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

We continue with part 2 of our season premiere kickoff with Steve Ksycki | CEO HBA & Import Division President & Jerry Bishop- Regional Sales Manager for Ohio/Michigan/KY/TN from Hofbräuhaus of America.

Even though Oktoberfest season is later in the year, planning for the popular beer brand release is underway much earlier. It's an important tradition in making sure that everything they do is timed out perfectly.

Hofbräuhaus of America locations have an annual event called The sports of Hofbräu Masskrugstemmen: (Stein Holding competition:) These guys go into specific detail of training (yes, training!) for this event.

The legacy of Hofbräuhaus goes back centuries. Finding the right people to uphold and keep that legacy going is a very important aspect of the company.

While the Hofbräuhaus brand continues to be popular with beer drinkers all around the world. Here in the United States, changes have been made at their locations to meet the demands and expectations of consumers.

Prost!

We are so excited to be kicking off our third season of The Brewery Underground Podcast, featuring Hofbräuhaus of America. This episode has been one we have been trying to nail down for a long time.

Our two guests: Steve Ksycki | CEO HBA & Import Division President & Jerry Bishop- Regional Sales Manager for Ohio/Michigan/KY/TN. These gentlemen have been part of Hofbräuhaus USA for many years.

The Hofbräuhaus brand, history, and legacy are known worldwide. Thanks to their marketing folks, you will hear and see that we came prepared for this one.

Hofbräuhaus of America has breweries across the United States. We talked about the long-storied history of those locations and the memories created throughout the years.

Changes in the beer market and the strategy of a popular Hofbräuhaus style have gained momentum. These guys describe it as "what's old is new again" as things come full circle.

Hofbräuhaus dates back centuries. Originating in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, where the original beer hall remains. Steve & Jerry shared their thoughts on visiting throughout the years. Scott also talked about his trip in 2025 when he went visited for the first time.

Prost!

Welcome to Episode 107. This is the last episode of Season 2 where we give away our annual BUPA awards for 10 different beer style categories from 2025.

Liz from Everyday I'm Bubbling and Tom and Brad from The Hilltappers joined us for this episode, to discuss the styles we gave awards to and to share some beer stories from 2025.

We also gave a few more BUPA awards away for some other categories, that weren't beer styles, but were influential in our year.

This one is audio as we had some video difficulties but we will have some video clips for social media.

Let us know your thoughts on these categories, beers and breweries we discuss.

Cheers!

As we release this episode on Christmas Day, we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Here at the Brewery Underground Podcast, we do love our top ten lists. This year, Scott and Steve spent a lot of time visiting new breweries. Now, we have to rate our favorite ones.

This list wasn't easy! It never is. With so many to choose from. We broke down all the things that make a brewery so special. The space itself, the beer, and of course, how good of a time that took place.

The brewery experience of 2025 has been a memorable one for us both. We hope it was for you as well.

Cheers

We are celebrating the holiday season at The Brewery Underground Podcast. Scott, Steve, and our good friend Chris Finen are here to discuss our Top Ten Craft Beers of 2025!

We made our list and checked it twice! Now it's time to find out who made the cut! This wasn't easy! Many beer styles to choose from. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it.

Join us on as we all had different choices. What was the deciding factor? How do we go about rating our beer? Which craft beer is number one? Tune in and find out.

While the main focus of this episode was our favorite craft beer. For the second year in a row, we subjected ourselves to a taste challenge of what we refer to as "shitty beers". Hey, it's all in good fun.

It remains a mystery who came up with this idea. But get ready to laugh and feel our pain.

Cheers!

In Part 2 with our interview with Sean Jones, we continue our discussion about Untappd.

We further discuss each of our criteria for what we rate a beer.

What deserves a 5.0 rating?

What are our starting points for an above average beer?

What is the minimum score we give beer in order to have it again?

We talk Untappd badges, levels of badges, will Sean get a badge for reaching 50,000 unique check-ins?

What's the most check-ins Sean has had in 1 day?

What is his most checked in style?

What are ways Untappd could be improved?

You're probably wondering where does Sean rank, with his number of check-ins, in the US and in the world.

We certainly talk about that and those questions are answered.

There is so much packed into this episode, we hope you enjoy it.

Our continuing partnership with The Foamy Heads, has been very fruitful and rewarding. We love Mitch and Rich, and we have a lot more in store with those guys coming soon.

Cheers!

The Brewery Underground Podcast

Steve & Scott

We love talking about Untappd. It's a controversial tool in the craft beer world, and a tool that we use pretty much everyday, as we check in and rate our beers.

We met a guy who has mastered Untappd and has the most check ins that we've ever seen or even heard about.

Sean Jones is his name and we are all extremely impressed with his numbers - which by the way- have increased by 360 since we recorded this.

In this episode, we specifically ask Sean how he has been able to achieve these staggering numbers, and how does he even come across that many beers.

We also discuss Sean's rating system and processes, when he checks beers into Untappd.

Sean is also a moderator, in addition to an insider on Untappd, and we find out what that is and what it entails.

Has Sean ever heard from Untappd in recognition of his numbers?

This is another episode where we teamed up with The Foamy Heads - Rich and Mitch, as they are certainly our partners in crime, and we share a ton of the same interests in craft beer.

We all were extremely interested in Sean's Untappd numbers, and had to get to the bottom of how he was able to achieve them.

We bill our collab with the Foamy Heads, as The Foamy Underground, and we love partnering with those guys.

This is just Part 1 and Part 2 comes out next week.

Cheers!

The Brewery Underground Podcast

Steve & Scott

We're calling this a bonus episode, as we had so much content with Jonathan and Robert from Cedar Glade Brews, while we were at their brewery recording our 100th episode with Mitch and Rich of The Foamy Heads.

We just kept the party and recording going as we drank beer, shared stories - including our desert island beers, and just enjoyed being in good company.

As we sample a variety beers - Jonathan and Robert go into detail about some of their beer makeup and recipes, also they talk about coming up with beer names, and we have a discussion about Mayday Brewing, that was an original brewery in Murfreesboro, TN - and how much they meant to Cedar Glade Brews.

We hope you enjoy this episode.

Cheers!

Steve & Scott

-The Brewery Underground Podcast

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We hope you enjoy this earlier in the day released episode - while you're cracking a beer at 8AM. (It's a holiday - you're allowed)

The Foamy Heads and The Brewery Underground Podcast kept the night going after our 100th Episode collab.

This was an extra special episode (both parts 1 and 2), because immediately after we recorded our 100th episode at Cedar Glade Brews in Murfreesboro, TN, the Owner - Jonathan, and the Head Brewer - Robert, both sat down with us for an extended conversation and a fantastic interview.

Jonathan and Robert were gracious hosts and they made sure we were hooked up with beers for the entire night.

We sampled so many of their beers, including a flight and something none of us had ever had or ever heard of - a Koduolu Farmhouse Ale, that is a style of beer from Estonia, sometimes called a raw ale.

In this episode we talk about the Murfreesboro, TN beer scene which included some brewery closings of breweries we were all fans of.

We're all in agreeance that Cedar Glade Brews is a destination brewery in Murfreesboro, and a place you can spend an entire afternoon or evening at.

The other thing we enjoy so much, is the banter Jonathan and Robert have between each other. They are hysterical and it's reflective of the fun they're having brewing beer.

Cheers!

Steve and Scott

-The Brewery Underground Podcast

This is a re-release of Episode 10 that we have remastered the audio on, and an episode we talk about all the time, because Carl was so great.

We like to do this from time to time, just to bring some of our early episodes back to the surface.

We weren't doing video back then, so unfortunately that's not available, but this episode is worth a listen anyway.

Carl Meier from Black Abbey Brewing Company in Nashville, TN is a force in the Nashville craft beer scene, and we were fortunate enough to talk to him for over an hour.

He has great stories and his brewery makes great beer. Anyone that knows Carl, knows that he is a genuine guy and someone you want to know.

We just thought this episode was worth another listen during this holiday week, while you're sitting around drinking beer.

Cheers!