Chris Kren-Mora from Visit Santa Rosa is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras, presenting Santa Rosa Beer Passport and FeBREWary. Chris has been on Wine Country Radio before but this is his first time on Brew Ha Ha. This week marks the 12th anniversary of Brew Ha Ha on the radio and 8 years of the podcast.

To promote the local brewing industry, we emphasize the pronunciation of the month of FeBREWary, and the Santa Rosa Beer Passport promotion is also starting now. The month of February also brings Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing Co., with two weeks of release to bars and taprooms, before the March release in their two locations. They have different menus on 4th St. in downtown Santa Rosa and at the big Windsor location.

Chris visited HenHouse Brewing around the corner from the studio, on his way in. They sent over a beer for Beatles fan Herlinda, called “The Walrus Was Paul” which shows the HenHouse chickens crossing the street, in imitation of the famous Abbey Road album cover.

HenHouse has both locations – Petaluma and Santa Rosa – on the Beer Passport itinerary. Starting on Saturday Feb. 7, there is a special shuttle service. It includes Cooperage, CuVer in Windsor, Santa Rosa’s HenHouse, Moonlight Brewing in Coffey Park, Shady Oak on B St. in Santa Rosa and both locations of Russian River Brewing Co. And the Smart Train goes to Windsor now, so that is a great option too. Old Caz is a Beer Passport stop, but they are not on the shuttle itinerary. February is a low month for tourism, so these promotions are intended to raise traffic in an otherwise slow period.

Herlinda and Chris continue, while tasting some brews from Shady Oak. They agree that Shady Oak is a great locale as well as great brewers. Herlinda was a judge at their smash burger competition, along with Hunter Fieri, Guy Fieri’s son. They had six smash burger trucks in competion. Chris has brought several beers to taste today, from breweries participating in Santa Rosa Beer Passport. 🍻

Nick Gislason of Hanabi Lager

1/22/26 – Santa Rosa, CA –  Since there is no live radio show today, for the podcast here is an encore performance of one of our favorite shows from last year, with Nick Gislason of Hanabi Lager. Brew Ha Ha will be back live on 1/29 with Janelle and Chris from Visit Santa Rosa talking about FeBrewary and Santa Rosa Beer Passport.

Nick Gislason, co-founder and Head Brewer at Hanabi Lager Co. is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell.

Herlinda Heras is just back from Belgium and brought back so much beer that she had to pay for overweight suitcases. Daedalus is also back from his own trip to Paris and London. He gets to reconnect with Herlinda for a few minutes before having to leave for an event later this evening. One of the beers that Herlinda brought back is from the Saint Sixtus Monastery in Westvleteren, where she visited. Daedalus gets to taste it before he has to take off.

The labels feature drawings of the patterns that different Japanese fireworks make, up in the air. Nick explains that “hanabi” means fireworks, in Japanese. “Hana” means flower and “bi” means fire, so literally their word for fireworks means “fire flowers.” The fireworks manufacturers used these drawings in the 1800s to describe their products, before photography was available to show the patterns that they make.

Nick grew up on San Juan Island in Washington, and learned brewing from an uncle who was a home brewer. In college he brewed at Boundary Bay Brewing in Bellingham, where he met his wife. They both became winemakers and launched Hanabi Lager about six years ago.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Nick says Hanabi makes grain-forward lagers. They are tasting the Hana Pilsner, which Herlinda says has a refined taste. Nick explains that beer is made from grain, and water, and hops are like a spice. Hops is like the barrels to wine, where the grapes are the main ingredient. So Nick focusses his energy in using the most delicious grains in the world. That fact that these plants are so important to human nutrition for thousands of years makes them sacred.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

They select grains mainly for the flavor they give to the beer. These flavors mostly come from old heirloom varieties of grains. Heirloom varieties of grain can be compared to heirloom tomatoes, for their superior flavor.

To make beer, Nick explains, first you grow the grain, then sprout the seeds, then you have to arrest their growth before it goes too far. Then you dry them and lightly toast them. This process is called malting. Then you steep a barley tea, spice it with hops, and ferment it, basically. They do four different beers, one for each of the four seasons. Each one features a different heirloom grain. The Summer beer uses Eraclea, a grain from Italy.

Nick is also a part-time pyrotechnician. He works with Lopez Community Fireworks back home in Washington. They practice the Japanese art of fireworks.

Fieldwork Brewing Company co-founder Barry Braden joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha today.

Barry Braden and Erin Callahan are here from Fieldwork Brewing Co. They are expanding into Santa Rosa and Erin will manage their restaurant in Montgomery Village. They will open soon, after one last regulatory step. There is a buzz in the neighborhood and people passing by are noticing that it looks like a restaurant already. They will have an extensive beer selection and a full menu including pizza, salad, wings, French fries, fried cauliflower and pickles and lots more.

Barry tells about how they serve a rotation of beers, so that fans of different types of beer can keep coming back for their favorites. He also says this is one way to make the brewers’ jobs interesting.

They are using a lot of new technologies with their hops, including hop distillates, extracts and experimental hops. Fieldwork Brewing also works with Berkeley Yeast. This company is engineering yeast to mimic certain flavors. This goes mostly into the hop-driven beers and their non-alcoholic or “N/A” beers.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Amidst the current downturn in the beer market, Fieldworks Brewing is actually growing. They are opening their tenth location in the Bay Area. The NHL’s San José Sharks have chosen Fieldwork as their official non-alcoholic beer. Some of their N/A drinks use compounds (with complex chemical names) which confer extra flavors as well as a mood lift, according to Erin.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Daedalus notices that Fieldwork produces an excellent product all across its product line including the N/A drinks, which elevates the quality level of the entire emerging market of N/A drinks. Barry explains that it took them some time to emerge in the N/A market. They waited for the brewing technology to evolve so that their N/A cocktails tastes like real ones, and their N/A beers tastes like real beer. So, if you want to go out with friends and not drink alcohol, for whatever reason, “…we have something for you,” says Barry.

Fieldwork Brewing Co. products are available in many local retail stores as well as their locations.

The 2024 Pliny the Younger 3-pack.

Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha for the 2024 Pliny the Younger release. This is an annual event on Brew Ha Ha, for example, here is last year’s release show.

Natalie has been getting ready for this year’s release. This morning they had their kickoff meetings for staff at Santa Rosa and Windsor. Everything is ready to begin this weekend. The Pliny the Younger will be available until April 4.

The recipe is mostly his year Vinny says he has added more of a New Zealand hop called Nectaron. The 2024 Pliny the Younger is 10.25% alcohol, so the idea is to hide the alcohol with lots of other flavors.

“It’s still hard to believe.” – Vinny Cilurzo

It was back in early 2005 when the brewery was less than a year old, that they wanted to do a promotion during the otherwise slow season. Vinny decided to take the Pliny the Elder recipe and add more of everything, more hops, more malt and more alcohol. They released it without fanfare, for a few years. But in 2010, everything changed. Pliny the Younger had been rated the best beer in the world on some influential beer websites. That is when people started forming lines before opening hours. It’s great to hear Vinny tell the story again. This has become a favorite annual event for beer lovers from around the world.

Pliny the Younger has some new artwork this year, which is on the header of this web page, showing Vesuvius erupting with beer and hops.

Both brewpubs will be open daily from 11AM to 10PM, from March 22nd through April 4th, 2024.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Russian River Brewing Co. will be a sponsor of the big beer history exhibition that is opening at the Museum of Sonoma County, called ON TAP: Sonoma County Hops and the Beer Revolution. We just had Eric Stanley from the museum on Brew Ha Ha.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

This year Russian River Brewing Co. has raised purchase limit from two bottles to three. A three bottle purchase comes in the convenient carrying case pictured above.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

RRBC has different menus at the Santa Rosa and Windsor locations. Vinny would have a Mamma Mia pizza (with halapeños) at the Santa Rosa 4th Street pub, to pair with a glass of Pliny the Younger. He remembers the time the first people met him four hours before opening time, in 2010.

Eric Stanley from the Museum of Sonoma County is our guest, here to discuss ON TAP Sonoma County Hops and the Craft Beer Revolution, an exhibition that will open on April 20, 2024. He joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, live in the Wine Country Radio studio.

Herlinda Heras has been in England and Ireland, which we heard about about over the last few episodes. Now she will be staying in town to assist with the exhibition. There are two paths to this exhibition, as Eric describes it. One is about the history of hops as part of Sonoma County agriculture and the other is about the more recent craft beer revolution. Brew Ha Ha will be a sponsor of this exhibition.

Herlinda is personally acquainted with many of the people who have made history in local brewing. She has been busy bringing several of them in to participate. For example, New Albion was the first licensed brewery after the repeal of Prohibition and it opened in the town of Sonoma. Tara Nurin will be appearing and reading from her book, since she interviewed a lot of the women who were part of the revolution, for the book. Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo will be participating as well as Ken Hartoonian, who was on this show recently and who has a big collection of brewing memorabilia. Famous brewers like Mark Carpenter, Ron Lindenbush and Don Barkley will be a part of it as well.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

The Museum of Sonoma County has a permanent Sonoma County history exhibition. called Sonoma County Stories. Gaye LeBaron had a lot to do with it, she is a local historian and friend of Steve. The museum is located in the old Sonoma County Post Office building, which was built in 1910. It is a beautiful building, which had to be moved from its original location, in order to save it.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

They are looking for sponsors for this exhibition, so if you are or work for a candidate for exhibition sponsorship, please contact Herlinda Heras.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Hop growing used to be a huge local business and recently hops have been making a comeback, as a local crop. There are several reasons for that. Starting in the 1850s this area was a leading hop region in the country, up to Prohibition. But after Prohibition it wasn’t until the 1980s that breweries came back. The exhibition will tell the story of what happened to the local hops industry, from the last crop in the early 1960s, up the re-emergence of hops in Sonoma County.

3.1415926535897932, or about 22/7.

Herlinda Heras is judging at the 2024 British Pie Awards and calls in to Brew Ha Ha today, and with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Here is an episode of Brew Ha Ha from March 22, 2018, when Herlinda had just returned from that year’s  competition. The winners are listed at the 2024 British Pie Awards website.

Today we hear all about her itinerary on her current trip to the England and Ireland. She began in London, judging the National Fish and Chips competition. Then, she visited Dublin, Ireland, where she saw Teeling Whiskey, the Guiness attraction “Beer Disneyland” and a museum exhibit. Her last stop was the British Pie Awards, an annual event in the town of Melton Mobray. This is Herlinda’s 10 year as a judge in this competition.

The pies at the 2024 British Pie Awards are very traditional and the judging takes into consideration all of the characteristic virtues of combining meat and crust. The categories of pies have evolved, so that today there is a category for Vegan pies, as well as vegetarian recipes and many others.

Herlinda explains how there is a hole at the top of the pie, as in the picture here. This is part of the recipe, specifically the baking process. They place a bit of jelly into the hole which bakes into the pie.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

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See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

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Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

We get a phone call from Herlinda Heras in London, she is there to judge this year’s UK National Fish & Chip Awards. The National Federation of Fish Fryers of the UK sponsor the annual event.

There are contestants from all over the UK as well as other countries, including the US, which was represented by a British couple from Georgia who have a fish and chips shop. There is the usual panorama of awards, in many categories, even the potatoes. On the Tuesday night before the event, they had a reception in the Houses of Parliament. They were actually in session and voting while she was there.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Part of the awards was a recognition of extraordinary customer service, and Herlinda heard stories about how during Covid confinement, fish and chip deliveries were almost the only contact that some people had with others.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

There is also an award for best sit-down restaurant, and many other categories. See the National Fish & Chip Awards website for all the categories and winners.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

The biggest award is to the “take away” which is British for “to go” service. That award went to a shop called Ship Deck, located in Caerphilly, Wales.

The team from Hiveworks Mead is in the studio for Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras to talk about their way of making mead. Alexander Mendoza, CEO and Head Mazer, Sean Duckworth, COO and Julian Frank, CFO, are taking turns on the two guest microphones in our small converted train car.

They will be at Beer City this Saturday, Feb. 24, in Courthouse Square.

The Hiveworks Mead team all grew up in Sebastopol together and now they are partners in the company.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

First they taste Skyborne, a simple recipe of honey, water and yeast, plus carbonation. They just wanted to make a beverage that they could enjoy with any food. The more honey you add, the higher the ABV. A lot of traditional mead could be 2-3 pounds of honey per gallon of mead. Their mead is lower in alcohol so they can use less honey.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

The partners started Hiveworks Mead in Sebastopol in a shed with one fermenter, and experimented until their product was a hit at some parties. That was when it was time to go pro. Even though it is classified and taxed as a wine, mead is actually made on equipment that is much more like that of a brewery. The aluminum cans use a lot less carbon dioxide, than glass bottles.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Alexander carries the title Head Mazer. Some meadmakers fancy the term. A mazer is a type of traditional medieval wooden cup, low and wide, with a rise in the middle. There happens to be a well-known annual mead competition called the Mazer Cup, based in Colorado, whose logo is shaped like a mazer. This may have suggested the idea for that term. *

* ‘Mazer’ as a meadmaker has no root word history in English nor in any of its contributing languages. Given that mead can be drunk from a mazer, calling a meadmaker a ‘mazer’ could be compared to calling a vintner a ‘glass’ or a brewer a “mug” or a Kombuchist a “tightly capped bottle.” But if people like the term, they will use it, and if enough people adopt it for enough time, it will become documented. 

Chris Keeton from CCBS 2024 calls in to Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras to talk about the California Craft Beer Summit. There will be a convention, the California Craft Beer Summit, March 12-14, in Sacramento. There is the website, ^ with all the info you need. The rest of today’s Brew Ha Ha episode is a conversation with the folks from Hiveworks Mead, which is on its own page.

Chris Keeton is the President of the Sacramento Area Brewers Guild and is also the head brewer for the Alaro Craft Brewery, which is located very close to the convention center. Morgan Territory Brewing won at ccbs last year, as they win a lot of competitions.

Beer City, Sat. Feb. 24 in Santa Rosa

The general public can purchase tickets to the event. The awards ceremony is March 13 during the CCBA Summit. The Competition will be held in the Crest Theater. They will have 197 breweries and 1300 beer entries, which makes it the third largest one of these in the country.

Judy Ashworth, the famous publican, was with Herlinda at the competition last year. Judy is a very famous figure in the craft brewing industry and she was on Brew Ha Ha on this episode back on December 19, 2019, along with former co-host Mark Carpenter.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

The CCBS 2024 winners will be announced on a website after the convention. There will also be a live stream on The Brewing Network YouTube channel. The results will be published at this site: https://brewerscupofca.com/

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

The Craft Beer Summit is a great networking opportunity for like-minded entrepreneurs to learn more about their business. The Guilds also provide an important service to their members. For example, the fact that we can taste beer and cider at our farmers markets is due to some lobbying done by the guilds.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Fogbelt Brewing founders Paul Hawley and Remy Martin are back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Paul and Remy have been on Brew Ha Ha several times, including this episode last September and this other episode the previous August.

This is a busy time for beer fans with the FeBrewary promotion and Beer City all taking place.

For Beer Week, Fogbelt Brewing is making Bacon and Beer pairings. It’s as classic as pizza and beer. They serve what they call “Billionaire’s Bacon” and also Salmon belly, served with a flight of beers.

Their annual Godwood Triple IPA has just been released. It is made with Simcoe, Mosaic, Aurora and Eldorado hops, all of them. They do three separate dry hops and a touch of caramel malt.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Paul and Remy just celebrated their tenth anniversary and so did the Brew Ha Ha. They went to school together and studied moviemaking, then moved to New Zealand and ended up working for a winery and making their own beer on the side. Continuing to Australia they “became passionate” about beer. Remy studied beer and Paul studied finance and the new team was ready.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

The Fogbelt location in Healdsburg is a beer garden which is also in an old train, just like Wine Country Radio. Fogbelt Brewing Co. is located at 1305 Cleveland Ave. in Santa Rosa.

The Beer City Festival in Santa Rosa Courthouse Square is on February 24. There are three races, half marathon, 10 K and 5 K, which are optional. Next week the organizers will be in the studio on Brew Ha Ha.

Herlinda went to the SF Beer Week gala. It was advertised as a “space” theme, including Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. Herlinda was the only person in the gala in costume.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Fogbelt is proud to be making a lot of different beers, something for everybody. Their Redwood Lager won a Gold Medal at the Sacramento State Fair.

Fogbelt also organized a Beer Camp, an adult summer camp with lots of beer. They hosted it at Wildhaven in Healdsburg, which is a glamping resort. They had a few classes in search and rescue, cooking demos, a falconry demo, and most of it was all about beer. Paul’s dad is a falconer and taught a class about it.

Jenny Ogston from Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter is here to talk about their Superb Owl party this Sunday.

The Victory House Superb Owl party is this Sunday, Feb. 11. It is a ticketed event to Victory House and Chuck’s Bowling. Door open Sunday at 2:30 but the whole facility is open as usual at 9:00. As of air-time today there are some seats left at Chuck’s, although Victory House is sold out for Superb Owl. There are big screens all around and the environment of a big game is exciting.

Victory House proudly pours non-alcoholic beers from Athletic Brewing. Sierra Nevada also makes a really good non-alcoholic beer called The Trail House.

They have 24 beers on tap, at least 12 are local breweries, hard cider and kombucha too. They also have lots of appetizers and really well made fried food, cuz it’s a sports bar! There are always new items being prepared for future menu upgrades. Jenny has brought a selectin of beers including a non-alcoholic one, a Peach Sour from Cooperage, Inhume, their IPA, from a brewery in Oakland.

Herlinda’s next trip will be judging the British Fish and Chips Awards, with the reception in the Houses of Parliament. 🇬🇧 We will hear all about it from her on the Feb. 29 episode coming soon.

Epicenter has lots of TV screens and shows a lot of sports, everything from ESPN and ESPN-U games to pickleball, corn hole and extreme tag. They are open on days when schools are closed, so there’s a place to bring kids.

Poppy Bank Epicenter has soccer fields and runs adult and youth soccer leagues. There is an arcade with old-school arcade games. They also have laser tag and a giant play structure in the little kids area. Chucks has 12 regular lanes and a private VIP area with 4 lanes. Chuck’s Garage is styled like a garage where guys will hang out.

Joanne Marino is calling in to Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, she is the executive director of SF Beer Week. Ed Gobbo from Harmonic Brewing Co. is also in the studio today. Ed Gobbo’s complete interview and podcast episode is over here on this page. (This way, both Harmonic and SF Beer Week get to have their own search traffic and shareable location.) Check out Ed’s interview, he has a lot to say. 🍻

SF Beer Week has a lot of North Bay events with Old Caz and Pond Farm, among many others. As the event has grown, more brewers than ever have a showcase.

The Gala is back at Pier 35 in San Francisco, it’s a great party that people are eager to attend again.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

The late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was a great supporter of Beer Week. Joanne talks about how the member breweries who run Beer Week face challenges all the time to survive. It has been proven that breweries contribute to revitalization. For example, it is sad for the Dogpatch community that Harmonic Brewing is no longer there. As brewers struggle to survive, it is important to promote the industry to try to give these business more exposure and more attention.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

The Gala has a Star Wars theme, so wardrobe and costumes are a factor. Watch out for Herlinda on that red carpet!

There are SF Beer Week collaboration brews, Russian River will be there with Pliny, and also lots of smaller breweries like Harmonic.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

There are still tickets available so get ‘em now! A VIP ticket gets you access to brewers like Vinny and Natalie and selfies galore.

The gala ha a space theme, so all the space movies and tv shows are fair game, including star wars, star trek star search, no not that, but spaceballs definitely

There are also non-alcoholic beverages. There is a Barrel Brothers non-alcoholic beer as a sponsor. The best part is getting back together with your community. Those are the moments we missed that we want to bring back.

Ed Gobbo, Harmonic Brewing Co. founder, is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. He was on Brew Ha Ha once before, on this episode of September 22, 2022.

Joanne Marino, executive director of SF Beer Week, will call in to the show. You can listen to her phone call with Steve, Herlinda and Ed on this separate podcast episode. (Separating the podcast into two allows each one to have its own search traffic and shareable location.)

Harmonic Brewing’s new location is in Thrive Center at the Chase Center, where the Golden State Warriors of the NBA play. The original Harmonic Brewing location was in Dogpatch, a neighborhood in San Francisco where they began their business. Their theme is celebrating Craft, Culture and Community.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

The first beer they taste is Prague Rock, a pun on Prog Rock. It is a Czech Pilsner style. Ed Gobbo gives credit to Admiral Maltings. which is a local facility that makes malt from locally grown barley. He likes working with them because of their careful attention to quality. It is also nice to have a local supplier which lowers the carbon footprint.

Ed and his partners were home brewers for about 10 years, and they had other careers before they started Harmonic.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Harmonic Brewing will be at San Francisco Beer Week, which is coming up soon. The entire community is excited for the return of the gala at the beginning of Beer Week. Herlinda describes how Beer Week has extended into other parts of the Bay Area. February 9 – 18. The last Gala was in 2020 just before everything shut down. We will hear more about during Herlinda’s call with Joann Marino.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

There is even going to be an app this year, to help people plan their attendance to the events. On February 10 there will be an Admiral Maltings event where they can meet the brewers and the maltsters and the farmers too. There are so many events, you have to plan your visit. Ed describes some collaborations he has done, which you can sample at SFBW.

(Photo credit: Sarah Chorey from the Harmonic Brewing Co. website.) 

Nick Gislason, co-founder and Head Brewer at Hanabi Lager Co. is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell.

Herlinda Heras is just back from Belgium and brought back so much beer that she had to pay for overweight suitcases. Daedalus is also back from his own trip to Paris and London. He gets to reconnect with Herlinda for a few minutes before having to leave for an event later this evening. One of the beers that she brought back is from the Saint Sixtus Monastery in Westvleteren, that she visited, and Daedalus gets to taste it before he has to take off.

The labels feature drawings of the patterns that different Japanese fireworks make, up in the air. Nick explains that “hanabi” means fireworks, in Japanese. “Hana” means flower and “bi” means fire, so literally their word for fireworks means “fire flowers.” The fireworks manufacturers used these drawings in the 1800s to describe their products, before photography was available to show the patterns that they make.

Nick grew up on San Juan Island in Washington, and learned brewing from an uncle who was a home brewer. In college he brewed at Boundary Bay Brewing in Bellingham, where he met his wife. They both became winemakers and launched Hanabi Lager about six years ago.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Nick says Hanabi makes grain-forward lagers. They are tasting the Hana Pilsner, which Herlinda says has a refined taste. Nick explains that beer is made from grain, and water, and hops are like a spice. Hops is like the barrels to wine, where the grapes are the main ingredient. So Nick focusses his energy in using the most delicious grains in the world. That fact that these plants are so important to human nutrition for thousands of years makes them sacred.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

They select grains mainly for the flavor they give to the beer. These flavors mostly come from old heirloom varieties of grains. Heirloom varieties of grain can be compared to heirloom tomatoes, for their superior flavor.

To make beer, Nick explains, first you grow the grain, then sprout the seeds, then you have to arrest their growth before it goes too far. Then you dry them and lightly toast them. This process is called malting. Then you steep a barley tea, spice it with hops, and ferment it, basically. They do four different beers, one for each of the four seasons. Each one features a different heirloom grain. The Summer beer uses Eraclea, a grain from Italy.

Nick is also a part-time pyrotechnician. He works with Lopez Community Fireworks back home in Washington. They practice the Japanese art of fireworks.

Today Herlinda Heras’ Maui Report takes the stage on this special podcast episode of Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon.

Herlinda Heras called in from Maui where she was travelling for her birthday. She extended her stay and she is finally back today. Herlinda had the opportunity to report on Lahaina when her friend who lives there invited her. She was hesitant to visit, not wanting to be a looky-loo. However as she was invited, she got to see, “many beautiful things to do” there.

Whereas the Sonoma County fires were huge, covering a broad area, Lahaina is rather small. A lot of old buildings from the 1700s burned and cannot be rebuilt. But the people on Maui are still operating their business and still need tourist traffic. Thanks to her very wide circle of friends, Herlinda was able to attend some exciting social events and visit some incredibly beautiful natural attractions.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Herlinda has brought a beer called Mango Stickee Rice for tasting, which as you can imagine is juicy and delicious. There is also a charity collaboration beer that lots of brewers are making, including Russian River Brewing Co.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Calling in on the phone from Maui is Leanne Pletcher, director of public relations from the Maui Tourism Bureau. They are working to encourage people to come and visit and enjoy the many other parts of the island while Lahaina is healing.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

There are breweries and distilleries on Maui too, that Herlinda encourages people to visit. Maui Brewing Co. is in south Maui, near the coast. Up country, there are small towns and parks to visit as well as a pineapple farm and distillery.

Here are some links about Maui brewers and distillers and about visiting and helping Maui:

Maui Nui Strong: https://www.mauinuistrong.info/

Maui Tourism, general info: https://mauitourism.org/

Go Hawaii, travel information: https://www.gohawaii.com/malama

Maui Brewing Co., makers of Mango Stickee Rice beer: https://mauibrewingco.com/

Ocean Organic Farm and Distillery: https://oceandistillery.com/

Haliimaile Distilling: https://haliimailedistilling.com/

Mahalo Aleworks: https://www.mahaloaleworks.com/

MAHALO.

Maui Brewing Co. Mango Stickee Rice beer.

Old Possum Brewing Co.

Flagship Taproom and Old Possum Brewing are both in the house today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. The last time Sandro was on the show was this episode in April, 2023.

Sandro Tamburin is back in the studio with a big announcement. Flagship BBQ and Old Possum Brewing are teaming up. Flagship BBQ will become the managing partner for retail operations at Old Possum, while Sandro will continue to manage the brewery operation. They will be in soft launch in February then Friday, February 16 they have a grand opening. They will also release their Triple Hopped beer, Tonic Immobility.

As they are tasting a pilsner style from Old Possum called La Rosita, Sandro tells the story of Old Possum. He started as a wort producer supplying other brewers. But once he realized that he had also assembled all the other necessary licenses and processes to become a brewer, that’s what he did.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Flagship Taproom has been making BBQ for years. Now they will be serving Flagship Taproom barbeque food and pouring Sandro’s Old Possum beer at Old Possum’s locations.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Check out the family-friendly New Year’s Eve party!

Sandro also has an IPA called Garibaldi, it is a dry hazy. It uses Nelson Sauvin hops from New Zealand.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Flagship Taproom does fun promotions like comedy shows, live music and trivia nights that attract a fun crowd.

Natalie Cilurzo

Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Co. is on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras to talk about Pliny for President 2024. Herlinda is traveling today.

We begin with Natalie telling the story of how RRBC got started, from when Korbel started the brand and hired Vinny. Later when Korbel decided to leave the beer business, Vinny and Natalie got the brand and recipes, organized a business plan with investors, and opened their brew pub in 2004 in Santa Rosa.

That means that 2024 is also the 20th release of Pliny the Younger. When they had to postpone their retail release during Covid, it meant separating the wholesale distribution of Pliny the Younger from the on-site consumer retail release. The brewery is a lot bigger than it used to be and this reorganization has made the process more manageable.

The 2024 Pliny the Younger will be available at will begin to appear at many of their clients in the Bay Area on draft, at SF Beer Week Feb 9 – 18, and a few other events. The in-person release is March 22 to April 4, this year. The complete release plans are all listed at the Russian River Brewing Co. website and socials.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Check out the family-friendly New Year’s Eve party!

Russian River Brewing Co. has also released the 2024 Pliny for President. It used to be just for fun, pre-social media. But now, it’s a lot more established, with branding, merchandise and a great slogan, “Hop Care for Everyone.” Blind Pig is Pliny’s running mate, as always. The 2020 release was sold online in cans, and people who were cooped up during the pandemic really appreciated it. This 2024 Pliny for President has flavors of 4 different hops, Simcoe, Nectaron, Amarillo, Zumo, so the beer has citrus and stone fruit flavors from those hops, but a but lower alcohol than last time. It’s at local retail stores and they will release it quarterly.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

The Windsor location was designed with Pliny the Younger in mind. It was important for there to be enough space for the crowds that come every year. Some travelers even park their RVs in the Windsor parking lot, with permission.

SF Beer Week is back and the opening night Gala is back for the first time since the pandemic. Russian River Brewing Co. will be there. Tickets for different kinds of entry are available at the SF Beer Week website.

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

PS: some suggested Latin slogans for Pliny for President, suitable for carving into marble: 

Ex multis cerevisiis, unum = Out of many beers, one.
Lupuli pro Omnibus = Hops for Everyone. 

Steve and Bryan

Co-founder of Old Caz Beer Bryan Rengel joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras in the studio on Brew Ha Ha today. Bryan was on Brew Ha Ha last August on this episode, and his partner Tom Edwards was a guest on this other episode from March 31, 2022.

The first beer tasted today is called Chismosa Clara, their take on a Mexican Lager. There is an amber ale version. This is a lighter one, made to be like Modelo Especial. They are located in Rohnert Park which is growing and gaining popularity.

A hazy IPA is the next tasting, called Early Sunset. It’s an example of a creative process of starting with a special recipe that they make in kegs only, to see if it becomes popular. If it does, they will make a label and produce it. This is how they select which beers to produce more of.

Old Caz is opening a new location in SOCO Village, right in the middle of the square. It is under construction now and their goal is to use the old taproom only for special events and to move the public tasting to the new place. They have a specially designed concrete pad for heavy food trucks to park.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Herlinda Heras is calling in from Maui. She is sitting at Maui Brewing Company, looking at the ocean. She is there for her birthday and to see breweries that are participating in the Kokua relief beer project.

Kokua is an independently owned restaurant and brewery. The Kokua project is a fund raiser for victims of the Lahaina fire last August. On the other side of the island from where the fires happened, it is still quite beautiful. Being from Sonoma County, we can relate to having fires and also doing brew projects to raise funds for fire relief.

For info about the Kokua Project: https://mauibrewingco.com/kokua/

The Global Empowerment Mission Maui Brewing Fire Fund

https://globalempowermentmission.kindful.com/?campaign=1268238

TS Restaurants Legacy of Aloha https://www.tsrestaurants.com/legacy-of-aloha/

Maui Humane Society https://www.mauihumanesociety.org/ 

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Check out the family-friendly New Year’s Eve party!

Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Herlinda Heras in Maui reporting on the Kokua Project.

Herlinda Heras is calling from Maui, to talk about the Kokua Project with Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. Bryan Rengel of Old Caz Beer is also with us. Over here is the podcast episode of that entire show. Here is just the portion where Herlinda speaks to us from the Maui Brewing Company, looking at the ocean. She is there for her birthday and to see breweries that are participating in the Kokua relief beer project, which is raising money for Maui fire relief.

The Kokua project is a fund raiser for victims of the Lahaina fire last August. On the other side of the island from where the fires happened, it is still quite beautiful. Being from Sonoma County, we can relate to having fires and also doing brew projects to raise funds for fire relief.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Please consider making a donation to any of the following organizations for Maui fire relief:

For info about the Kokua Project: https://mauibrewingco.com/kokua/

The Global Empowerment Mission Maui Brewing Fire Fund

https://globalempowermentmission.kindful.com/?campaign=1268238

TS Restaurants Legacy of Aloha https://www.tsrestaurants.com/legacy-of-aloha/

Maui Humane Society https://www.mauihumanesociety.org/ 

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Check out the family-friendly New Year’s Eve party!

Marc Meltonville, food historian, is our guest on today’s Brew Ha Ha podcast, in a replay of a May 21, 2020 show. There is no new show today due to bad weather upsetting people’s travel plans, so today’s podcast episode repeats one of Steve Jaxon’s favorite classic Brew Ha Ha shows. Enjoy! 🍻

Brew Ha Ha today is an interview with English food historian Marc Meltonville, on the telephone from England, talking with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Marc is the consulting food and drink historian for the historic royal palaces in the UK. So he knows a lot about what people were brewing and eating and drinking in different periods of history.

Marc Meltonville jokes that being a Consulting Food Historian doesn’t feel like a real job. He entered the field when he was working in a museum and someone came to him asking about a Tudor food project. He mentions that during the 1918 flu pandemic, they did not shut the pubs, even when they closed over venues. The British pub licensing laws close the pubs from 3pm to 6pm and they close again at 10pm.

Herlinda mentions that a lot of our familiar alcoholic beverages actually began as medicinal cures. Marc agrees, that a lot of recipes were in the “physic” i.e. medicine books, not the cooking books.Distillation was reserved for tonics. Around the early 17th century the digestive drink after dinner became popular. Gin and tonic is an example.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Hampton Court and Kew Gardens both have extensive kitchen which have been recently explored, discovered and put back into use to demonstrate techniques and recipes from the past. Marc was also recently at Newland Grist Mill in Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. They have a mill that can make its own malt, so they have built a colonial brewery with period equipment. “Two guys with a stick and a bukcket.” Marc has also worked at Williamsburg and at Mt. Vernon where they produce George Washington whiskey without modern equipment.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Check out the family-friendly New Year’s Eve party!

His current two brewing projects involve looking at brewing processes in the 1700s. Also, he is designing an event based on recipes of Stonehenge, 4500 years ago. He used a mass spectrometer to study the residue of old containers to understand their actual. That led to what he calls a “backwards recipe” where he reverse engineered the brew based on the residue. Yeast is from fruit skins, grapes in southern Europe or apples in the north, he realized that by mixing barley, cut apples, honey and water, he got a drink, that he calls, “a drinky thing. “He made a “pre-beer beer” like they did 4500 years ago before malting of barley or extraction of yeasts. It tasted like hard cider. Herlinda says it reminds her of braggot, which is a form of mead from barley malt and honey.

In the past, food was a luxury for wealthy classes, whether in colonial America or Europe. This was true with regard to food and drink, across the centuries.

Adam Bosch, co-founder of Parliament Brewing in Rohnert Park, joins Herlinda Heras in studio on Brew Ha Ha today. He was on Brew Ha Ha once before, on this episode of September 8, 2022 along with Peter Lopez of Juncture Taproom.

Adam has brought several Parliament beers for a taste and talk. The first is a German style Pilsner that won best Pilsner at Battle of the Brews this year. The second glass is the same pils but dry hopped with Riwaka hops from New Zealand. That provides a little toasted spice flavor and makes a comparison with the other pils.

Adam also brought a barrel-aged beer called Patience, perfectly named, because time was key. The barrels had whiskey in them for more than 13 years, then the beer is aged in them for a year and a half. Then it was in the bottle for 4 years. At 13% ABV it is an Imperial Stout sipping and savoring, the opposite of a ‘daytime’ lager. It can be aged like a fine wine and this one is already 4 years in the bottle.

On February 9th of 2024 they will be attending San Francisco Beer Week, and this is the first year that the gala is back. For the occasion they are preparing some special releases. One is a lambic made with cherries that they get from a grower near Sacramento. They call it the Bridesmaid because it took second place in several competitions.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Who can resist a musical pun? Parliament Brewing company deserves a little bit of Funkadelic in the break. After the break, we hear a quick history of Parliament Brewing. When his brother got out of law school, he got a home brewing kit. He fell in love with the science of beer. They and their father and some partners opened 5 months before the pandemic shutdown, and survived. Adam gives thanks to his staff and vendors and collaborators who all contributed to making it work. They changed their business plan, under the suggestion to “react, don’t over-react.”

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Check out the family-friendly New Year’s Eve party!

Two other hazy beers are next to taste. The first is Prism, very hoppy and fragrant 6.6% with herbal tea flavors. The second is Crash, 7.1% ABB, with Riwaka hops. Herlinda was stuck at the airport the other day and got to taste some Parliament Kaleidoscope in the airport bar. We also hear about a trip to Washington that the Bosch brothers took, to see the hops that they use.

Herlinda and Josh.

Our guest today on Brew Ha Ha is Heidrun Meadery head meadmaker Josh McCarthy. The Heidrun is the name of a mythical viking goat. Mead is the oldest alcohol in the world, brewed with honey.

Heidrun takes the still fermented mead and then turns it into a sparkling beverage using the traditional champagne method. They are the only meadery that we know of so far that does champagne mead.

Honey is very sweet, Josh explains. They add water to the honey to dilute it to the sugar proportion desired, and they also remove other parts like wax. Then they chill it down and handle it like wine. The bubbles are done the same way as in traditional champagne. The only difference is the ingredient they start with.

The mead is able to carry flavors of the forage that the bees covered, so you can taste radish blossom, carrot blossom and more in the mead. They do brut naturel, so they are bone dry.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

They also have an estate at Point Reyes Station, and they collect honey there. They also bring in honeys from around the world. This honey comes from Hawaii. Josh points out that whatever flavors come from the honey are the only flavors in the finished product. They never add any other flavors, just the honey itself. Their small community of bees includes feral hives and domestic hives. They don’t like yellowjackets which come and destroy the hive. Herlinda reminds us, don’t use Round-Up which takes out the good bugs too. Honey, water and yeast make mead. Josh explains, they start like beer but treat it like wine.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

They use the same fermenting yeast that champagne producers use. It does not impart any of its own flavor. They ferment about 10 days for the wine to get through fermentation. Then they do a natural settling process, four to six or eight weeks, depending on the honey. Each variety is very different. Their tasting room is located in a greenhouse and it is a nice visit. There are many flowering plants that are for the bees, and you can taste the garden in your glass.

Every wine they make is 12.5% ABV, which is the same as sparkling wine.

Today’s podcast episode is a replay of a fun episode from May 9, 2019, featuring Norman Greenbaum, longtime Sonoma County resident famous for the song Spirit in the Sky (because today, the live show is pre-empted). Enjoy this episode from pre-Covid-19 days!

Norman Greenbaum and his portuguese guitar.

Norman Greenbaum is our guest on Brew Ha Ha today, joining Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras. He wrote and performed the iconic 1969 song “Spirit in the Sky.” Herlinda Heras is back from her trip to Portugal and has brought three Portuguese beers to taste.

Norman Greenbaum is a longtime Sonoma County resident. Steve asks Norman if the success of his song still surprises him. It has been in movies and commercials and continues to have its own life. Any band or singer wants to have a hit record, and he was lucky to have a hit on the charts. He says he may have been a one-hit wonder but it has been in over 60 movies and a couple dozen commercials.

It was in an ad for Audi in the last Super Bowl. Spirit in the Sky was in the Budweiser Discovery Reserve American Red Lager beer advertisement. The beer was brewed to commemorate the 1969 moon landing. The song was recorded in San Francisco.

Herlinda asks Norman to tell the story of the song and he remembers various scenes and themes from old Western films. The Stovall Sisters were his backup singers, they were from Oakland where they also sang in church. Mark Carpenter remembers the environment of the late 1960s and remembers the song as a really big hit.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Herlinda Heras has brought beers from Portugal, including an “APA” which they call an American Pale Ale. Praxis Brewery is in Coimbra which is famous for having really good water. The Praxis family younger generation has revived the brewery and Mark says it’s a great example of Europeans doing an American style. It is 6% alcohol which is reasonable. There is also an 8/5% double Bock from Vaida Brewery outside of Aveiro which is south of Porto. Herlinda has also brought a beer with a woman on the label.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Norman Greenbaum remembers that New York was a center of music recording but he was not fond of the city. He knew that Hollywood was the other center of that business so he went to LA. He started Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band and signed with a record company immediately. The Eggplant that Ate Chicago was their first hit.

Now his songs have been in countless commercials and movies. Norman does say he is flabbergasted and thanks “the Spirit in the Sky for taking such good care of me.” He never gets tired of hearing it even if he wrote it. It still sends shivers up his spine.

Norman has brought a special guitar today which is from Portugal. He bought it at the flea market in Petaluma for $25, 40 years ago and brought it to a luthier for repairs. It disappeared and 42 years later, the guy contacted him saying it was fixed!  It is called a Viola de Terra made of birds-eye maple.

Elk Fence Distillery co-owners Scott Woodson and Gail Coppinger join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. The Elk Fence Distillery is a recently opened small-batch craft distillery that makes American single-malt whiskey, botanical gin and vodka. It has the distinction of being the only distillery located in the city of Santa Rosa, California. Juniper, coriander, tangerine and grapefruit all go into the botanical gin.

They were supposed to open on March 14, 2020, the day that the state closed down for Covid. The Drive was on the air that day when Governor Newsome made the announcement. They had a party ready for 600 people that they had to cancel.

They actually went to Kentucky and Pennsylvania to learn how to distill. The guy who made their equipment directed them to two schools where he knew they would learn how to operate his equipment. The gin ages in new American white oak barrels. It looks like a Sauvignon Blanc. Scott calls it Christmas in a glass.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Their tasting room is at 464 Kenwood Court in Santa Rosa, open from 11am-4pm Fridays and Saturdays. It’s across from Lithia Dodge, close to the studio. Their product is also in Bottle Barn, Wilibee’s, Oliver’s (soon) , Grossman’s and Perch and Plow.

The name Elk Fence comes from where they grow their barley, near a fence that separates 300 elk from all the dairy farmers out in Marin County where they live. Scott lives in Inverness and Gail lives in Point Reyes.

Gail also does a radio show on KWMR a listener-supported community station, on alternating Thursdays, 6:30pm–8:30pm. The show’s name is Shorty’s Bunkhouse and she plays bluegrass, americana and more. Check out the sample 2-hour show on her show’s website. She started on the radio in 1997. Their signal is strong and can be heard in Sonoma County too. Steve Jaxon knows that station and likes it. He heard Robert Earl Keen playing Merry Christmas from the Family for the first time and they realize it was on her show.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Next they taste the American single-malt whiskey. They won a silver medal this year for this at the American Distilling Institute. The American distilling Institute founder is Bill Owens. (He is also the man who took a famous picture of violence at the ill-fated Rolling Stones concert at Altamont.)

Next they shake up a cocktail called The Entitled Housewife, named after Becky Robinson, a performer that Herlinda also knows. Scott’s original cocktail is made with their Golden Own barrel aged gin, Mr. Black coffee, some pecan liqueur, and club soda.

Scott and Gail are Elks and Herlinda is a Moose and may become an Elk now. The Elks Club of Petaluma should come to Elk Fence and elk it up.

We open with Herlinda Heras calling from Belgium. Leah Scurto of PizzaLeah and Fairfax Brewing Co’s Dan McGarry talk to Daedalus Howell after that. Herlinda is on a barge on a canal in Belgium, on a beer voyage sponsored by Visit Flanders, the tourist bureau.

Herlinda’s tour has taken her near the sites of some important battles of World War One. It included a visit to Flanders Fields. They visited the Saint Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, Belgium. The monks who live there and make beer were quite surprised when one of their beers came out Number One on RateBeer dot com. “The poor monks didn’t know what to do with themselves, but now it’s quite the destination.” They went to Rodenbach for a blending class and also to Chimay. Vinny and Natalie from Russian River Brewing Co. are also in Belgium for the Brussels Beer Challenge. However they and Herlinda are on different itineraries this time and won’t meet up over there. Herlinda has also visited some small local breweries in France and Belgium. She will have a lot to say about her trip on next week’s show. “It’s tough but somebody’s got to do it.”

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

After Herlinda’s call, Leah Scurto from PizzaLeah and Dan McGarry from Fairfax Brewing Company take up the conversation with Daedalus. Leah has brought a Detroit-style pizza, to go with the nice rice lager that Dan has poured, a true rice lager. Detroit style has a carmelized cheese crown, cooked in a tapered pan. The dough rises for four hours in the morning.

Fairfax Brewing Company is based in Marin County and they are now gaining distribution in Sonoma County. Dan and his partner have been in the restaurant industry for a long time. They begin by going out to the people they know. Daedalus is the editor of the Pacific Sun which did this story on Fairfax Brewing Co. Their distribution is mainly by kegs to restaurants. Later they hope to put some cans on shelves. They celebrate their one-year anniversary on September 9th.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Their hazy is their number one seller, and the hazy is also the top seller at PizzaLeah. But Leah also reports people coming in asking for something that is not hazy. Trends have life cycles and while IPAs are here to stay, other styles will continue to emerge. Older drinkers have observed the evolution of craft beers. Dan says it has been “real fun to watch. … A good time for beer.”

Leah Scurto has built PizzaLeah’s success with great pizzas and also by engaging with the community. She loves teaching how to make pizza at the Artisan Baking Center in Petaluma. She also has been in many international pizza competitions. Daedalus and Leah agree that he local pizza scene has reached new heights. Leah cites Psychic Pie in Sebastopol for their original takes on traditional styles, and a couple of others. Sonoma Pizza Co. and Slow Co Pizza are both stand out. Leah notices that the pizza community is supportive and friendly, not jealous of others or envious of their success. People gladly share recipes and advice.

Herlinda Heras and Kevin McGee

Kevin McGee, President and CEO of Anderson Valley Brewing Co, AVBC, joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha.

The foundation of brewery dates to 35 years ago. It is the world’s first solar powered brewery. Kevin explains how they recently streamlined their lineup of IPAs, including their classic west coast IPA, Hop Ottin’. They are tasting the Coastal Ale which is a partnership with the Surfrider foundation.

Anderson Valley Brewing Co. will be taking over the ale stands at the Dickens Christmas Village in the Cow Palace in San Francisco. They will be pouring 11 different beers. Some of them are seasonal, like the Winter Solstice beer.

Herlinda describes the fun and excitement at the Dickens Christmas Village, including old fashioned Victorian games and a fencing school. There are character actors and skillful character portrayals of Charles Dickens himself as well as many characters from the story A Christmas Carol. They perform plays and there is tea time, to do a proper British tea and also a Sherlock Holmes mystery attraction too.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

The name of one of their beers, Baal Hornin’ means good drinking in Boontling, the local dialect.

Since 1997, every year Anderson Valley Brewing Co. has hosted the Booneville Beer Festival. Proceeds going to hyper-local charities, within 10 or 20 miles of the brewery. Over the years they have raised over 1.8 million dollars. The next Beer Fest is Saturday, May 4, 2024.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

If you visit Booneville, don’t try to drive home too late in the day. The road is perilous, but there are lots of lodging opportunities around.

The next tasting is the Winter Solstice beer. It is rich tasting and at 6.9% ABV it is stronger than the easy drinking varieties.

Beer plus deer = beer, hence Barkley the mascot of Anderson Valley Brewing Co., a bear with antlers.

Ava Kemper’s Hello Hello Hello

Collin MacDonnell, of Henhouse Brewing Co. and Ava Kemper, intern, are our guests today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Ava Kemper holds a BS in Environmental Science and Management from UC Davis and is also a graduate of the UC Davis Master Brewers Certificate in Brewing Sciences program.

This year Ava has been an intern at Henhouse Brewing Co., where she developed and then brewed her own beer called Hello Hello Hello.

Collin tells about Henhouse Brewing Co.’s intentions in organizing their internship program with UC Davis. They wanted to create job opportunities for everyone and Ava’s internship is the first one under the new program. Ava describes entering the UC Davis Master Brewer’s program after starting to work in the field of her first degree, which is Environmental Science.

Ava’s beer is called Hello Hello Hello. Its name comes from the title of a song by one of her favorite artists, Remi Wolf. Herlinda appreciates Hello Hello Hello, she calls it clean and aromatic, a perfectly balanced beer.

Henhouse is coming up on its 12th anniversary. Since 2015 they have been located a short walk from where The Drive’s radio studio is located, in a converted train car. Henhouse does support many local non-profits and they feel strongly about their position in the community.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

The release party for Hello Hello Hello is in the Henhouse Santa Rosa location on Friday, Nov. 17. They have also opened a room in Novato where they only play vinyl records. Collin is proud of this result of their internship program. They really wanted the internship to be a well rounded experience, not just about brewing. They wanted it to be about the beer business, so production, packaging, quality and field sales. Ava attended a Big Chicken marketing meeting and heard a presentation about financial statements too. It focusses on the entire business. Herlinda too recognizes the importance of the practical business side, including corporate contingency plans for the future.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Homerun Pizza Knuckle balls

Cynthia Caughie, owner of Homerun Pizza, joins us in the studio today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras.

Collin McDonnell and Ava Kemper from Henhouse Brewing Co. are also in today. Listen to their conversation with Herlinda and Steve Jaxon on this separate podcast episode, right here. Lauren Schwing from Alliance Medical Center is also staying in the studio, to talk about their Giving Tuesday initiatives associated with Henhouse and Homerun Pizza, after telling us about that also in the previous segment of The Drive.

Homerun Pizza has been around for 20 years and Cynthia Caughie has owned it for the last five years. She was a server there for 13 years and then had the opportunity to take ownership. That happened after the Tubbs fire. Her mantra is “Community supporting community.” Check out the Homerun Pizza website and socials to see Cynthia tell all about it.

They make their pizza dough and their sauce from scratch daily. Their signature dish is the Knuckle Ball. It is like a small round calzone, pizza crust stuffed with mozzarella cheese and either peperoni or bacon. Steve Jaxon gives the authentic Napoletano pronunciation “muzzarell” for mozzarella.* You can tell he heard the dialect around his home as a child, as many Italian Americans once did.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Homerun Pizza had a party in March and will have another party before the end of the year, to celebrate their 20th year in the community.

They have a menu full of items that are named after something or someone in baseball, such as the Ty Cobb Salad.

On December 5, they will experiment with a bingo night. In honor of Ava Kemper and her Hello Hello Hello beer, they will have a full keg of it there that night.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Cynthia tells about how Homerun Pizza is going to celebrate its 20th anniversary with Giving Tuesday, by doing it every third Tuesday of the month. It is a way for them to show their gratitude to the community that supported them through the pandemic.

Lauren Schwing from Alliance Medical Center says it’s a good day when she can hang out around Homerun Pizza. They will have other community partners with raffle prizes on the Homerun Pizza Giving Tuesdays. It’s a great opportunity to get a great pizza and some presents all in the name of charity.

Homerun Pizza also offer frozen Knuckle Balls. If you purchase an order of frozen Knuckle Balls they will make a $5 donation to Alliance Medical Center. They make their pasta sauce from scratch. “It’s like my nonny’s,” says Cynthia. They have an extensive menu of wraps, salads, burgers and more. And if you like Ranch dressing, put some on a Knuckle Ball. Yum!

* The name of mozzarella cheese comes from the Italian verb ‘mozzare’ which means to cut a piece off of a larger piece of something. In this case, the cheesemakers have their hands in some very hot water, pulling and kneading a large ball of cheese. They will pull off a piece big enough to fit in the hand, knead it into a ball, and set it aside. The action of detaching the piece gives the name to the cheese. -C. DiMatteo, The Drive Italian translator and etymologist. 

Shadow of a Doubt

Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner of Russian River Brewing Co. joins Herlinda Heras and Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha to talk about their plans for 2024.

2024 is going to be a big year for Russian River Brewing Co. First, it is their 20th anniversary. They opened on April 3, 2004, on 4th St. in Santa Rosa. They also released the first Pliny the Younger in 2005. The Pliny release dates are now March 22 – April 4. They do wholesale distribution on draft for retail customers in February, still.

Pliny the Younger is a super hoppy triple IPA, about 10.25% ABV. It started as a beer they made to drum up some business during the slow season. For several years they did this with no fanfare. But in 2010 people started communicating online, including at sites like RateBeer.com. The beer was rated one of the best beers in the world. Since then, it has grown into an international hit. For more about the 2023 Pliny the Younger, here is Natalie’s BHH podcast episode from last February.

They do no advertising and its success is 100% consumer driven and they only made two batches at the Santa Rosa pub, so probably about 60 kegs. They always remind their team how important it is not to take its success for granted. It’s on tap for two weeks, and people can buy a limited amount. It gets pretty crowded on weekends.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Natalie describes the base recipe of Pliny the Younger as Pliny the Elder on steroids. It uses a lot of hops but almost every year there is a tweak to the hops chosen.

They taste Shadow of a Doubt seasonal porter. It’s 9.9% and is named after an Alfred Hitchcock film that was shot in Santa Rosa in 1943.

One final announcement, Pliny will be running for President again, Pliny for President and Blind Pig for Veep. On December 12, it will be released on tap and then it will be brewed quarterly through election season. Blind Pig Brewing Company was the name of Vinny Cilurzo’s first brewery, back in Temecula, California in 1994.

Sausalito Liquor Company

Scott Jampol, the founder of Sausalito Liquor Company, is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras.

They are a brand-new company that launched about two and a half weeks ago. They begin by tasting Marin Coastal Gin, one of their three new products. It is made with ingredients that are locally sourced for a unique local flavor. Gin has to be juniper-forward, to be really gin. It has some Albanian and Italian juniper, as well as California citrus peel, and nori seaweed.

They found a local source of seaweed foraged off the coast in northern California.

The junipers in Europe have softer berries. Scott describes the differences between wild juniper and farmed juniper from California and Europe.

Scott has been working on getting the new company ready for about three years. They have a brand new website and they can ship to 48 states. He worked in marketing for tech companies including OpenTable where he was head of marketing. He wanted to do something local and community-oriented and physical, after all his time spent in marketing where things are less tangible.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

He discovered that Sausalito had a distillery, from 1892 to 1963, when it burned down. At one time it was the largest distillery on the west coast.

The whiskeys are labeled “Unsinkable Whiskey” and there is Bourbon and Rye. The labels have a liberty ship on the label. Scott recognizes the Unsinkable mentality of northern California with his label. The bottles are 100% recycled glass.

“He’s w-r-y wry” – Herlinda

There are lots of flavors in this rye whiskey, which has finished in port wine barrels. The difference between Bourbon and Rye is that Bourbon has to be at least 50% corn, and Rye has to be at least 50% rye. Otherwise, many bourbons and ryes have different proportions of other ingredients and a broad spectrum of flavors.

See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

They are just beginning to book its distribution network, so for the moment the best place to find them is the Sausalito Liquor Company website.

Kenneth Di Alba from Songbird Parlour is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. This is his first time on the show.

Herlinda says and Daedalus agrees that Songbird Parlour should be the next Michelin starred restaurant in Sonoma County. Daedalus reads from a review he wrote for the Bohemian along with Kary Hess. It sounds delicious.

Songbird Parlour is located in the historic Jack London village in Glen Ellen. It was founded in maybe 1832, he thinks. The property has been many things, a creamery, a winery, wine storage, recording studios, even. Now, it is a restaurant for the second time. Upon entering the place, Daedalus says he feels immediately transported.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Kenneth has brought some appetizers to taste. They serve wine, beer and spritzer cocktails. Port and tonic is a Portuguese drink. They use a white Port made locally.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Songbird took over their lease in 2020 which turned out to be a good time prepare the project. The pandemic moved us to broaden our horizons and invest, says Kenneth. It’s always daunting to open a restaurant. If you have to make an effort to go there, the experience had better be rewarding. Everything they serve comes from nearby. Their neighbors raise the food they serve, including cheeses, greens, mushrooms and more. “…featuring everyone in the surrounding community.” The ice cream comes from Sweet Scoops.

Aaron Gore

Aaron Gore, Vice President of the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. He is His personal website and his nickname are The Ale Chaser. In addition to his role with the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame, Aaron is VP of Sales & Marketing for The 5th Ingredient. They make customizable brewery management software.

Herlinda was at the Sonoma County Tourism annual meeting yesterday. She talked to Santa Rosa mayor Mark Stapp about coming on the Drive this Friday (tomorrow).  Herlinda is now a certified Health and Wellness coach. She will also be starting a Health and Wellness segment on the Drive, stay tuned for details.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Aaron Gore joins the conversation on the phone. The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame was founded about a year and a half ago. Its purpose is to memorialize and celebrate the people who made the craft beer revolution.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

From Aaron’s perspective, the people starting in the craft beer business now, are more aware of the business realities of starting a brewery, than were the original home brewers. The software company The 5th Ingredient refers to the four ingredients listed in the famous German Reinheitsgebot, of water, malted barley, hops and yeast. The further ingredient would be the technology that makes the operation run as smoothly as it can. That is where modern software comes into the picture in the brewery.

The next list of inductees to the Hall of Fame will be announced in February 2026. Herlinda Heras is an elector.

Julie

Julie Schreiber from Mycoventures is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell.

Mycoventures leads mushroom foraging adventures in wine country. They have a big event coming soon. She and her partner are doing a couple of new pop-ups. She has been cooking for a very long time and foraging for more than 30 years. So she likes to combine her interests.

Julie is also a wine judge and winemaker. Yesterday she tasted 130-150 wines as a judge in the Harvest Fair. She uses bubbly water as a palette cleanser. Herlinda and Julie have a lot of knowledge and experience with palette cleansers during judging and how to manage the flavor load.

Julie brought a truffle salami, a truffle potato chip and a truffle pate. They go well with cider or beer. Herlinda will have a dry Sincere Cider with this. Julie describes clever ways to get the mushrooms into the recipe, especially with powdered mushrooms. Julie uses a coffee grinder to grind dry mushrooms.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! How about a mushroom pizza? 🍕🍻

What makes truffles so special? Well, they are different. They grow underground. They have a ripening cycle that produces the aroma that is attractive to critters. So  the truffle paté and the dry cider are already great by themseves, but take a bite of the paté and a sip of the cider together and that just makes it perfect. Daedalus favors the paté first and the cider chaser.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Julie is also a musician and has a musical metaphor for flavors of wine. The high note of a chord is like the acidity and the low notes are the structures and tannins. They also like the idea of serving grape juice from different wine grapes. It can be cut with sparkling water.

Julie and Herlinda are both members of Les Dames d’Escoffier, who were featured on this Brew Ha Ha show last August. Julie gets to describe a typical menu of her Forest & Farm dinners. First there are truffled deviled eggs. Stay tuned to hear the rest after 23:00 in.

Adam Bosch, Parliament Brewing co-founder, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. His last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode back in June, with Herlinda and Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon that day.

Herlinda was judging the International Bread Awards at the Las Vegas Convention Center last weekend. There was also a cyber security convention on the other side of the convention center. Apparently the guys from the cybersecurity side were eager to check out the free sample in the bakery competition. The winner, a film maker, won with a sourdough from ancient grains, that he made. Daedalus observes, “a different kind of rising star.”

Adam pops the top on one of two collabs they did to celebrate their sixth anniversary, which they will do on Sept. 20-21. The first is a take on a west coast Pils. Adam explains that he wants his west coast Pils to be light and drinkable, but still with a complex and rewarding flavor profile.

The term IBU, International Bitterness Units, is measurable in a lab, but they don’t have a lab. Herlinda guesses 68, Adam estimates lower, but it’s a guess only. He remembers beer at Bear Republic that rated over 100. Adam’s brother Justin went to UC Davis to study brewing and they are partners, together with their dad.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Adam describes the band lineup for Saturday and Sunday’s 6th anniversary party. They will have different food vendors each day.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Daedalus Howell sums it all up this way: “You can’t beat the vibe at Parliament. It’s really in the middle of the neighborhood and it’s the place where everyone in the neighborhood goes.”

One of the collabs, the other one, is called Common Owl, done with Common Space brewing in Los Angeles. They were both up in Washington tasting hops and they became friends and decided to do the collab. They have a 48-hour lightning hops tour to do again this year. It is a smooth west coast IPA, with lime and other citrus notes. The collab also serve to get the brands some cross promotion onto each others’ home markets.

Goat Rock Cider.

Goat Rock Cider co-founder Trevor Zebulon is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Trevor was on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke hosting, not too long ago on this episode. Now he is back with some news, along with another guest. He is part of the Petaluma Craft Beer Festival being held on Saturday, Sept. 13. John Burns from the Petaluma Rotary Club is also in, they are organizing the PCBF.

Trevor has brought “something yummy” and he did say 15%. They open and pour, and we can hear it.

When Daedalus was a reporter and arts and entertainment editor, John Burns was the publisher of the paper for about a year. So his career started then, and here they are together again, only about 15 miles from where they were before.

Daedalus has also covered some of Trevor’s businesses, including one called Trevor’s Terrific Tours. He also had a place called Zebulon’s Lounge.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

John describes what Rotary does. They put on events to raise money for the community, for homeless children, seniors, and river enhancement projects. On Saturday, they have great bands, including Orquestra Batacha and Johnny Sanchez who won the award for best Elvis impersonator in 2012. He is also impersonating Garth Brooks.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

The Petaluma Craft Beer Festival will feature 21 breweries from 6 different counties all around the Bay Area. They will have Goat Rock Cider, Hiveworks Mead and Hoocha Hard Kombucha in addition to all the beer. There are lots of restaurants in Petaluma too so it’s a perfect excursion.

y Jeff Duckhorn, master distiller at Redwood Empire Whiskey, joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. This is his first time on the show, but Brew Ha Ha has covered whiskey makers before, such as here and here, in October and November of last year.

Herlinda has wanted to have Redwood Empire Distillery on Brew Ha Ha for a long time. She saw that they were going to Mare Island for a grand opening party. Herlinda has personal connections to Mare Island, since she was born there when her father was in the Navy.

Jeff Duckhorn is a master distiller, so he is in charge of the distillery and the distilling staff. He followed in indirect pathway to his present job. He was doing cost accounting for a wine company when the owner of the winery sold it and wanted to get into distilling. Jeff asked how he could be a part of that. They built the distillery in a couple of years and opened in 2015 with Jeff holding “the keys to the car.”

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Jeff has brought some of their whiskey to taste and discuss, their three core products that they launched in 2019. The first is their flagship product, called Pipe Dream.

Each of their whiskeys is named after a particular old grown redwood tree. The trees are well documented and have names. Pipe Dream is the name of one, and also their leading product name. Speaking of names, Jeff’s uncle is the person who founded and gave the family name Duckhorn to the famous winery.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

These are all 90 proof blends. They have been making whiskey since 2015 and these blends include their products and others that come from other distillers. This gives them the freedom to make the blends that they are making now.

They use malts from Admiral Malting, who have been on Brew Ha Ha. Even if they are making Bourbon and Rye, they add a little bit of malt to everything. “It’s like the icing on the cake,” says Jeff.

So, why is Redwood Empire moving to Mare Island? They have been looking for a larger home for the last several years. They started the facility in Graton but they have been hunting for a larger home for the last few years. Then they found a distillery on Mare Island that already has a tasting room and restaurant also built in. They were able to acquire the facility and will open on September 14. They have put away over 1700 barrels of whiskey there so far.

Mare Island has a history in shipbuilding starting in the mid 1800s through the twentieth century when it was an important west coast naval base. The brewery Mare Island Brewing Company was on this BHH episode in January 2023.

Next, they are tasting a Rye, this one is 90% rye blended with other flavors from distilleries around the country. They are aged for 4 to 8 years. They are available at Bottle Barn.

What differentiates whiskey and bourbon from rye? They have rules. You need to go into a new charred oak barrel. You have to call it something else if it doesn’t get made that way. That barrel is for one-time use. Some old barrels are then sold to Scotland and Mexico for whiskey and tequila.

To be a rye whiskey it has to have at least 51% rye.

Justin from Kohana Rum and Laura Sanfelipe from Lo & Behold are our guests on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell.

Lo & Behold Bar and Kitchen in Healdsburg is open on Mondays, which Herlinda likes. She was there recently, saw a Kohana Rum bottle and asked about it. She discovered that  Kohana Rum and Lo & Behold are sponsoring the Daquiri Crush Campaign, with proceeds going to Corazón Healdsburg.

Laura describes the Daquiri Crush Campaign, which Justin brought to Lo & Behold. They have organized a Tiki Night with original and classic rum cocktails. Proceeds from the event are entirely donated to Corazón Healdsburg. The campaign will run for two months.

The Corazón Healdsburg website says, “Corazón Healdsburg works to create a more just and compassionate community for all. Corazón operates a bilingual family resource center and offers family-centered case management, as well as a cradle-to-career approach to education for all ages. We amplify the local Latin-American voice, and host community events, trainings and discussions to promote and celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Justin was born and raised in Hawaii, then moved to the Bay Area, then to Sonoma County since 2017. Kohana Rum grows 34 varietals of Hawaiian heirloom sugar cane. From that, they make single varietal rums, like the varietals of grapes and wine. “The Daquiri Crush Campaign is my love letter back to Sonoma C0unty reaching out for our farm team, supporting all of the incredible farm workers up here in Sonoma County.” Through the months of harvests, they will offer some daquiris in various locations. Go out and buy a daquiri for a farmer or a farm worker!

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

They will also have a few events, starting with a Tiki Night. Herlinda remembers when they used to have them more often. It’s time to bring that back! “The nights you’ll never remember with the friends you’ll never forget,” says Justin

SF Beer Week 2026

Sayre Pietrowski is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell, to introduce SF Beer Week, coming soon this February 20 through March 1, 2026. Sayre was on the show last August when he had recently been named Executive Director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild.

This is Sayre’s first time for SF Beer Week as the Executive Director. He explains that the guild was born from an alliance of local beer organizations that got together and promoted a beer festival. Then they learned that other cities had beer weeks. So they decided to bring it to San Francisco, with the support of great brewers like Pliny the Younger and Anchor Brewing. In 2008 or 09 the whole guild was a small enough number to fit on one evening’s menu.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Nick Mamere the brewmaster at Bartlett Hall was 9 years old when the first SF Beer Week took place. On January 29, he is hosting a 7-barrel batch of what IPA tasted like in the year 2000. It’s called IPA 2000. Then, in Oakland, they will make a brew called IPA 2025 with the same brewer, at Brix Factory Brewing and brewer John Gillooly. They have plans for a whole series, IPA 2010, 2015 and 2020, then one called 2030 to guess about the flavors to come. Sayre compares these retro brews to a cover song. On January 22, the North Bay Guild will be brewing IPA 2020 at Old Caz.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Herlinda remembers that two years ago, SF Beer Week had an astronaut theme and she thought people were dressing up. She and her college friend dressed in red Star Trek Uhuru dresses. It turned out that they were the only people in costume but it ended up being a fun time.

Sayre tells us the same thing he tells him members, that they would like to create an atmosphere about SF Beer Week similar to the excitement that surrounds the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau. This means an event where people know there will be an abundance of great beers along with fun experiences. He remembers 2017 and 2018 before the pandemic when it was like that and they want to build back up to that level of excitement and participation.

In terms of volume, beer is a larger market than wine. Sayre notices that wine has a lot more information around it that people like to study. His job now is to try to build up that kind of culture of appreciation around beer. The more there is for people to know about beer, the more they can share information and enjoyment with others. Herlinda mentions that sometimes, non-profit organizations hire leaders with management skills but who come from outside their industry. She appreciates the fact that Sayre is already a local beer insider, in his new role with the Guild.

Nicole Rogers from the Sonoma chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier joins Herinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Les Dames d’Escoffier is an international association of women in culinary professions, beverage, agriculture and the supporting industries. Nicole is the chair of the Grants committee. The Sonoma chapter was started in 2020.

Their inaugural fund raising event last year was Birds & Bubbles, and this year’s edition is set for this Sunday, August 24. Herlinda is a brand new proud member. Julia Child was also a member. Nicole enjoys being a member which gives her a chance to meet other members when she travels.

Ethic Cider and CuVer Belgian brewery will be at Birds & Bubbles, with cider and beer, so sparkling wine will not have the only bubbles at the event.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Dora Lee has brought a desert from Jimtown and Then Some, in Healdsburg. They look like little muffins made of mochi, the rice paste, with an apple filling and miso caramel drizzle. Jimtown is open again, owned by a a fellow Dame. She will be providing some of the desserts at the Birds & Bubbles event. For tickets, visit the Dames So. Co. So. Co. website.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

The Sonoma County chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier has begun a micro-grant program. They have awarded the first grants of $1000 to three deserving Dames. They also have a cookbook author, chefs, restaurant owners, somelliers, marketing people, writer, retailers, and all ages, too. Herlinda mentions that a big part of this is mentorship.

Sayre Piotrkowski is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell to talk about the Bay Area Brewers Guild and more. San Francisco Beer Week is coming, from February 20 to March 1, 2026. Sayre has been on Brew Ha Ha before, his last time was this episode on May 4, 2023.

All the beers that Sayre has brought today are multiple award winners. Old Caz and Ghost Town were both very local. Ghost Town hired a world class brewer, and Old Caz just kept getting better and better. Now, these two communities can walk to some of the best beer in the world.

Sayre is the executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild. The guild started as six brewpubs in San Francisco. At its height it represented over 100 breweries and SF Beer Week would have over 1000 events in one week. Now that beer is getting back to an equilibrium where it is more connected to its community, and no longer serving an investor class that is looking only for big profits. Sayre agrees and says it is good that the “smart money” has left craft brewing. Some investors would only expect to sell the company for multiples of their investment. There are cases where brands have disappeared, such as Pete’s Wicked Ale. Herlinda cites the two examples of Lagunitas and Anchor.

Sayre wants people to understand the difference between buying a beer that is produced and sourced locally, and buying one from one of the biggest corporations in the world.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Some people still feel loyal to old brands but increasingly, it is evident that the difference between craft and corporate beer is the entire brewing ecosystem behind the glass.

Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

They are tasting a beer called Ostuary, a robust porter. It has a little cacao bean or coffee flavors. “You want to chew on it a little bit… I’ll pick this over eating, on a hot day,” says Herlinda.

The current iteration of the Guild is based on who survived Covid.

Jason Lindell from Shady Oak Brewing Company is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke. Shady Oak has been on the show before, most recently on this episode in 2022.

Shady Oak has shifted its name to “Brewing Company, so it is now called Shady Oak Brewing Company, after being called “Barrel House” until now.

Harry Duke knows Shady Oak founder Steve Doty from having competed in trivia contests on opposing teams.  When Steve started Shady Oak, they made a lot of sour beers, but as tastes have changed, they have begun making other styles, like hazy and pilsners. The company is also starting to focus on organizing events. It is in a big space that is a former carpet warehouse. It is located in downtown Santa Rosa, near the Santa Rosa Mall. They also have a nice outdoor space in the back.

They have remodeled the back area for this event, increasing capacity. This Saturday they are holding their first event. It is the first annual Smash Bash, they have the four best smash burger restaurants coming in. They have four well-known local food trucks coming in: Thanks for the Invite, Bayou on the Bay, Bennie’s Smash Burgers and The Spot. All four of them will be on the scene for the contest. They will have DJs and live bands. Some illustrious judges will pick a winner.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

A smash burger has the pattie smashed all the way down to a thin patty. Sometimes people lay 2 or three thick, plus condiments at will. Bayou on the Bay comes in regularly for their bingo nights. They wanted to do a contest and boom, this was the idea.

They also do vinyl record sales and the next one is September 7th. Shady Oak is a beautiful space and they do a lot of private event. Now they would like to gain more awareness for the venue.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Usually the buns are brioche buns, which are soft and do a better job of supporting the burger.

Shady Oak is kid friendly and dog friendly. They have free pinball and lots of games that people can play at the tables. Admission to the Smash Bash is free.

John Burton is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. He has been on the show once before, on this episode of April 11, 2024 and he was also the subject of this recent article in the Press Democrat.

For long-time Sonoma County residents, John Burton is well-known, because one of his business was a bartending school that he ran for 47 years and recently closed for retirement. Herlinda was just a kid when John’s late wife Nancy was the mayor of Santa Rosa.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

John tells his story, starting at restaurants and the Flamingo. He met Virginia Grace when the Sonoma County Fair was the centerpiece of the social season. She didn’t know much about her family history in brewing and they started talking about it. Soon after, he wrote a book about Grace Brothers Brewery.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Breweriana encompases everything related to beer, be it foam scrapers, bottles and cans and especially advertising. On Saturday Aug. 9 at 8:00 the Bennet Valley Grange on Grange Rd. there will be free a show of about 50 tables of breweriana wares. John does it almost like an antiques road show. He describes it as a combination of local history and collecting. If you have something you might be interested in selling to a collector, these are the people to meet.

Grace Bros. was the fourth largest brewery in California during its heyday. They had other brands and produced beer in southern California too, in Los Angeles under the name of Southern. They had 140 different paper labels and 90 different can labels.

Beer memorabilia collector Ken Hartoonian joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today.

At the Grange in Santa Rosa, Saturday Aug. 9, 9am-2pm, the Breweriana and Antique Advertising Show. It is a collection of brewery advertising apart from just cans but also lots of different kinds of promotional items.

Grace Brothers brewers was a famous local brewery that was in operation from before Prohibition until 1962. Some of their cans are featured in the show.

Ken has one of the most impressive collections of historic beer memorabilia and artefacts. He started when he was 12 years old, he loves sticker so he wrote to companies to ask for them. Then in 1975 the beer can collecting craze took hold. Before he knew it he had more than 100 cans. The closet grew into a storage unit and now he has a large metal barn.

Here is a 30-second radio commercial from Grace Bros., with a swing band that was popular in those years.

Harry asks what is the Holy Grail of the items, or what is most significant to him? The Holy Grail would be a 7-11 beer can but the most significant was one that he traded for at about age 16. It was called Pride of Newark, or PON.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Their toast is with Happy Hops, which was one of the Grace Brothers’ brands. Russian River still uses the name and the label with a cartoon of a happy hop. Grace Brothers made it through Prohibition by making ice and near-beer, which was weak enough to be legal.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. 

Renée De Luca joins Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha to remember her father Jack McAuliffe, who recently passed away. Renée was on this show a year ago, talking about her father and some new activity around the brand he founded. Here is part one of that episode, and Part Two follows here.

Renée De Luca joins us on the telephone, she is the daughter of Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion brewing company, who passed away just recently. He passed away on July 15 at the age of eighty. He founded a whole beer revolution, is no exaggeration. His passing has been covered widely in the mainstream press such as NPR and the Washington Post, as well as many beer publications. During his life he was already the subject of some articles, due to his influence, although that came near the end of New Albion. Over the last few years Renée and brought him to some craft brewers conferences and she is confident he knew that he would be remembered.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Jack McAuliffe was in the US Navy in the 1960s where he enjoyed the local porters, ales and stouts. Back in the US, all there was to drink was crappy American commercial beer that he didn’t like. So he learned how to brew his own. His operation was the first post-Prohibition micro-brewery to be founded in the United States, in 1976.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Brewing was so new that all of the forms referred to wine and Jack had to handwrite the word beer onto them. They asked him why he used Cascade hops and he replied, that’s what the farmer had. He put a lot of equipment together himself by adapting different parts. Farmers make wine and scientists make beer, he said. Renée’s dog Porter is in the background.

Brent Koen from Surfside Drinks is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell sitting in for Steve Jaxon.

Brent has brought a lot of Surfside drinks today. The brand started on the east coast. He brought the Green Tea pack, the Ice Tea pack and the Lemonade pack. All are lower alcohol beverages. The company started as a vodka distiller but their mission changed as they read the market. The founders geared up with makeshift equipment in the parents’ basement. It was about the time that Breaking Bad was on TV. When their father saw the brew lab, he thought it was a meth lab or he acted as if it were that, and he kicked them out. So they got investors and got serious. Stateside Urban Craft Vodka started doing well, before Covid.

When they noticed that people were pouring their vodka into different concoctions and cocktails, they thought of doing the same thing. That’s when they started making the light beverages. Surfside grew from 1.3 million cases in 2023 to to almost 5 million cases last year and projected growth to 12-15 million cases this year.

Surfside Drinks are partners with the San Francisco Giants and they have branded locations inside the stadium.  The beverages have only 2 grams of sugar, 100 calories and only 4.5% alcohol.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Herlinda has seen the huge growth in the non-alcoholic category. Until now, judges at beer competitions did not want to judge that category, but not anymore.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

There are 12 different flavors, four lemonades, four green teas and four iced teas. They have three variety packs, different combinations and also large cans. They are now in all 50 states and are seeking to gain a foothold in markets like wine country.

Even if these drinks are not super cold, they still go down smoothly. They only use 2 grams of sucralose for sweetening. There is also no carbonization in any of these drinks.

The Fogbelt caboose in Healdsburg.

Eric and Pedro from the BBQ Team at Fogbelt Brewing join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Every year Stumptown Brewing puts on the Russian River Beer Revival and BBQ Cookout. This year is it on Saturday, August 16th. The Fogbelt team is competing with their ribs at the festival this summer.

The Santa Rosa taproom is 1305 Cleveland, and the Healdsburg location is in a red caboose.

They are tasting a beer called Eye of the Hawk, the second of their tribute brews to Mendocino Brewing Co. They started with a run of Red Tail Ale.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

Pedro started at Anchor brewing in San Francisco. He was the curator of the tour program, so he had access to the brewery operation as well as to the library and archives. He became a tour guide there and eventually moved to another brewery before coming to Santa Rosa.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Pedro likes the Stumptown Beer Revival and BBQ Cookout because it is a chance to meet a lot of the key players in the local craft brew industry.

Today is the first Krush Backyard Concert, so we have Mark Cohen from Moonlight Brewing, who are pouring at the concert. He joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke who is sitting in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today.

Mark has brought some Reality Czech Pils, which won a Gold Medal in the Pilsner category, out of 167 entries.

Pilsners are not an easy beer to make. They are cold fermented and takes a lot longer to make. Moonlight’s Pilsner is not filtered, but to make it clear they use an enzyme which takes out the solids and the glutens in the beer. It is not registered as gluten free but it is very low in gluten.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

There was a time when Brian Hunt started making beer with spruce tips and redwood tips, when there was a threat of a hop shortage. In the early years, the brewers like Brian Hunt were just learning how to brew. He wanted to get serious, so he moved to Milwaukee to work for Schlitz. He called his brewery Moonlight Brewing because at first, it was his moonlight gig, that he did outside of his other work.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Ron Lindenbusch joins the conversation about five minutes in. He is a retired co-founder of Lagunitas and a veteran beer guru. He started at the beginning doing distribution, when he saw that Tony Magee made the best beer.  that spark became Lagunitas. They sold to Heineken in two stages, half in 2015 and the rest in 2018. Lagunitas is now the number one IPA in the world. Ron had some on tap in Belgium and France.

Moonlight is pouring three beers at the Backyard Concert, they are Death and Taxes, the black lager, Reality Czech Pils, the gold medal winner, and the Bombay by Boat IPA.

Best Day Brewing is Ron’s project to make only non-alcoholic beer. They make a full-strength beer then they remove the alcohol with a cold filtration. This way, it still tastes like beer.

Parliament Brewing Co. co-founder Adam Bosch joins Harry Duke, in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Adam’s last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode on December 28, 2023. Herlinda’s father Eloy and brother Anthony Heras are also in the studio today. Eloy devoted his career to the US Navy. He liked Olympia Beer and Herlinda got her first taste of beer from him.

Adam Bosch talks about Parliament Brewing Co.’s plans to expand and their calendar of events. They had a cheesesteak invitational for National Cheesesteak Day last March. Their anniversary party September 20-21 this year, celebrating their sixth anniversary. They are located at 5865 West Labath Ave. Adam likes to think of it as just west of Costco and south of the casino in Rohnert Park. They are dog friendly as long as the dogs are.

The beer they are currently tasting is Prism Hazy IPA, 6.6% ABV, which won Best Hazy at Battle of the Brews last April. It also won Best in Show. Their focus has been mainly local but they will now be looking for more distribution into the East Bay and Sacramento.

Herlinda’s brother Anthony is a rattlesnake handler on the side. He knew someone who had a snake and when they needed a new handler, he got the job.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

A group of owls is called a Parliament, where people meet to take care of their community. Parliament Brewing’s “mainstay” beer Kaleidoscope is the collective noun for a group of butterflies. There are butterflies on the can. A new beer is River Raft, a hazy pale ale at 5.9% featuring Peacherene hops, a new kind. A raft is a group of otters. River Raft is on tap only, for now. It finishes “super dry” says Herlinda. They are also tasting the Brown Chicken Brown Cow.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Adam also brought a pilsner, called Pils that says “beer flavored beer” on the label. Pizzaleah has it on tap. It is an American brown ale. Justin, his brother, is the brewer and a UC Davis graduate. His dad does the books. Adam does everything else for Parliament. He is attracted to the business and the service side of the industry. But also, they are selling the culture, the service, comfort and experience. They have about 50 fruit trees around the building at Parliament.

Rob Shwenker, Russian River Keepers

Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Co. and Rob Shwenker from Russian River Keeper join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. This is Rob’s first time on the show. Natalie has been on many times before, the last time was this episode last January for the preview of Pliny the Younger.

They are here to present a new beer called 110 West Coast Pils, which refers to the number of miles that the Russian River Runs, from Ukiah down to Jenner. Vinny Cilurzo made it for the first time last year, and came up with the name of this beer. Natalie felt the need to do something positive for the river. She worked with with Russian River Keepers several years ago. Then she and Vinny were invited to the annual Russian River Keeper gala where she met Rob. Their idea was to distribute their new West Coast Pils with a portion of the proceeds going to Russian River Keeper. This arrangement is for perpetuity for as long as they make 110. “It’s not a promotion, it’s a commitment,” says Daedalus.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Rob describes the purpose of Russian River Keeper as protection of a healthy Russian River habitat. “Our mission is a healthy, fishable, swimmable equitably shared Russian River. (…) We pull about 500,000 pounds of trash out of the watershed every year.” They work to prevent trash from entering the river because ultimately that leads to the marine environment. They also do restoration, fighting to preserve animal and plant species. One example is the giant bamboo that they are removing. It is a massive user of water and hard to remove.

Russian River Keeper is also an advocate for the river at all applicable levels of government. Some of Rob’s job involves lobbying in Sacramento for favorable environmental legislation. They are members of the California Coast Keeper Alliance. Worldwide there are about 300 different water keepers.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

The Russian River used to be one of the largest salmon runs in the country. Russian River Keeper helped end the practice of extracting gravel from the river. There are fewer fish and so fewer apex predators and overall a less fertile environment. They have seen some species coming back too. They also help during times of flood. There are unhoused people near the river that they help, who need assistance evacuating in a flood emergency.

They are tasting Russian River 110 West Coast Pils. It is a relatively new beer style, low alcohol, only 5.2% ABV, but hopped like an IPA.

“It drinks like a Pilsner but you get that hop punch.”

Herlinda with Dr. Ron and Natalie

They will have it in cans in March, in advance of Pliny the Younger, and in anticipation of river weather. It has 4 hops, Tangier, one of the newer hops, and then all New Zealanders, Nectaron and NCH 106 and NCH 109, which haven’t got their nicknames yet. It takes about 10 years for a new hop variety to reach the market ready to sell. There are a lot of tests it has to pass. Those last two are still in the development phase. Those two come from Dr. Ron, who was on this episode of Brew Ha Ha in May of last year. Since New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere, we have to wait several months to get them here. But we get the hops from Yakima right away.

Natalie tells the story of how she and Vinny moved to Sonoma County when Vinny got the brewer’s job at Russian River Brewing which was at the time a division of Korbel. When Korbel decided to leave the beer business, Vinny and Natalie and partners were able to acquire the company. The rest is the history of craft brewing. But when they first lived in the area, they crossed the Wohler Bridge on their honeymoon then on Vinny’s commute. It is on the label of 101 West Coast Pils because it represents their love of the river and the whole scene.

The Wohler Bridge

Herlinda and Bex.

Bex Pezzullo, founder and cider maker of Sincere Cider, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras.

Bex started Sincere Cider right at the time of the pandemic. The lockdown started six days after she canned her first batch of cider.

She had a 20 year career in event promotion and marketing, and she had a lot of personal contacts whom she had hope would help her at her launch. Instead of that, she ended up employing some friends who were unemployed bartenders to deliver cider. After that, since business was slow enough, she bought a 1993 camper van, named it Farley after the Chris Farley “living in a camper by the river” and hit the road. In every new city up the road, she would look for the cool bottle shops, bars and restaurants and bring cider to offer them. Before starting the cider company she had a job at an event festival company that worked with clients like Bonaroo and Outside Lands.

Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.

Bex likes to joke that she is a recovering sommelier, having worked as an Italian wine specialist. She did a few harvest seasons in Italy. They are sipping the Dry Apple Cider, made mostly with Granny Smith apples. She also uses a Chablis yeast which brings the right crispness and tanginess. Their core line-up includes a Rosé cider, called Granada, that has California organic pomegranate and blueberry juice and a little bit of orange zest. The color is beautiful, everyone agrees.

Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻

For Pride Month, “Sincere is proudly a queer owned and operated business,” says Bex. There are some popups happening in the city. She explains how she enjoys integrating all of the ingredients into her ciders, like Granada, to make a “satisfying sip.” She is on the road a lot with her English Bulldog Shasta and spends a lot of weekends traveling to bring Sincere Cider around.

Sincere Cider also makes seasonal ciders three times per year. The one they are tasting is Pine-Apple, an apple cider infused with pineapple as well as wild-foraged spruce tips. You just get a little hint of the forest. Pine-Apple is the summer seasonal.