Latest / The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel / Hofbräuhaus of America: Munich Beer History, German Brewing & U.S. Growth | Episode 108 Part 1

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Hofbräuhaus of America: Munich Beer History, German Brewing & U.S. Growth | Episode 108 Part 1 · The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel

• 0:01
  Stand by for the Brewery Underground podcast.
• 0:39
  Well, welcome to year three of the Brewery Underground podcast.
• 0:44
  We have been talking about this one for a while.
• 0:47
  You know, we've been teasing this everybody and we're here.
• 0:51
  We're back in 2026 for Year 3, Scott Taron and we're we're
• 0:57
  starting this off with a banger. But with the banger, if you told
• 1:01
  me we were going three seasons, I'd have lost money on that bet.
• 1:05
  But here we are, and we're starting off 2026 with a bang.
• 1:11
  We got Steve Psyche. He is the CEO and of the import
• 1:16
  division for Hopper, a house here in America.
• 1:19
  Is that right, Sir? Yeah, I actually oversee our our
• 1:22
  entire business, both the import and franchise, so.
• 1:26
  All right. And Jerry Bishop, who is the
• 1:28
  regional sales manager and he covers territories like Ohio,
• 1:33
  Michigan, Kentucky, and here in Tennessee.
• 1:36
  And guys, as we said, we are so excited and so very pleased that
• 1:40
  you all are joining us today. That's great to be here.
• 1:43
  Yes, welcome, welcome. So yeah, let's, if you want to
• 1:48
  start out because I'm, I'm, I'm dying to do this.
• 1:51
  Let's, let's show what we're drinking because, because I've
• 1:55
  got Hofbrauhaus mirror and I've got the the Dunkle.
• 2:00
  That's what I actually started with, the original that's
• 2:03
  already gone and I'm on to something else.
• 2:05
  But I've got the Dunkle and I got plenty more too.
• 2:07
  So when that one runs out, I got something else too, but and we
• 2:10
  got them in our mosses, right? Is that the prior term for it?
• 2:18
  Yes, yeah. Nice, Joey, what have you got?
• 2:23
  So I so I have our original so I don't know if you can see it
• 2:27
  because I have the goofy background on, but it's our our
• 2:29
  original logger, a wonderful German lock.
• 2:34
  It's fantastic. So every time I did a beer,
• 2:40
  because I'm taking a drink, I might be a lot.
• 2:44
  It's OK, we know what you're doing, all right.
• 2:48
  Just keeping it all up front. Steve, how about you?
• 2:54
  What have you got? I do not have a beer in front of
• 2:56
  me right now, guys. I didn't.
• 2:58
  I didn't grab one. OK.
• 3:01
  If you you, you certainly can go grab one if you want to.
• 3:04
  Yeah, I. Go get.
• 3:08
  Them or I could drink 2 for them.
• 3:13
  I was telling Steve, you know, when you pour a beer into these,
• 3:16
  it just, you know, just looks so tiny when you just put in one in
• 3:20
  one of these steins. Yeah.
• 3:21
  So that's so that, so up to the line is, is a full leader.
• 3:25
  So you're looking at more than more than two regular beers?
• 3:29
  Basically, Yeah. It looks like you could just
• 3:31
  chug it when it's when you just have one in there because it's
• 3:34
  just so much, you know, so much water.
• 3:36
  Left. That's when you kind of get in
• 3:37
  trouble. Yeah.
• 3:40
  Just a little bit and. Post You got a nice glass of
• 3:45
  Eisen, so I'm pouring off of our half of Eisen beers.
• 3:51
  OK. So this is our our Bavarian half
• 3:54
  of Eisen. So letting it settle up a little
• 3:57
  bit, but give it a little couple seconds and I can proce with you
• 4:00
  guys. There you go.
• 4:02
  Yeah, we're doing it all in style.
• 4:04
  And that's the proper glassware too, right Steve?
• 4:07
  Oh yeah, you got to have the right glassware.
• 4:09
  Glassware's important for, right?
• 4:11
  Yeah. You guys know this for a lot of
• 4:12
  different reasons, not just for appearance sake, but also for,
• 4:16
  you know, for the for the beers attributes and kind of roping us
• 4:20
  in with a a good look and accentuating aromas and things
• 4:25
  like that too. So very important.
• 4:28
  Absolute. That's actually something we're
• 4:30
  we're we're learning more about and we'll probably be a episode
• 4:34
  at some point proper glassware down the road.
• 4:37
  So something we're kind of working on.
• 4:38
  It's, it's been a, it's been a never ending challenge getting
• 4:42
  people away from the pint glass and into something that's more
• 4:45
  suited to show the beer off the way it's supposed to look.
• 4:48
  As well as again, build that on, on those key attributes like
• 4:52
  aroma and where the beer hits your mouth or your tongue and
• 4:56
  such like that. So but.
• 4:58
  And it really is worth, yeah, it's really worth the extra
• 5:01
  effort to do it that way, to do it properly.
• 5:03
  It is. There are certain places.
• 5:06
  If you go to a certain bars and tap rooms and ever, like you
• 5:08
  said, everything's just in a pint glass.
• 5:10
  Everything just goes in the pint glass.
• 5:12
  Well, that, and that's for simplicity, because they stack
• 5:15
  real easy, they clean real easy. It's just not as much effort.
• 5:18
  Like I said, it's worth it to take the extra effort and treat
• 5:21
  your customers to to a really good presentation.
• 5:24
  Yeah, it is. And there's such an appreciation
• 5:26
  for to when you start realizing, oh, that is the proper glassware
• 5:29
  and I am getting the proper things out of it because I got
• 5:32
  the right beer in the glass. Steve Sullivan, what have you
• 5:36
  got? Well, you know, I have the
• 5:38
  Dunkle here and man, I'm, I'm looking forward to toasting
• 5:43
  everybody on the dunk. Why is there so much?
• 5:46
  Why is there so much in your glass?
• 5:47
  Well, I got two of them there. Got two of them.
• 5:51
  I'm not slowing down tonight. That's right.
• 5:53
  Got. To do it in style, I know it.
• 5:56
  But you know, the other thing real quick, before we get into
• 5:59
  all the wonderful questions that we have, we also have to talk
• 6:02
  about what we're what we're wearing tonight as well, 'cause
• 6:06
  we have to thank Selena who had sent us these.
• 6:09
  And we've got the shirts, you know, we got the pins, we got
• 6:13
  the hats. I even got the bottle opener.
• 6:17
  Yes, mine is. Mine is here somewhere.
• 6:19
  Yes, I got the. Bottle.
• 6:22
  Yeah, prepared. Yeah, yeah.
• 6:24
  And thank you guys for and Selena for getting this this
• 6:26
  stuff to us. It's a remarkable, it's
• 6:28
  wonderful stuff. Yeah, she doesn't.
• 6:31
  Have half that. Stuff.
• 6:35
  I know someone that could get it for you.
• 6:36
  Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, I told these
• 6:39
  guys I, I, I was wearing a shirt just like that.
• 6:42
  And I told my wife that, you know, I better change because
• 6:45
  Selena set those guys those shirts and sure enough, they
• 6:47
  were. And they were.
• 6:51
  Yeah, yeah, Selena, Selena does a wonderful job representing our
• 6:54
  brand with marketing and great, great, great connections like
• 6:58
  you guys and obviously the the items to promote our our brand
• 7:01
  and and help a brand awareness. So we're very happy, happy and
• 7:05
  lucky to have her. So well, and and she helped
• 7:09
  bring this all together because really we've been talking about
• 7:12
  doing this for probably about a year or so and trying to
• 7:15
  coordinate everybody's schedules and things like that.
• 7:17
  And look, we knew that it may take some time to get you guys
• 7:21
  together, but you know, what you do is very important for the
• 7:25
  Hopper out brand. So certainly want to talk to you
• 7:28
  all about it tonight. So let's let's begin with you,
• 7:32
  Steve. Let's really talk about, you
• 7:34
  know, your role and what you do with the Hoffro House of
• 7:37
  America. Yeah, I've, I've been with the
• 7:40
  the Hoffroy side of the business in the United States since
• 7:45
  roughly 2011. So in one way shape or form,
• 7:50
  originally as a working directly for Fred Schumacher, who was the
• 7:53
  original president of the Hopper House of America.
• 7:56
  And then I was a brief stint as our US brand manager.
• 8:02
  And then when the, the Hopper Brewery took back the, the brand
• 8:07
  importing rights in 2018, that's when I became more back involved
• 8:13
  with Hopper House of America directly managing our, our
• 8:16
  import business. And then we've evolved a little
• 8:20
  further along. And now we also have, as always
• 8:23
  been part of the Hopper House has been our, our franchises,
• 8:28
  our restaurant businesses, which you guys are familiar with.
• 8:30
  You know, the Hopper House down there in Cincinnati, there's
• 8:33
  also the, the actually they just had their 20th anniversary.
• 8:36
  The Hopper House in Vegas just had their 20th anniversary.
• 8:40
  And then we've also got Pittsburgh, Columbus and Buffalo
• 8:46
  as well. So, but then that's our
• 8:48
  franchise side of the business. So overall, we, we bring beer
• 8:52
  over from Munich and then the restaurants here, they all with
• 8:55
  the exception of Vegas, they, they do have their own
• 8:58
  breweries. They brew on site under
• 9:00
  supervision from Munich. We have an international
• 9:03
  brewmaster that visits them on frequent schedules to make sure
• 9:07
  that they are maintaining the qualities that that the brewery
• 9:10
  you know, requires of them as well as they frequently send
• 9:14
  samples back over to Munich for testing to make sure again that
• 9:17
  the beer meets the the requirements of the the Hofbrau
• 9:20
  brewery. And Steve, you are in Las Vegas,
• 9:24
  is that right? Actually, we are a nationwide
• 9:28
  company. So we're sprinkled all over the
• 9:30
  place. Our our headquarters, our office
• 9:33
  I guess you would say is in Vegas because that's where our
• 9:37
  accounting and logistics person is.
• 9:39
  So, so that she's in Vegas and Jerry, myself, we're out in our
• 9:44
  own markets. I actually and then Wisconsin
• 9:47
  right over the border and from Illinois and it Jerry's out in
• 9:51
  Ohio. We have 11 different people on
• 9:55
  our sales team around the country, each based in different
• 9:57
  markets. And then our our, our president
• 10:00
  of franchise, he's actually based out in Pittsburgh.
• 10:03
  But again, we're a national company.
• 10:05
  So everybody's usually on a plane or in a car dealing with
• 10:08
  the other places. So setting our roots in one
• 10:12
  place is a bit of a challenge. Awesome.
• 10:14
  Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, to cover a lot of ground.
• 10:19
  Yeah, yeah. And Jerry, tell us.
• 10:21
  Tell us what you do for the company.
• 10:23
  So I'm, I'm an area manager. So I cover, I work, I work with
• 10:26
  our distributors basically. So anything that you consume
• 10:30
  outside of the hop row houses comes from Munich and I work
• 10:34
  with making sure that the wholesalers get the product from
• 10:36
  Munich. So I cover Michigan, Ohio,
• 10:40
  Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. So have a, a bunch of really
• 10:44
  good wholesalers that work with us and do well.
• 10:47
  Also work well with the, with the Hoffrau houses in Cleveland
• 10:50
  and Columbus and Newport. Just making sure we have a nice
• 10:54
  open line of communication there and we're all kind of rowing the
• 10:57
  boat in the same direction. But yeah, I, I, so when Steve
• 11:01
  took over, he, he made some calls and fortunately one of my
• 11:05
  good friends recommended me and Steve hired me.
• 11:07
  And so I I've been with Steve since since the beginning, just
• 11:11
  about he's put up with me for for going on 8 years now.
• 11:15
  Mutual tolerance. Maybe that goes back to that.
• 11:20
  Not everybody being in one spot at the same time.
• 11:25
  We we understand and appreciate each other's weaknesses like.
• 11:28
  There you go. There you.
• 11:29
  Go. It's well.
• 11:30
  Cheers. And pros to you guys, you know
• 11:33
  pros? Absolutely, yeah.
• 11:35
  Pros to you guys? Definitely.
• 11:36
  Can't see mine but it's there. It's there's a guys, there's a
• 11:41
  new beer that's come to the States and it's the the house,
• 11:46
  right, the hopper house, Hallis logger that is it's just count
• 11:49
  now hitting the States and and Jerry, I don't believe it's hit
• 11:52
  Tennessee yet. You probably talked to that a
• 11:54
  little more. I think that the strippers in
• 11:55
  town are not in Tennessee, haven't got it yet, but can you
• 11:59
  kind of talk about that? Has that beer been around in
• 12:02
  Germany for a while? And it's just kind of getting to
• 12:04
  the States? Yeah, so, so the beer has been
• 12:10
  in Germany for a while. Actually, the style was, was
• 12:13
  developed or invented in the 19th century and, and the hell
• 12:16
  of style, it's my understanding was developed to compete with
• 12:20
  pilsners or to to be sort of like pilsners.
• 12:22
  But it's, it has a little bit more body, it's a little more,
• 12:26
  more malt forward, but it's a very crisp and clean beer.
• 12:29
  So we've we've had it in Germany.
• 12:32
  I don't know how, Steve. When was the?
• 12:33
  When did they start producing it?
• 12:36
  They've had it actually it's been in Germany for quite a
• 12:39
  while. I I shouldn't say Germany is
• 12:40
  it's been strictly Bavarian for quite some time.
• 12:44
  The the brewery kept it mainly for the Bavarian market
• 12:48
  exclusive it to the Hafra house, as well as some of their key on
• 12:54
  premise outlets. And it's that was just said.
• 12:57
  It was very restricted and I I honestly cannot give you that
• 13:00
  the full length of its availability.
• 13:02
  But again, as Jerry mentioned, it's it's a little it's a little
• 13:05
  lighter, 4.9 alcohol as well, so a little easier to drink.
• 13:09
  I guess that's as close to a German light beer as you're
• 13:11
  going to get. Is is a as a hell as A and A and
• 13:15
  a 4.9% alcohol so, but it wasn't until recently with a lot of the
• 13:20
  a lot of the changes we're seeing here in the market with
• 13:23
  people paying more attention to alcohol content and, and along
• 13:27
  those lines and and non alcoholic beers.
• 13:30
  It's also taking that kind of trajectory over there in in
• 13:35
  Bavaria as well. And that brand and that style
• 13:38
  gained a lot, a lot of momentum. And it wasn't until, you know,
• 13:43
  but they started getting calls from elsewhere outside of
• 13:45
  Bavaria that the brewery finally conceded to our complaints and,
• 13:48
  and open it up to to export. So we're very happy to have that
• 13:53
  so. Yeah.
• 13:54
  The other, the other thing we only bring it in can.
• 13:56
  So it's it's only available in the 16.9 oz can, which kind of
• 14:01
  offers a little more opportunity in different accounts to to have
• 14:04
  it as far as Tennessee. We'll we'll work on that.
• 14:07
  It's yeah, I, I think they were kind of playing a little wait
• 14:10
  and see, see how it's doing everywhere else before we we
• 14:13
  bring it in. But it's doing very well.
• 14:15
  So hopefully we'll have it in 10 in Nashville and the rest of
• 14:18
  Tennessee sometime in the spring.
• 14:20
  That's my goal. We'll be, we'll be looking for
• 14:23
  it. Do you think the popularity and
• 14:28
  and you guys play in this field every day with the style of
• 14:30
  beers that Hafra makes, but do you think the popularity of
• 14:34
  loggers in the past several years maybe added to that beer
• 14:38
  coming over here or the popularity of that that style?
• 14:45
  Well, I, I would have to say that, I mean, yes, I mean
• 14:53
  loggers are, are certainly more popular, but Hellas is also like
• 14:59
  the, the mainstay in Bavaria now.
• 15:01
  I mean, it's the most popular style there.
• 15:03
  So it only makes sense, you know, if we're being authentic
• 15:06
  and we're being true to what we do, it only makes sense to bring
• 15:10
  it to to America as well. But it, but it does help that a
• 15:14
  lot of people are kind of turning away from the heavier,
• 15:19
  hoppier beers and, and moving into a more mainstream they're,
• 15:23
  they're kind of going to going back to, to where we started 400
• 15:27
  years ago. So it's, you know, everything
• 15:29
  old is new, I guess. But yeah, yeah, the pop, the the
• 15:32
  increased and new popularity of bloggers, certainly it helped
• 15:35
  the decision to bring it over. And I think it, I think in the
• 15:39
  consumers mind that they're they're trying it because of
• 15:41
  that. You know, yeah, you guys have
• 15:43
  to, from your perspective, you have to love that because it's,
• 15:46
  it's all coming back full circle again.
• 15:48
  And people want better style beers, you know, as you said
• 15:52
  they would, they want lower, they want some lower ABB beers.
• 15:55
  But the ones that really, you know, are tasting good, and
• 15:58
  that's what you all have to offer.
• 16:00
  Yeah, Jerry and I have been been in this business for more years
• 16:04
  than we'd like to admit. And we've been apart parts of
• 16:07
  other brands that we're proud of and other ones again we we
• 16:10
  prefer not to mention. But again they as Jerry
• 16:13
  mentioned, what's old is new and and there's a cycle here.
• 16:16
  And I mean, we've seen this happen in the, in the 90s and,
• 16:20
  you know, it's coming around again.
• 16:21
  And, and the good thing about these cycles is, is they do open
• 16:25
  up people's minds and, and palates and show them there's a
• 16:27
  lot more opportunity for, for meeting new beers.
• 16:31
  But also, you know, when, when everybody gets out there and
• 16:35
  tries everything, they always do come back to more or less the,
• 16:39
  you want to call it the founders or, you know, touchstone brands,
• 16:44
  brands like, you know, a Hoffbry or Pilsner Quell, you know,
• 16:48
  brands that are, that are main, main brands or styles that
• 16:52
  established, you know, a lineage.
• 16:55
  And it's nice because again, people go out, they experience,
• 16:58
  they learn, they ask questions. And the good thing about that
• 17:01
  is, is brands like us, they can come back to it and find, you
• 17:04
  know, a beer that's still produced in Munich, still German
• 17:07
  owned company, actually owned by the state of Bavaria and still
• 17:11
  brewing to to the the Ryan High School boot.
• 17:14
  And in strict, very strict accordance to what the brand was
• 17:18
  when you drank it there 400 years ago.
• 17:20
  So it's a it's a good thing, like everything, you know,
• 17:24
  again. Yeah.
• 17:25
  It really does us problem. Yeah, it really does us problem
• 17:28
  when we hear somebody compare their Dunkle to Hafrau Dunkle by
• 17:32
  their happy life to our I mean, yeah, we've we've been doing the
• 17:36
  Dunkle for over 400 years. I mean, it's just so it's kind
• 17:39
  of fun to hear those comparisons.
• 17:41
  And I would imagine on occasion, maybe you guys hear this where
• 17:44
  you have maybe a younger consumer and they go, you know
• 17:47
  what, here I am and I'm drinking this beer and I remember my
• 17:52
  father or my grandfather telling me about it.
• 17:54
  And they're the ones that were drinking it.
• 17:55
  And maybe I haven't had it for a couple of years.
• 17:58
  And then all of a sudden you know they're hooked and you got
• 18:00
  a new generation hooked onto it as well.
• 18:04
  Yeah, it, it's, it's, it's really interesting the amount of
• 18:08
  the amount of, of, of, of younger people today who have
• 18:11
  had the opportunity to travel to Europe.
• 18:13
  You know, so we do get a lot of people who've actually said that
• 18:16
  they sat in the Hopper house. They might have been there with
• 18:18
  their father or, or, you know, grandparents on a trip or
• 18:21
  whatever. And of course, as you mentioned,
• 18:23
  so you know, so many, so many individuals, you know, from the
• 18:27
  previous generations who might have served and spent time in
• 18:31
  Germany, almost everybody, you know, if they were over there,
• 18:35
  they, they hit the Opera House at some point.
• 18:37
  So it's, it, it's really interesting to hear those
• 18:41
  stories. And, and it's, it's great
• 18:43
  because just about everybody, when they do talk to you about
• 18:46
  it, they usually have a story that incorporates it in some
• 18:49
  way, shape or form. So again, it it's it's pretty
• 18:51
  cool. Yeah, actually, if we're doing a
• 18:54
  tasting or something like that, people love our beer.
• 18:57
  That goes without saying. But but it's, it's always
• 19:01
  interesting to hear the stories that come back, you know?
• 19:03
  Yeah, my, my father did a tour served in, in Germany and he
• 19:07
  brought back this really neat Stein from Hauperrau House and,
• 19:11
  or we went to Oktoberfest down the street and they were
• 19:14
  serving, you know, just again, people love the beer.
• 19:18
  But, but the stories about the situations, the, the fond
• 19:22
  memories they have are the great stories they have behind it are,
• 19:25
  are just incredible. And you can imagine there's a
• 19:27
  ton of them. You know, the people that have
• 19:29
  gone on class trips, as Steve said, the military family
• 19:33
  reunions, whatever their, their people love it.
• 19:37
  I think because of the fondness they have for an occasion that
• 19:41
  that they were part of or someone in their family was part
• 19:44
  of. Creating memories, you know.
• 19:46
  Yeah, I think that's something that beer is beer is very good
• 19:50
  at. It brings people together and,
• 19:53
  and for purposes and and and as well as enjoyment, but, but
• 19:57
  also, you know, more so than other products.
• 20:03
  I I think beer, beer has a has a, an emotional tie to it.
• 20:07
  Again, you know, people remember.
• 20:09
  Having their beer at the Hoffra house or maybe being, you know,
• 20:13
  at, at a particular, you know, other country, maybe they were
• 20:16
  in Belgium drinking, you know, in Brussels, having a, having a
• 20:19
  fantastic, you know, Belgian, Belgian ale or whatever.
• 20:22
  But you know, the nice thing about beer is, is people tend to
• 20:27
  make those emotional connections with it and with the particular
• 20:29
  brand as well, which gives us, I think a total differentiation
• 20:34
  point from things like liquor and wine.
• 20:37
  Because you can have there's how many year old lagers out there,
• 20:40
  but there's one Hofbrau original.
• 20:43
  So you know, a lot of ingredients and processes are
• 20:47
  all very similar, but you know, there's little, little, little
• 20:50
  differences. But the biggest difference is
• 20:52
  when and where that person chose to remember and enjoy that beer
• 20:55
  their first time. I love that.
• 20:58
  It's almost like the prodigal son returns you, you send them
• 21:02
  out. Hey, go drink all this other
• 21:03
  stuff, right? Go drink it.
• 21:04
  We'll all, we'll be here when you get back and go try it and
• 21:07
  come back and you'll be and we'll be right here when you
• 21:08
  come back. Yeah.
• 21:10
  Yeah, that's and that's kind of fun because a lot of people
• 21:13
  don't remember the beer because it, you know, five years ago
• 21:16
  they really appreciated the Centennial hops that was in it.
• 21:19
  But they always remember where they had a Hofbrau.
• 21:21
  They always remember the circumstance, you know, around
• 21:24
  it. And it's it's always very
• 21:25
  favorable. And again, it's fond memories
• 21:28
  that they associated with. When I was in Munich in in June
• 21:33
  and a group of us went and we went to, went to the Munich
• 21:37
  Hopper House. And unbeknownst to me, there are
• 21:41
  other places over there called Hoffbrau House, but they're not
• 21:45
  the same. And I kind of learned that while
• 21:47
  I was over, not the hard way, but I just learned it while I
• 21:49
  was there. They're not all the same.
• 21:52
  Munich obviously is the, is the historic one and the main one,
• 21:55
  but in the, in the only way I could, you could tell her that
• 21:58
  I, I learned was the, the logos are different, right?
• 22:01
  The names kind of the same, but the logos are different, all
• 22:03
  these different places. So it's kind of something to pay
• 22:05
  attention to it. Can you talk about that little
• 22:07
  bit like do you guys get confused or they get confused
• 22:09
  with you guys? Yeah, it it's the, the word
• 22:13
  itself, Hofbrau is, is quartz brew.
• 22:16
  So and that was reserved for breweries that brewed for royal
• 22:20
  houses in in Bavaria. So Wurzburg, for instant
• 22:24
  instance, has one, you know, rising anybody who had a royal
• 22:30
  house in it and a brewery. Hofbrau was the that brewery was
• 22:34
  the of of quartz brew of that city or or particular region or
• 22:40
  town. So again, it's kind of like over
• 22:43
  here, we'd say the official beer of but but Hofrau Munich
• 22:47
  superseded all because Munich was the capital of Bavaria is
• 22:50
  the capital Bavaria. So that was the the Hoffbrow,
• 22:54
  all Hoffbrows. So yeah, we get people get
• 22:57
  confused because so many people over here just call it Hoffbrow,
• 23:00
  you know, so that's when that's when people get used to it.
• 23:03
  And yeah, it was a bit of a learning curve for me as well
• 23:05
  when I started to see another brands call themselves Hoffbrow
• 23:07
  and I go, wait a second, what's going on here?
• 23:09
  You know, this is copyright infringement, what's going on?
• 23:12
  But you know, again, it's something that a little
• 23:14
  education can can resolve for you, so.
• 23:19
  Yeah, there are nuances that are different.
• 23:21
  Like the logo again is the big thing.
• 23:22
  If you if you know what the logo is, you know, that's the that's
• 23:24
  the tell tale. Yeah.
• 23:26
  Like who's who? Yeah, I actually went to a party
• 23:30
  at at a friend's house once and they thought they were being
• 23:33
  very nice and and purchased some Hoff Brow because they knew I
• 23:37
  was coming, but it was the wrong Hoff Brows.
• 23:41
  I didn't know how to break it going when I was drinking
• 23:43
  something else. Did you refuse to drink it?
• 23:49
  I, I, I didn't drink and I drank something else and, but I, I
• 23:53
  didn't bring it up. We didn't talk about.
• 23:55
  It like thanks for the effort though.
• 23:56
  Thanks for the effort. Yeah, I appreciate the effort.
• 23:58
  Totally. I didn't know you know, I don't
• 24:00
  know you. I didn't know you could find
• 24:02
  another version of it in the States.
• 24:04
  I don't think I've ever seen anyone other than yours.
• 24:06
  No, there's a couple who do import small quantities.
• 24:09
  You might find it in in, you know, one off liquor stores or
• 24:13
  independent liquor chains that, you know, pride themselves on on
• 24:16
  a wide variety. So they're out there if you look
• 24:19
  for them. But again, you know, it's the
• 24:23
  the Hofbrau Munich is is the one that's you know, that's the
• 24:26
  well, the most well well known and, and, and best distributed,
• 24:30
  I would say probably best distributed in the United States
• 24:32
  and in terms of the other Bavarian Hofbrau brands, so.
• 24:38
  When I was there so much, I mean, it's just you walk in,
• 24:42
  you're like, Oh my God, this is the place, right?
• 24:44
  This is it. And one of the biggest things
• 24:47
  was the size of the place. Like it was a busy day.
• 24:50
  I think we were in there on a Saturday or something, a nice
• 24:53
  warm day. And we walk in.
• 24:54
  It's like, I don't think we're going to find a table.
• 24:55
  And we just kept walking and walking and walking because the
• 24:59
  place just never, just never ran out of space.
• 25:00
  And you finally found some spots for that were that were there
• 25:02
  because. And then there was a whole
• 25:04
  upstairs too we could have gone to.
• 25:06
  There's two more floors. There's two more floors, yeah.
• 25:08
  So yeah. We didn't even get up that way.
• 25:11
  It was like, oh, this place is humongous.
• 25:14
  Yeah, the, the, the 2nd floor is, is called the Beer Stoop.
• 25:17
  And now that's more set up like a restaurant with some booths
• 25:21
  and tables and things like that. And the third floor is the fest,
• 25:24
  the fest hall, which is just a long narrow room or not with a
• 25:30
  hall just, you know, on the 3rd floor it with a stage at the
• 25:34
  end. And that's where they, they do a
• 25:36
  lot of a live entertainment with bands and dancers and, and
• 25:40
  they'll do a lot of events up there, political events, you
• 25:44
  know, fundraisers, stuff like that and everything.
• 25:47
  So but the, the shweme, the main floor that you guys were in the
• 25:52
  beer hall, that's the floor that's open, you know, pretty
• 25:55
  much every day of the year. And you'll always find a spot in
• 25:59
  there. They'll tuck you away in a
• 26:01
  corner or stick you out in the beer garden.
• 26:04
  But yeah, they, they're very proud of the fact that they can
• 26:08
  serve, he said. Just over 3000 people a day or
• 26:13
  something like that. It's a crazy number, but you
• 26:15
  know, it's a, it's a food factory and a, and a, and a
• 26:19
  beard turning machine. So.
• 26:21
  Yeah. Like over 1,000,000 visitors a
• 26:24
  year. Yeah, I could see why it was.
• 26:27
  It was epic. And then we're sitting there, we
• 26:29
  got our beers, right, And then they're walking through somebody
• 26:31
  selling like pretzels. But the pretzels are the size of
• 26:34
  your head. I mean, they're massive.
• 26:37
  And and I don't know how. Often, yeah.
• 26:39
  And I don't know how often you you guys get over there, but
• 26:43
  when you do go, when you have gone, is it still that feeling
• 26:46
  of like, wow. To me, it is I, I always,
• 26:52
  whenever I walk in there because I, because it's such a, it's
• 26:55
  such a historical building to begin with.
• 26:57
  I mean, it's been there since 1589.
• 27:00
  I mean, there's been expansions and, and rebuildings, but I
• 27:03
  mean, whenever you see pictures, you know, the more or less the
• 27:06
  same outline that you see today. So from historical, you know,
• 27:10
  fact, you're sitting in, in a, in a, in a place where, you
• 27:13
  know, as Jerry mentioned, millions of people have sat
• 27:16
  before you and enjoyed a, you know, probably the same beer
• 27:21
  and, and the same pretzel recipes too.
• 27:23
  So for me, that's the most, most impactful part is just the
• 27:28
  historical part of it. I love history and and sitting
• 27:31
  down and actually in enjoying living history is even more, you
• 27:36
  know, sometimes overwhelming. Yeah, it's kind of Munich,
• 27:41
  Munich in general. I mean, if you appreciate
• 27:44
  history at all, it's just a wonderful place to be.
• 27:47
  It's it's beautiful. It's easily, easily to walk
• 27:50
  about. And then to go into the Opera
• 27:54
  House itself, where there are so many recognized events and
• 27:57
  things that have happened there. It's you're, you're inside of
• 28:00
  history, you're living in history.
• 28:02
  That's just incredible to be there.
• 28:05
  And one of the things that you mentioned this word earlier,
• 28:07
  Bavaria and Bavarians, they are very proud.
• 28:11
  That area is Bavaria. They still kind of call it that.
• 28:13
  They're proud to be there. They're proud to be from there.
• 28:16
  And that it is the, the whole area is screaming with it and
• 28:19
  it's it, it's I was prideful to be there.
• 28:21
  Like this is cool. This is, you know, I was, if you
• 28:24
  know what I mean, like it's, it's everywhere.
• 28:26
  And you, you're not. It's not lost on you.
• 28:28
  I, I try, I mean, and, and they do the, the Bavarians do have a,
• 28:31
  a entirely different outlook. I, I like to tell people
• 28:34
  Bavarians are kind of like Texans to us.
• 28:37
  You know, Bavaria considers himself a Free State.
• 28:41
  They can leave Germany anytime they want to, just like Texas
• 28:43
  does. They also have their own attire,
• 28:46
  their own way of speaking. I mean that the later Hosen and
• 28:48
  journal, that's a, a very heavily Bavarian thing.
• 28:52
  And from what I understand, they're the, the Bavarian
• 28:56
  dialect and, and certain words they use is extremely limited to
• 29:01
  them elsewhere in German. Germans elsewhere can really
• 29:04
  pick up Bavarians, you know, quite easily.
• 29:08
  So, but they're very proud of that distinction and, and they
• 29:11
  wear it as a, as a badge of pride, you know, the, the, the
• 29:14
  brewery always jokes anything sold outside of Bavaria as an
• 29:16
  export. So.
• 29:21
  Yeah, I picked up on that everywhere you went, and I loved
• 29:24
  it. I was.
• 29:24
  We just love that culture. As a matter of fact, when I got
• 29:27
  back, the first thing I wanted to get, and I haven't done it
• 29:28
  yet, I want to build a maypole in the backyard because they're
• 29:32
  everywhere and they're so cool. Well, and, you know, not one
• 29:36
  that's 100 feet tall, but yeah. Your neighbors might not have a
• 29:40
  problem with that. Yeah, probably so.
• 29:44
  And, you know, Scott and I were talking about his trip when he
• 29:47
  went there. We were talking about in a
• 29:49
  podcast episode just, you know, because we talked, you know, all
• 29:52
  kinds of beer crappier as well. And I was like, do you see much
• 29:55
  crappier over there, You know, and it's not Scott talk about,
• 29:58
  you know, that experience too, because it's it's very
• 30:01
  traditional. It's very traditional.
• 30:03
  You're in that area. That's all you're going to find.
• 30:04
  Yeah, Steve, go ahead. Please take that.
• 30:06
  They do have, I mean, there's a few upstart breweries there and
• 30:09
  everything, you know that. But they do try to, you know,
• 30:11
  still brew towards tradition. There's some guys out there that
• 30:14
  are trying to do things a little differently, which, you know, is
• 30:18
  it's not frowned upon, you know, that they're, they're, they're
• 30:21
  willing to, you know, to try new, new styles and welcome new
• 30:24
  people in as well. It was, you know, it, it's just,
• 30:28
  it depends too, 'cause you know, our, our, our head Brewer down
• 30:32
  there. You know, I just remember a few
• 30:34
  years back, there were some comments being made about from
• 30:38
  American Brewers about how right high school boot was holding
• 30:40
  back, you know, Germany's Brewers from becoming, you know,
• 30:44
  great Brewers and everything. And our, our head Brewer, Rolf
• 30:47
  said, I can paint, I can paint a portrait with four colors.
• 30:52
  They need more paint than I do. So again, you know, there's,
• 30:59
  there's a skill to using four ingredients in getting
• 31:01
  everything you do out of that without having to, you know, add
• 31:05
  the, you know, other ingredients and along the lines like that.
• 31:09
  So there's I think a lot of it comes down to pride.
• 31:11
  They're just very prideful, the fact they do things the way they
• 31:13
  do. And but again, there have been
• 31:16
  some new upstarts there that have been welcomed.
• 31:18
  There's, there's an annual something you guys might want.
• 31:21
  I'll have to, I don't, I never get the name right, but there is
• 31:24
  an annual brewing competition held there.
• 31:27
  It's like Blancfest or something like that, where all different
• 31:30
  beers from all over Germany compete more or less like we
• 31:35
  kind of like our Great American beer Festival.
• 31:37
  So it's, it's a really fun event.
• 31:40
  Get involved even, you know, our brewery every year puts in a
• 31:43
  couple, couple entries, something a little different
• 31:45
  that the Brewers put together. And but again, yeah, it's
• 31:50
  they're not close minded, they're open to it, but they're
• 31:52
  also very, very heavily guided by tradition.
• 31:55
  So. Which is, which has served them
• 31:59
  for 400 or 500 years. So there's something to that.
• 32:04
  Yeah, well, and we won't get too much.
• 32:07
  Into the technical aspect of of the brewing.
• 32:10
  But you know, on your website and things like that, it really
• 32:13
  talks about, you know, certain aspects of it, like the water,
• 32:17
  for example, how important that is.
• 32:20
  And the other, the other you talk about four ingredients.
• 32:22
  I mean, that's what they're doing and they haven't changed
• 32:25
  after over, what, 400 years? Yeah.
• 32:29
  That's 530. Something now so 1589 and SO,
• 32:33
  yeah. Yeah, and they they just dug a.
• 32:37
  They just drilled the new well, I want to say a year ago at the
• 32:41
  brewery. So all the all the the Munich
• 32:43
  breweries all draw from the same well under Munich.
• 32:46
  So the six Munich breweries and those are why those are the ones
• 32:49
  limited to Oktoberfest. So, and that well is I forget
• 32:54
  how many meters, 10,000 meters or something crazy like that.
• 32:57
  So we're the water they use is, you know, prehistoric water,
• 33:02
  which is ultimately pure and as the brewing qualities that they
• 33:07
  that they best, you know, that they need best to brew the beers
• 33:09
  they do so. But yeah, they're, they're the
• 33:14
  the water again, that's the key part of it.
• 33:16
  And the wells that in Munich have some of the best water, so.
• 33:21
  We've got a brewery in Nashville called Nashville Brewing
• 33:24
  Company. I don't know if you guys have
• 33:25
  heard of them and they're part of a Blackstone here in
• 33:27
  Nashville and Nashville Brewing Company does traditional German
• 33:31
  style beers and they get all of their ingredients from Germany.
• 33:36
  Like all the everything comes from there except the water,
• 33:38
  right. That's the only thing they can't
• 33:40
  duplicate is is that. And they're they're they're
• 33:42
  fantastic beers and they've been complimented from people in
• 33:44
  Germany coming over and finding one of the closest, you know,
• 33:47
  beers to what they drink. But he goes one thing I can't
• 33:50
  duplicate is the water. Yeah.
• 33:53
  I mean, the the biggest Brewers they.
• 33:55
  They try, they try to, to duplicate water from around the
• 33:58
  world for the brands that they brew in America, but it's just
• 34:01
  very difficult and it can't be done with a lot of without a lot
• 34:04
  of chemical interaction and everything else.
• 34:06
  It's not even worth messing with.
• 34:08
  You know, just quote, right? Well, and Scott Mertie.
• 34:11
  Who we've had on our podcast before, who owns National
• 34:14
  Brewing Company. He's been over to Munich.
• 34:16
  We've done he, he is all things history of, you know, that type
• 34:22
  of the brand of beer. And we've had him on our podcast
• 34:25
  a few times. You know, we did an Oktoberfest
• 34:28
  episode with him last year. And he's just an encyclopedia of
• 34:32
  everything he knows. So, you know, you he's, he's
• 34:35
  like one of you guys. You know, it's, it's, it's so
• 34:37
  much fun to listen to those stories.
• 34:38
  Yeah, actually. And actually I listened to that.
• 34:40
  That podcast and I, I took notes from him to use tonight, Jerry.
• 34:47
  You should close this, he would love that.
• 34:49
  Jerry, you should quiz us on that because.
• 34:51
  We probably won't get any of the answers right if you were on no,
• 34:55
  no test, no testing. But you would.
• 34:58
  Love that though, yeah. Yeah.
• 35:00
  But Scott, in that, in that. Episode even a little bit prior
• 35:02
  to that, he kind of probably paved the way for us or set the
• 35:05
  set the wheels in motion for us learning about kind of loggers
• 35:09
  and Oktoberfest and things and we would learn more and then he
• 35:11
  was talking about Bavaria before he even kind of even knew it was
• 35:13
  a thing and before I had been and and the stories and stuff.
• 35:16
  So he kind of set the tone for this.
• 35:18
  It probably helps me for you guys being here because, you
• 35:21
  know, just because we it, we became more and more we're more
• 35:24
  and more interested in it and more of an appreciation for it.
• 35:27
  Like Oh my God, you think of? You have to think about Bavaria
• 35:31
  and beers and, and Germany and general and beers and, and most
• 35:35
  of the areas of Germany have their own particular style.
• 35:39
  So you have like Roush beer comes from Bamberg and
• 35:43
  Dortmunder comes from Dortmund and Schwartz beer comes from
• 35:48
  Klombach. Or I can't pronounce it and
• 35:50
  they'll mess up some of the pronunciations.
• 35:54
  Berliner Vice from Berlin, obviously.
• 35:56
  And and you have alt beer from Dusseldorf and Coles from
• 35:59
  Cologne. But those are all one.
• 36:01
  But if you look at Bavaria and the styles that come from
• 36:04
  Bavaria, it's Hellas Dunkel, the Heptavais and best beer, Mars
• 36:07
  and Bach, Meibach, Doppelbach. I mean, it's just, it is beer
• 36:12
  central. It's it's an incredible place to
• 36:15
  go if you love beer, if you love.
• 36:18
  Another thing I. Love just being over there is
• 36:20
  like we would take a train. So we went to Austria too, and
• 36:23
  we kind of went back and forth. We started Munich and ended in
• 36:24
  Munich, but we went to Traumstein.
• 36:27
  But the train rides are fantastic because you'd get into
• 36:29
  the train station and you go into the store and everybody
• 36:32
  else that I was with, you know, they're beer drinkers, but there
• 36:34
  were wine drinkers too. But you would just grab bottles
• 36:36
  of stuff and just take it on the train with you.
• 36:38
  And you would just, you know, I'd be like, I'd spend $1.50 on,
• 36:41
  you know, a bottle of, of, of Weiss or, or anything that was
• 36:44
  just in the store. Let me get three or four of
• 36:46
  these things for the train ride it, but it was all those kinds.
• 36:50
  It was all those styles. Everything you everything you
• 36:52
  found were those styles that you just mentioned.
• 36:54
  Well. And, and they do the breweries
• 36:57
  there do try to stick to their look to their, to the local
• 37:00
  beers as well. So I, I, you won't find a, you
• 37:04
  know, very seldom when you find a Bavarian Brewer making like a
• 37:08
  like, like, you know, an alt or, or, you know, Kolsch or
• 37:12
  something like that, they have a, the kind of like an
• 37:15
  unrespect, unwritten respect for each other that, hey, that's
• 37:18
  your styles. These are our styles.
• 37:20
  And so it's a very, very, like, it's very limited that you see
• 37:24
  that kind of crossover happening there.
• 37:26
  So I mean, obviously there are some larger, larger regional, I
• 37:31
  don't think there's quite any more national brands in in
• 37:33
  Germany. But for the most part, because
• 37:36
  you do have such wonderful choices locally that are, you
• 37:41
  know, just amazing beers that you really don't need to go too
• 37:45
  far to find something you like. Sure, I I would like to talk
• 37:50
  because we. Mentioned at the top.
• 37:51
  Of this thing you cover multiple states, are you finding
• 37:55
  differences in the markets between all those States and,
• 37:58
  and as it relates to the Hofbrau beer, is everybody kind of
• 38:02
  getting the same thing at the same time or?
• 38:06
  Well, so we have some markets that we're very well established
• 38:09
  in and they're generally ahead of the game.
• 38:11
  And we use those as examples for, for developing markets, you
• 38:15
  know, where we want to spread more business.
• 38:19
  The upper Midwest in particular, is very, very strong.
• 38:22
  There's a very strong German influence.
• 38:24
  For instance, we were first imported, officially imported
• 38:29
  into Frankenmuth, MI in 1987 because it was a very strong
• 38:34
  German community. And, and the, and the community
• 38:37
  leaders and a couple businesses actually went and sought out the
• 38:40
  brand, went to Munich and convinced them that they could
• 38:42
  bring it into the United States into Frankenmuth.
• 38:46
  And there are other, there are other areas like that around the
• 38:48
  country, but you know, you, you get in those very strong areas.
• 38:51
  And like I said, we, we use those as examples of reasons to
• 38:55
  sell a beer and other places. So it so it does spread.
• 38:59
  It just, it just takes a little longer to get to some of those
• 39:02
  areas. And, you know, and, and part of
• 39:04
  it is, so I'm five hours from Nashville.
• 39:08
  I, I can't get there very often. And I, and I have other areas
• 39:12
  that sell a lot of beer that I have to be at more often.
• 39:14
  So part of the reason you don't see quite as much there is it's
• 39:17
  because I just can't get there to help our wholesaler out.
• 39:21
  If I could get there as often as I like.
• 39:23
  And I love country music so I should be there more often.
• 39:25
  But. If if I.
• 39:27
  Could get there more often. We we would be doing better.
• 39:30
  I would come down and we could go to several places where I
• 39:32
  could buy you them. Oh nice, we let we.
• 39:35
  Take you up on that? Yeah.
• 39:37
  Be wearing, be wearing these, you know, kind of warm down
• 39:41
  there. Sometimes, yeah, yeah.
• 39:44
  Maybe when it's a little cooler, you know, but but Jerry, you
• 39:46
  know, being that you're up in Cincinnati area, you know where
• 39:49
  I'm from and Scott's been there with me, but I probably have
• 39:54
  been hopper out house over there in Newport, KY, across the river
• 39:57
  from Cincinnati. You know, it opened over 20
• 39:59
  years ago. I'd probably have been there
• 40:01
  about 10 times. And talk about that location,
• 40:05
  because I think it's fantastic and I think it it serves the
• 40:07
  area really, really well. Yeah, it's a beautiful location.
• 40:11
  I mean, it's convenient to, to the major sports stadiums.
• 40:15
  Really, it was supposed to be in Cincinnati, but the the
• 40:18
  Cincinnati leadership at the time couldn't, couldn't get it
• 40:21
  together. And Newport kind of swooped in
• 40:23
  and had a facility for him and everything else and just found a
• 40:26
  great area, beautiful, beautiful beer garden, very, very walkable
• 40:31
  all around that whole area. And that I don't, I think I'm
• 40:34
  correct. That was the very first one in,
• 40:36
  in the United States was in Newport.
• 40:38
  Yeah, that was what that's the first.
• 40:40
  One that was a brew pub. Vegas and then Newport were.
• 40:43
  Yep so but Vegas. Vegas is imported beer.
• 40:47
  Yeah, so and I think I. Think what makes it work so well
• 40:50
  is is the German heritage of the of the whole area.
• 40:53
  You know, as you know, you know, Over The Rhine and all the
• 40:56
  breweries in the brewing tradition there.
• 40:58
  It was the same thing in in Northern Kentucky, Lots of lots
• 41:01
  of breweries there, tremendous German heritage and brewing
• 41:04
  tradition. So I just made so much sense for
• 41:07
  it to be there. And so the location is
• 41:10
  phenomenal, just a, just a great place to be.
• 41:12
  And they, they're, they're well run.
• 41:15
  The, the beer is, is incredible. It's just, it's a fun place.
• 41:19
  And, and, and I I can proudly say and gladly say they've been
• 41:23
  open for 20 years and they haven't changed much in 20
• 41:26
  years. Thank you.
• 41:27
  Yeah. It's just, that's good.
• 41:29
  You know, it's the place where you go for Father's Day.
• 41:31
  It's the place you go for graduations.
• 41:33
  It's bachelor parties. It's it is, it's the place.
• 41:35
  So if anybody's anywhere near Newport, KY, Cincinnati, stop,
• 41:40
  stop by the hot bronze. Yeah, definitely.
• 41:42
  You know, like. I said I have a lot of great
• 41:44
  memories there. And as you said, you know, it's
• 41:46
  very, very like up there. There's a big German heritage on
• 41:50
  my mom's side, you know, there's a big German heritage on, on my
• 41:54
  mom's side. And my family, you know, we
• 41:57
  found out years ago that like her family migrated from like
• 41:59
  Germany and France to Cincinnati in like the mid 1800s.
• 42:04
  And that's when you started seeing a big influx.
• 42:06
  So I, I, every time I've been to Hopper house, I'm like, man, I'd
• 42:10
  love to keep coming back here. And the other thing that we
• 42:14
  haven't talked too much about is the food.
• 42:16
  There's also a lot of great German food there too.
• 42:20
  Well. Well, absolutely and.
• 42:21
  And I'll, I'll turn this one over to Steve because he's more
• 42:24
  of a foodie than I am. I'm, I'm a drinky, he's a
• 42:27
  foodie. Well, the.
• 42:31
  The, the franchise division, you know, the, the, the franchise
• 42:35
  restaurants like that. They all have a set a menu, a
• 42:37
  set menu, recommended menu with the, the, you know, they call
• 42:41
  them the, the, I believe that's the Bavarian specialties or
• 42:44
  Hoppro specialties. And those are ones that the
• 42:48
  recipes almost exactly mirrored to what you're going to enjoy at
• 42:52
  the Hopper house in Munich. So obviously they try to do the
• 42:57
  best to get the same ingredients, the same, you know,
• 42:59
  process and everything. So those are ones that are
• 43:01
  signature dishes that you know, you're going to try.
• 43:03
  You'll get them at every Opera House and they're going to be as
• 43:06
  close to what you enjoy in Munich as possible.
• 43:08
  And then obviously too, you know, depending on location,
• 43:11
  they they have to give a little, you know, local taste to it.
• 43:16
  And then at that point, the, the chef there will put on a couple
• 43:20
  things on the menu that might be more relevant to what's what's
• 43:23
  available locally. Like Cleveland, I believe they
• 43:25
  put walleye on the menu or pierogies, you know, so
• 43:29
  everybody has a little touch to it.
• 43:30
  But yeah, for the most part, you know, the, the swines accent,
• 43:34
  the, the, the, the Schnitzel, you know, a majority of those,
• 43:38
  those main dishes that you know, Germans are known for, in
• 43:41
  particularly that the ones that they do a lot of at the Hopper
• 43:44
  house, the, the roasted chicken, you know, that's one of the main
• 43:47
  ones too. So those are all ones that that
• 43:51
  we we try to make certain that the all the all the kitchens
• 43:55
  produces closely to the same recipe as what you enjoy in
• 43:59
  Munich so.