For those craft beer and travel nerds out there, a new YouTube series is out for you to enjoy! Next Exit is a series from HopCulture and Untappd featuring Kenny Gould, the founder of Hop Culture. This series focuses on a different city each episode, learning about their beer culture and other cool spots in the city. Guest appearances from beer festival founders, brewery owners and more are found throughout, and you’ll step away learning something about a new city, even if it’s one you have been to before.

To check out the series, visit their YouTube page here!

We chatted with Gould to learn more about how this series came to be and what we can expect of the series moving forward.

What inspired Next Exit?

Ever since I started my career in media, I’ve wanted to produce a travel show in the spirit of my idol, the late Anthony Bourdain. But long-form video is expensive, especially if you want to do it right. So it took a couple of years to get all the ducks in a row.

Writer’s note: As someone who watches the Anthony Bourdain/Eric Ripert episodes on a monthly basis, the inspiration is clearly there.

How did you decide on your first location? Any locations coming up we can get a sneak peek into?

As a Pittsburgh native, it was easy to make the Steel City our first location. Pittsburgh has an incredible culture of food and beverages and I think it’s a great example of an American city undergoing revitalization. It’s not perfect but it does a lot of things right, and I love that it’s still a hidden gem. The city is beautiful, the people are nice, and the sports are second-to-none. And that doesn’t even get us started on the breweries and bars.

With this show, we’ve actually waited to film additional episodes until we can hear from our viewers. We want people to watch the first episode and offer suggestions on places to visit. This first season will cover cities in the US, but in the future, I’d love to get to some further locales.

What’s been your favorite part of filming so far?

When you film, you get access to places you might not otherwise have an opportunity to visit. For instance, as part of the first episode, I visited the original Pittsburgh Brewing Company facility. At one time, it was one of the largest breweries in the country. Now, if you want to see it, you need steel-toed boots and a quality flashlight, and that’s if you have access. Over the last decade, I don’t think too many people have gotten the opportunity to get behind the gates, and I loved the behind-the-scenes look at an important part of brewing history.

How did Hop Culture & Untappd start the collaboration process for this show?

With millions of downloads around the world, the Untappd app represents the single largest network of drinkers in the world. Because of their reach, Untappd was the natural distribution partner for the show.

What is your dream location for an episode?

Before the pandemic, I had a chance to visit Tokyo, Japan. It was absolutely one of the coolest places I’ve ever been and I’d love to get back.

Finally, when do new episodes drop?

We’ll be filming and releasing the rest of Season 1 in 2022.
 

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There you have it! New episodes of Next Exit will be coming in 2022, but for now, check out the pilot episode on YouTube! To learn more about what Gould is up to with Hop Culture and the series, follow him on Instagram at @hopcultureken.

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