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!

Stoke Haus Brewing and Barbecue is fairly new to the brewery scene in Nashville. Opened in August of 2025. We paid a visit early on a Sunday morning to talk with Chad Mueller and Mike Morbitzer. Both are Co-Owners.

This is our second podcast episode with these guys. We had them on before when both were brewing the beer at Tennfold Brewery in Donelson, TN.

Chad sat down with us during the majority of the interview to talk about how long him and Mike have been thinking about opening up a brewery together. The detailed planning of what needed to be done to hit the ground running.

What craft beer styles can you expect? Chad has the answers. He's the brains behind brewing it all. However, craft beer isn't the only option on the menu. They have branched out to make other drinks available.

If you visit Stoke Haus Brewing and Barbecue, come hungry! Mike Morbitzer will be in the food truck outside serving up some of the most delicious eats you will find anywhere in Nashville! Scott and Steve can attest to this first hand.

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

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.

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!