is a cause that's so very important to all of us.

You're going to enjoy this episode with Evan as he's got great knowledge, great personality, he's engaging, has a great sense of humor and was very giving to us.

Please make sure to give us a follow on all of our platforms.

Cheers!

Steve and Scott

-The Brewery Underground Podcast

Our good friend Ashley Rotruck joined us for this episode, and we had a great time with a lot of laughs.

We've labeled Ashley "The Queen of Sours", due to her love of fruited sour beers, and it's well earned.

Ashley - AKA- @brewdettewv, has a huge following of her Instagram beer page, and it's how we got to know her.

In this episode, we start out by all 3 of us having a flight of 4 fruited sour beers - Steve and Scott have 4 different beers from Rar Brewing, from their 'Out of Order' series, that Ashley sent us. Ashley has a flight of 4 fruited beers from XUL and Southern Grist - all from Tennessee, that we sent her. We may have all been pre-diabetic after drinking those beers.

We ask Ashley about when and how she started her beer page, how and what she posts on her page, Instagram algorithms, real beer pages vs. phony ones, what she drank before craft beer, how are women perceived in craft beer and so much more.

Ashley is famously known for her love of pickle beers, and we take a deep dive into those.

We thank Ashley so much for joining us and spending so much time with us. She gave us so much great content and really knows her stuff. We value her friendship and her continued support of the craft beer industry. She's a great ambassador for craft beer and the craft beer community.

Cheers!

Steve and Scott

-The Brewery Underground Podcast