There are definitely customers who walk into the Erie Brewing Company at Knowledge Park and do a double take. They see an employee who has a striking resemblance to a Hollywood superstar who had one of the greatest mullets of all time.  

That employee is Holden Stevanus.  He’s a bar manager at Erie Brewing Company.   When you watch Holden work, it's like movie star Patrick Swayze has come back to life.  It's the mullet.  It looks good on him.  Just like Swayze.  Holden had short hair all his life until COVID hit.  He let his hair grow.   He's still sporting a mullet.  Lately, he's been getting a lot of compliments.

"Customers started to notice,” recalls Holden. “Other people started to say, 'Hey, has anyone ever told you that you look like Patrick Swayze?'  I've never heard that before.  I watched Road House and I thought that was the greatest compliment I could ever receive."   

His co-workers at Erie Brewing, and at his day job at Erie Insurance, encouraged him to enter a mullet contest. Holden sent his application to the USA Mullet Champ Contest along with some pictures that contest officials could use for his online bio. The pictures reveal his best Patrick Swayze look.  Yes. Holden Stevanus is now an official participant in the USA Mullet Championship.

"A lot of people might not like the look, but there's a lot of people all across the country that have embraced this mullet and this lifestyle and this look,” says Holden.   

The first round of voting begins Wednesday, July 10.  Votes can be cast by going to Holden's bio on the Mullet Champ website.  He gets more points when a voter also donates to the Mullet Champ charity, Jared Allen's Homes for Wounded Warriors. Erie Brewing Company is totally behind Holden.  The brewery created a special IPA with Holden's face and mullet on the can.   One dollar is being donated to the charity for every pint sold.  And get this.  The IPA is called "Hayze Swayze." 

"I think it is absolutely delicious.  It tastes just as good as the mullet looks,” says Holden with a laugh.

Contestants have to survive three rounds of voting to win.  Once again, voting begins on Wednesday, July 10.  You can vote by logging onto a website called mulletchamp.com.  If you buy Holden's special beer, a QR Code" will take your phone directly to the site.