The HOP: A Craft Beer Podcast

With the end of another year in sight, The HOP presents a very special 2023 edition of our annual beer in review! The boys (and their livers) put in work again in 2023, having featured a total of 67 beers from 42 breweries this year, including visits to 17 states and 4 countries. If you’re keeping score at home, that brings The HOP grand total to 448 beers over the past 157 episodes, including bee...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 12/23/2021 Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s that wonderful time of the year when breweries everywhere pull out all the stops to deliver festive, holiday brews. As Santa loads his sleigh, Stephen & Gabe set out on a...

Merry friggin’ whatever everybody! Sleigh bells are ringin’, snow is a’glistenin’ and, as usual, The HOP boys are rockin’ around the Christmas tree with beer in their hands. It’s a jam-packed episode this week as Stephen & Gabe travel the world to explore all that the Christmas Ale can be. First up, we’ll welcome two new breweries to the show. Gabe heads to the Midwest for a stop at Great Lake...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 8/27/2020 This week, the boys head back to the great state of Massachusetts to profile a young brewery with a unique business model. Loophole Brewing was born out of a desire to lessen the financial stra...

The weather outside is getting frightful, which makes it the perfect time to head out west and hit the beach! The HOP swings down to San Diego’s Coronado Island this week for a visit to Coronado Brewing Company. Founded by brothers Ron & Rick Chapman in 1996, the company has grown from humble brewpub to widely renowned craft brewing operation with a steadfast commitment to crafting exceptional...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 11/26/2020 In a very special Thanksgiving episode, Stephen & Gabe journey through several takes on the Black is Beautiful beer initiative! Created this summer by San Antonio’s Weathered Souls Brewing...

The HOP boys are splitting up this week, criss-crossing the country for a multi-brewery episode! Stephen heads east to the Empire State, checking out the “beer balanced by science” offered at Equilibrium Brewing. An independently-owned operation out of Middletown, NY, Equilibrium was dreamed up by a group of MIT students that fell in love with craft beer. As it turns out, engineers make great brew...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 7/22/2021 Like many of us, Alfred Rotimi developed a passion for beer in college. He quickly took to home brewing on the side while studying neuroscience in the post-baccalaureate program at Tufts Univer...

The HOP is back in California this week, heading down to the San Diego area for a stop at Booze Brothers Brewing Company! Booze Brothers was founded by David & Donny Firth, (the titular brothers,) in 2008, beginning as a garage hobby and growing quickly into 3 taprooms and an impressive beer lineup. Focused on delivering innovative takes on classic beer styles, the company continues to expand...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 11/12/2020 This week, Stephen & Gabe head up to the Hudson Valley for a hoppy round of beers from Industrial Arts Brewing Company. Founded by Ithaca Beer Co.’s Jeff O’Neil in 2016, Industrial Arts em...

Every year around Halloween, The HOP jumps at the opportunity to highlight one of the spookiest and most polarizing beer styles out there — the pumpkin beer! Love it or hate it, as American coffee shops roll out the Pumpkin Spice Latte, American breweries hit the shelves, eager to offer a fresh take on the classic flavor of Fall. The pumpkin beer can be almost anything from lager to ale, wheat ale...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 7/29/2021 This week, Stephen & Gabe head back up to the Pine Tree State for a stop at one of the fastest growing breweries in the United States! Mast Landing Brewing began in 2015, operating out of c...

The HOP returns to the Windy City this week for a stop at Half Acre Beer! With a history going back to 2007, Half Acre should be recognized as a pioneering company, largely responsible for bringing craft beer to the Midwest. Under the leadership of founder Gabriel Magliaro, what started from humble beginnings in Black River Falls, WI has today grown into a regional powerhouse, collaborating with b...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 7/15/2021 Any beer lover spending time in Burlington, VT would do well to become acquainted with Burlington Beer Company. In less than a decade, founder Joe Lemnah has turned his former home-brewing oper...

O’zapft is! Fall is here which means only one thing in the beer world: Oktoberfest is officially tapped! Every year, an estimated 6 million people don the dirndls and lederhosen, flocking to Munich for a chance to experience the beloved festival. This week on The HOP, Stephen & Gabe mark the occasion with a specially curated lineup of German lagers. After kicking things off with several authen...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 10/22/2020 This week, Stephen & Gabe head to the bottom of the subway map for a journey around the great borough of Brooklyn, an area with an extensive brewing history dating back to the 1800s. The b...

The HOP is back in The Empire State this week to visit a death metal gypsy brewery . . . yeah you read that right! When Billy Powell founded Nightmare Brewing in 2017, it was little more than a side project for the then head brewer at Sand City Brewing in Long Island. Guided by a passion for death metal and horror movies, Powell wanted to create a brand that celebrated a grunge aesthetic. Today, B...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 3/11/2023 This week, Stephen & Gabe head to the Windy City and visit a brewery known for raising beer from the dead! Chicago’s Off Color Brewing was founded by industry veterans John Laffler and Dave...

Evil Twin Brewing is insane – which is exactly why Stephen & Gabe were ecstatic at the opportunity to get their beers on the show! While you may have heard of “Sweet Baby Jesus,” one of the most popular peanut butter stouts on the market, Evil Twin’s beer lineup is as varied and nomadic as the brewery itself. Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergso, (the “evil twin” brother of Mikkeller’s Mikkel Borg-Bjergso,) l...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 8/20/2020 Yep, you read that right. This week, the boys sample beers from Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery in Goochland, VA.  While this episode may be a bit NSFW, the operation is so much more than a sil...

Fire up the brass band and gather ‘round the crawfish boil, The HOP makes its first appearance in NOLA this week with a visit to Urban South Brewery! Louisiana native Jacob Landry spent his formative years traveling Europe, learning the art of crafting traditional ales and lagers in countries such as Belgium, England and Germany. In 2016, Jacob teamed up with fellow LSU alumnus Kyle Huling and ope...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 5/20/2021 This week, the boys are back in NYC and visiting a local brewery that reflects the rich, vibrant history of its surrounding neighborhood. Harlem Brewing was founded by self-proclaimed “entrepre...

The HOP returns to the West Coast this week, heading to the Los Angeles area for a stop at Smog City Brewery! When Jonathan & Laurie Porter founded Smog City in 2011, they were brewing out of a small brewpub in Torrance, CA. Within 2 years, the company had established a presence on the SoCal beer scene and was able to move into their own production warehouse. Today, Smog City operates 4 taproo...

The boys are staying sober this week which means a return to our THROWBACK THURSDAY series! Enjoy this trip down memory lane and we’ll be back with a brand new episode next week. Originally posted 10/1/2020 This week, we’re back in the Nutmeg State to sample a round of purr-fect IPAs! Fat Orange Cat is a small, farmhouse brewery out of East Hampton, CT. Mike Klucznik and Sheila Mullen run the smal...

This week, Stephen & Gabe return to the Green Mountain State for a stop at Zero Gravity Brewery! Founded by Matt Wilson, Paul Sayler & Rob Downey in 2004, the company started as a brewpub operating out of the American Flatbread Pizzeria in downtown Burlington, VT. Over the years, Zero Gravity has grown to become a standout of the undeniably crowded, (and exceptional,) Vermont craft beer sc...