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

Our effort to bring Great Lakes beer to Tennessee continues. It's no secret! If you listen to the podcast, then you know, Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, Ohio is one of our favorites. We visited the location in May. Michael Williams returns after joining us a year ago. He's been a part of the team going on 13 years! These days, his focus is on brand development. This year, Great Lakes Br...

This was originally Episode 39 of our Podcast, and since it's Oktoberfest season and it officially starts on September 20th, we decided to re-release it. We recorded this episode at Blackstone Brewing Co. in Nashville, TN and we were joined by the person who might know the most about Oktoberfest - Scott Mertie. Scott is the owner of Nashville Brewing Co. in Nashville, TN and all of their beers...

The Brewers Association is a nonprofit trade organization based in the U.S. that supports and promotes small and independent American craft brewers. In this episode of Brewery Underground, Steve and Scott sit down with Matt Gacioch, staff economist at the Brewers Association, to dig into the numbers, trends, and future of craft beer. Matt breaks down the Brewers Association’s role in supporting in...

Welcome to Episode 90 of The Brewery Underground Podcast! Since it's Oktoberfest season, we thought we'd comprise a montage of clips from previous episodes, where we talked specifically about Oktoberfest beers and the season. In this episode we feature clips from our conversations with The Hilltappers, Esoteric Brewing Company, Johnson City Brewing Company, Hoppin' Frog Brewery and Steve and Scott...

2 of Nashville's craft beer podcast teams come together once again. The Foamy Heads and The Brewery Underground Podcast team up to talk about a HUGE acquisition in the Nashville craft beer scene. Xul Beer Company has purchased Southern Grist Brewing Company, and it's something we all wanted to get together and discuss. This was more or less an impromptu episode (hence dropping it on a diff...

There are a lot of great places in Tennessee to drink craft beer. Among them, is Johnson City Brewing Company, in Johnson City, Tennessee. We caught up with Owner Eric Latham, and Head Brewer Anna McKay to talk about what they do. Eric has been brewing the beer for a long time. Anna, was recently promoted to her position after having spent years working her way up the ladder. Oktoberfest season ha...

The winds of change are blowing through Nashville this summer! Talk about an action-packed episode. We have news on Southern Grist Brewing Company being taken over by Xul Brewing Company out of Knoxville. We will share all the details of what we know so far! That's not all! Bearded Iris has also been acquired by a very large brewery from Memphis! Stoke Haus Brewing and Barbeque is new to the Nashv...

Part 2 of our interview with Fred, John and Zachary of Hoppin' Frog Brewery, picks up where we left off. The importance of making sure the beer tastes like it says it does, is extremely important to Hoppin' Frog. A chocolate covered strawberry Stout should taste exactly like that! Steve describes the one he had, and you can almost taste it yourself! Did you know Hoppin' Frog Brewery ha...

Fred Karm, John Humphrey and Zachary Bastin joined us from Hoppin' Frog Brewery out of Akron, OH and we couldn't have had more fun. Interviews like this is why we love doing this podcast! We start off talking about Oktoberfest season and Oktoberfest beers, including a story about Hoppin' Frog winning a blind tasting, (which included 18 different Oktoberfest beers), with their Oktoberfest Froggy St...

We continue our chat with Dave "Juggles" Fischer and Dan "Mudder" Thomas of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Vintage Baseball Team. These guys are in a baseball league that follows the rules of the game as it was played back in the day. They share stories of traveling to other major league ballparks across the country. We had to find out if these guys enjoy craft beer, or the...

One of our passions, besides craft beer and breweries, is America's favorite pastime, Major League Baseball! The Cincinnati Reds have the oldest team in Major League Baseball, formed in 1869. (known then as the Red Stockings) Our guests this week, Dave "Juggles" Fischer and Dan "Mudder" Thomas are part of a league that still play the game by the rules of when it all first got started. They are mem...

There are many great places to visit in Cincinnati, Ohio, for craft beer. Among them, Esoteric Brewing Company Head Brewer Anique Thomas and Assistant Brand Manager John Reece joined us on this episode. We had the opportunity to meet them both on a recent visit. We wanted to find out more about who is behind putting Esoteric on the map as a minority- owned brewery in the area. Having opened in the...

Preds Beer Fest 2025 is in the books! Our friends, The Foamy Heads, invited us to do a joint podcast with them at this year's Preds Beer Fest. This is an event that Mitch and Rich have done for several years, and it was a treat to share the mics with them. This is the actual place and event that we met these guys, 1 year ago. If you go back and listen to their 2024 Preds Beer Fest episode, we...

If we left you wanting more of the Hilltappers after the last episode - well here it is - the conclusion of our discussion with Tom and Brad of the Hilltappers. In this episode we talk about starting their social media account, and what their process is for adding photos to it when they go to a brewery, has anyone ever confused them or called them by the wrong name? (maybe for a whole weekend?). W...

Tom Peterson and Brad Knoop are known as The Hilltappers, and they joined us on this episode for a fantastic time. These guys are a dynamic duo of craft beer drinkers, who hail from Louisville, KY (Looavul) but will drink craft beer anywhere. They are so awesome that they brought their own intro music, visual aids and a special cooler to the podcast. We've gotten to know Brad and Tom over the past...

We covered a lot in this podcast episode! Scott recently took a trip to Germany. He talked about his visit to places around that country serving up some tasty beer. Is craft beer as big in Germany as it is here in the United States? While Scott was out of the country. Steve held things down in Nashville. Catching up with some great people we have met through the beer community and visiting local b...

This podcast episode is from Garden Groove Recording Space in East Nashville. It was our pleasure to interview Singer/Songwriter Tyler Boone. He currently has a new single out (Put the Hurt on Me), one of the many songs he's recorded over the years. Having opened for recording artists like Sheryl Crow and Hootie & The Blowfish, music has been a big part of his life for a while. Music isn't his...

From May 21st thru May 24th, Steve and Scott traveled from Cincinnati and made more stops in Ohio including Akron, Cleveland, Columbus and Louisville, all before returning to Nashville. We met up with friends and family along the way. We fought the weather on the drive up (it rained cats and dogs), we saw camels, frogs, cats, beasts and who knows what other kind of animals we didn't even notice. (...

From May 16th thru May 20th, Steve and Scott embarked on their annual baseball and beer trip to Cincinnati, OH. This year was a little different though, as we added additional cities after Cincinnati. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though, as this episode is only focused on the Cincinnati leg of the trip, the next episode will be about the cities that came after. Apologies for such a long episod...

After having just visited Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, OH on May 22, 2025, we wanted to re-release both episodes we recorded with Michael Williams from Great Lakes Brewing, from November 2024. Michael is an Advanced Cicerone, Historian, and is involved in Marketing and many other things at the brewery. We got to meet Michael on this recent trip to Cleveland, and it was a pleasure to g...

After having just visited Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland, OH on May 22, 2025, we wanted to re-release both episodes we recorded with Michael Williams from Great Lakes Brewing, from November 2024. Michael is an Advanced Cicerone, Historian, and is involved in Marketing and many other things at the brewery. We got to meet Michael on this recent trip to Cleveland, and it was a pleasure to g...

We are really excited to bring you this episode. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot and we hope you enjoy it. Dru and Ross own the Honeytree Meadery in Nashville, TN and it's a phenomenal place. In this episode, you're going to learn what mead is, how it's made, misconceptions about mead, what makes Honeytree's mead different than most (if not all) other meads in the WORLD. You're going to lear...

Greg and Abbey Anderton joined us. We did this show on location from Deep South Growlers in south Nashville. Deep South has two locations in Middle Tennessee. We discussed what brings people into their taproom. The process for selecting the beers, ciders and seltzers you see on the menu. Oh yeah! Scott plays a part in what they sometimes decide to make available! This was a great conversation with...

The Brewers Association came out with its ranking of the Top 50 Breweries in the United States. Who tops the list? Who is gaining momentum? We discuss this, along with many of the breweries we've either paid a visit to or had beer from. Scott & Steve talk about their upcoming trip to Ohio. Including an effort in trying to get a very big brewery to distribute their beer in Tennessee. PB & J...

Welcome to Part 2 of our interview with Joe and Nick from the Hop In, We're Drinking! Podcast. (A podcast about nothing) In this episode we start by discussing one of the most famous West Coast IPA's - Pliny the Elder. Untappd is a subject we have brought up many times on this podcast, and this episode is no different. We all discuss our opinions of Untappd and how we use it. Considering J...