Joevon Hatter from Rewind Beer Arcade and Bryan Donaldson from Lagunitas are here on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. This is the first time on Brew Ha Ha for each of them. Joevon is the Manager of Beverage and Events for Rewind Beer Arcade in Sebastopol, which features a great beer selection and many ’80s an ’90s arcade games. Bryan is the Brewing Innovation Manager at Lagunitas. He gets to make experimental beers for the brewery.
Bryan Donaldson studied at UC Davis with Charlie Bamforth (who was on this show on this Feb. 28, 2018 episode) and then built a resumé with the biggest brands in the business including Sierra Nevada, Anheuser Busch and Heineken. He is also an open-water scuba instructor and a former university chemistry instructor at Santa Clara and UC Davis.
Rewind Arcade features the arcade games but also 20 taps of all kinds of craft beers. They are measured and charged by the ounce, so it is easy to taste a lot of different brews in one visit. Joevan makes sure that the selection is always fresh and up-to-date, including the best flavors from the best local breweries.
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.
Lagunitas Brewing Company does not do a lot of brewing collaborations but Old Caz is special. CAZUNITAS is a portmanteau of Old Caz and Lagunitas.
Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻
Beer City Festival plus HenHouse Big Chicken
Thursday, February 20, 2025 • Duration 31:23
Adam Ray, founder of the Santa Rosa Beer City Festival, and Colin McDonald from HenHouse join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Also in the studio is Ryan Silva, winner of the golden growler. Colin was on Brew Ha Ha last June 13, 2024, when HenHouse was getting ready for the Freshtival.
Adam Ray is the founder of Beer City Festival, Colin McDonald is here from HenHouse for the annual Big Chicken release, and Ryan Silva won the Golden Growler trophy, which he has broght.
Beer City was born in Santa Rosa, THEE Beer City. There is a running event in the morning then a party in the afternoon. HenHouse is participating in Beer City and also in the Santa Rosa Beer Passport. They can’t have Big Chicken on Saturday, it will only be at the brewery that day. Big Chicken is HenHouse's once-a-year special IPA. After Saturday it will be available in all their retail locations.
Racing and Drinking Beer, or Just Drinking Beer
There is a series of four of races at all the four different Beer City locations. There are races for 5K, 10K and half marathon. Runners can gain points by running more races for longer distance at better times. They announce the overall men’s and women’s winners at the end of the last day of races. Ryan won the giant growler as the overall men’s winner last year.
New this year is Race the Rex, a person in a dinosaur costume. You run a lap and take a drink. If the T Rex catches you, you’re out. If you lose your cookies, you’re out. It sounds very complicated, but they will have ushers and judges.
Colin explains the mission of Big Chicken. Every year the recipe changes. Steve says it’s delicious. Colin says they try to bring to every Big Chicken all that they learned about making hoppy beer during the last year. They are using special hops which are cryogenically extracted so that the beer is “oily” with hop flavor.
Big Chicken
The Big Chicken they are tasting was tapped off the main tank about 15 minutes ago. They are celebrating 13 years at HenHouse. Colin realizes that places him in the generation of distinguished elder craft brewers. 95% of their beer is sold in the bay area. Mark Carpenter, “a living legend” former BHH co-host and Anchor brewer, loves HenHouse.
Take the Smart Train, it’s sponsored and is there to help you get around while you enjoy Beer City Festival and while you fill out your Beer Passport. Visit Santa Rosa is a sponsor. Every Beer City attracts 60% visitors from out of county.
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Herlinda with Dan and Celeste Hanes.
Dan and Celeste Hanes from Cooperage Brewing Co., join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. The last time Cooperage was featured on BHH was when Nicholas aka The Fridge was our guest on this episode of May 25, 2023.
Cooperage's new location is at 575 Ross St. in downtown Santa Rosa. This place is much larger than their other original one at 981 Airway Court also in Santa Rosa. They have pool, darts, pinball and other kid and dog friendly attractions and there is trivia on Mondays. There are also rotating food trucks outside as well as great beer.
First, Herlinda reminds us of the February 22 Beer City Fest. You can sign up to run in the half marathon, or just come to celebrate and drink beer later. Also, the Santa Rosa Beer Passport promotion is going on. Cooperage is a big part of both Beer City and the Santa Rosa Beer Passport promotions.
Their new location means they have enough space to throw a big party in the parking lot. So on March 22, they will be throwing a block party in the empty parking lot next door. They will have BBQ, burgers, several bands and local vendors, all at the new downtown location. Their name for it is the Coop Rage party, at least for now. They have a great following and the local community has supported them, so they are glad to be able to do this in their new downtown location. “We want to be part of the re-creation of downtown.”
Tyler, Cooperage's brewer, started by working the taps at Whole Foods while people knew he was already brewing great beer by himself. Joe Tucker of RateBeer fame loved Cooperage and said it would be the next great American brewery.
They brought three beers today. One is a pale dry ale, called the Crispy Crusher. It is an “affordable, approachable beer.” They keep the price low, $4 or $5 a pint, depending on what time of day.
Every Saturday the free beer shuttle is a popular attraction in Santa Rosa. Their hours at the new downtown location are Monday – Thursday from 3:00 to 10:00 PM, Fridays and Saturdays Noon to Midnight, Sundays Noon to 7:00 PM.
Their IG will tell you what food trucks are coming and when.
Stella says the highlight of her day is to meet all the dogs that come to their dog-friendly locations. The Mexican wrestling is a great show. Next time is Saturday, May 3. The wrestling is a tournament with judges and a champion. Once, Dan’s little son panicked because he saw his dad get body slammed and he “lost his marbles” as Mom tells the story. How do you say, “KAYFABE” in Spanish?
American Craft Beer Hall of Fame with Marty Nachel
Thursday, February 13, 2025 • Duration 08:42
Marty Nachel
Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Steve Jaxon welcomes Marty Nachel, founder and President of the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame. Herlinda has judged beers with him in Mexico.
First, Herlinda reminds us of the February 22 Beer City Fest. You can sign up to run in the half marathon, or just come to celebrate and drink beer later. Also, the Santa Rosa Beer Passport promotion is going on.
“The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame has been established to honor, celebrate, and commit to history those people who are responsible for initiating, sustaining, and promoting the American craft beer industry. This Hall is to ensure that the memories of their contributions and achievements will not fade with time." – from the American Craft Beer HOF website
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.
Nominees and Inductees
Herlinda Heras and Tara Nurin are on their advisory board. In that role, they each got to nominate ten people for induction. The first nominees have been published and the winners were announced on February 15. Some of them are familiar to us, including Fritz Maytag from Anchor and new Albion founders.
Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻
Marty describes how he thought of this idea over a year ago. He had not heard of anything like this. Then after multiple google searches, he discovered that there was no such award yet. He first thought of bringing the idea to some other people, but then he decided just to start it himself. The list of nominees and winners is on the website.
Some of the people nominated have had an important impact but are not well known. Marty mentions Charlie Bamforth of UC Davis, as an example. Known as The Pope of Foam, he is a chemistry professor from England who has taught fermentation science to students at UC Davis for a long time. He has been on BHH before, on this episode.
Pliny the Younger 2025 with Natalie Cilurzo
Thursday, January 30, 2025 • Duration 42:51
Natalie with Pliny the Younger 2025.
Natalie Cilurzo is back with the first taste of the 2025 Pliny the Younger, on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras.
This will be the 21st release of Pliny the Younger. They used to release in February but during covid they moved it to last march early April. That turned out to be better for a lot of reasons. So this year the dates are March 21 through April 3.
They continue to do wholesale distribution to bars and restaurants in February. This helps them get an attraction during the slower winter months. Also, San Francisco Beer Week is coming. Today they are finishing the brewing and bottling and kegging, but the first people to taste it are on this show today.
Dan Berger is here as a special guest, and so is Mackenzie Miller, who is the host of Mid-days on the Krush, KRSH. Brew Ha Ha will do a remote broadcast March 27, to be confirmed. The last time we did a remote was when Windsor opened in 2018.
Russian River Brewing Co. Hop Water
Since many people participate in Dry January, Russian River Brewing Co. produces a Hop Water, which is sparkling water flavored with Citra and Eldorado hops. It’s very refreshing.
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.
Every year at Valentine’s Day they make a beer called Rejection, a dark beer made with Belgian yeast. It is toasty and has coffee flavors. It is 6.1% ABV. Dan Berger describes it as rich without being sweet, perfect for dry January because it finishes dry. It is available on tap only at the two pubs, or to-go in growlers.
Then they taste another beer called Docta-Ron, named after a New Zealand hop breeder. It is available in cans and on tap.
This is the 21st year of Pliny the Younger. Vinny Cilurzo tweaks the recipe every year and this year the long list of hops used includes a new one. It has an orange-y flavor and makes the 2025 Pliny the Younger, according to Dan Berger, the tastiest one ever.
Russian River Brewing Co. is also making a wildfire relief beer called We "heart" LA. A brewery in LA called Common Space started a fund raising beer. Here is their website. The beer is set to be released all at once by all the collaborators on March 7.
Now finally it is time to taste the Pliny the Younger 2025. Dan Berger declares it the most amazing beer ever produced. It is over 10% ABV and it is very dry and clear.
Amarillo, Citra, Mosaic, Nectaron, Simcoe, Warrior and Tangier. Tangier is a new hop from Washington and they like it for its orange flavors. Dan says the beer has more floral qualities than last year. The Pine flavors definiteliy come from the Simcoe. Dan says this beer is like a great wine, full of complexities and unexpected flavors.
They are kegging it tomorrow and it will start going out for distribution on Monday, Feb. 2. Look around at your usual bars and restaurants, look for your usual suspects... Happy hunting!
Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻
Fort Point Beer Co.
Friday, January 24, 2025 • Duration 36:26
Mike Schnebeck from Fort Point Beer Co. in San Francisco is our guest in the studio today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Mike was on Brew Ha Ha once before in 2023, on this episode. Herlinda happily reports that Fort Point Beer Co. is actually growing and doing very well. They also are producing cider. And also, today is the eleventh anniversary of the first episode of Brew Ha Ha, back when Herlinda did the show with Joe Tucker. It was four years after that, on Feb. 8, 2018, that this podcast started. Cheers! 🍻
Mike and his two partners founded Fort Point Beer Co. ten years ago. Before that they ran another smaller brewery. The name Fort Point comes from the fort that is at the base of the Golden Gate bridge, on the city side. It is a famous landmark for locals in the know, and even if it is in the shadow of the Golden Gate bridge, the fort is not as widely known.
The first beer tasted is their KSA which is their take on a German Kolsch. This is their first non-alcoholic beer. They have a whole line of non-alcoholic beers. Many have a regular and a non alcoholic version.
Visit Russian River Brewing Co. on 4th St. and at their Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for hours, menus and beers on tap.
They spent about three years researching non-alcoholic brewing. They found that a specialized yeast strain gave them the best flavor. The beer had to taste good, and also taste as close as possible to real beer. People love the types of beer already, so they wanted to make the same varieties of beer in a nearly-zero alcohol version. With the special yeast, they are able to make great tasting beer but less than one percent alcohol. The brewing process is very similar, with some adjustments. Even Steve Jaxon found it hard to tell which of the tastings were the non-alcoholic ones.
SF Beer Week is coming in February. The Feb-Brew-ary promotion is also coming, in Santa Rosa.
You can order Fort Point beer at Fort Point Beer Co dot com They have a beer club subscription. They have a Fort Point Korean style lager with San Hu Wan in the Mission district, with the chef Cory Lee. They developed the recipe together. It uses Jasmine rice, Herlinda notices. It also uses Contessa hops which have a green tea floral flavor.
Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻
Watch the Fort Point social media for up-to-the-minute news about events around San Francisco.
Pizzaleah is a new sponsor of Brew Ha Ha. Leah Scurto has been on the show a few times before, the last time was this episode on August 29, 2024.
Mark Carpenter back for a visit
Thursday, January 16, 2025 • Duration 24:02
Steve, Mark and Herlinda
Our former co-host Mark Carpenter is back with us for a visit today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. His last visit was this episode in July of 2021. For a long time Mark Carpenter was the co-host of this show. He was the brew master at Anchor until he retired.
Mark has news about the present status of Anchor Brewing. Sapporo decided to close it but an investor has bought the company and is slowly working on restoring the location and the company. Here is an article from AP news about that.
The new owner, Hamdi Ulukaya, has plans to revitalize Anchor Brewing, which everyone agrees is good news. He is the very successful founder of Chobani Yogurt so he is certainly ready and qualified for the job.
Mark says he is taking his time about it and has a good approach similar to that of Fritz Maytag, the previous owner who also bought Anchor and revitalized it in the early 1970s when Mark Carpenter started there. Both Fritz Maytag and Hamdi Ulukaya are openly enthusiastic about the meaning and importance of a business like Anchor as a valuable cultural asset.
A Brief History of Anchor Brewing
Mark briefly tells the story of how he found Anchor. He had been working for the telephone company. He took a tour of Anchor and liked the place enough to ask for a job. It was a small place and had three employees. Mark considers himself lucky to have been hired and to have found Fritz to be such an enlightened owner who gave Mark a book about brewing and sent him to take brewing courses in Michigan.
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 info.
Mark has brought a bottle of Truman Royal Ale for Herlinda as a birthday present. It was brewed in England in 1982 to celebrate the birth of Prince William. Anchor Brewing's Liberty Ale was the first modern IPA brewed in the United States. They didn't call it IPA, but it had all of the characteristics. Herlinda's video interview with Mark Carpenter, Tony Magee and Don Barkley is also still on display at the Museum of Sonoma County.
It's Herlinda's birthday! Happy Birthday Herlinda!
Hachidori Sake with Stuart Morris
Thursday, January 9, 2025 • Duration
Herlinda and Stuart.
Sake sommelier Stuart Morris is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, with Hachidori Sake.
Stuart Morris is a sake sommelier trained in Japan and is a former partner with Kenichi Tominaga of Hana in a sake distribution company. He was a chef “in a previous life” and discovered sake while working in restaurants. He made lots of effort to get to Japan and he learned sake making there.
They begin tasting some sake and noticing the flavors. One is light and clean with lemon, cucumber and melon rind flavors. He makes three types of sake, with different rices and yeasts. He became one of the first six non-Japanese people to get the Japanese sake certification. His own label is called Hachidori which means hummingbird in Japanese.
Sake brewing is similar to brewing beer.
Sake is brewed in a process that is close to beer brewing. It is made from rice, water and koji, a mould. He grows it in an 80-degree humid room, so the temperature needs to be just right. There is a sake museum, the only one in the US, in Berkeley, that shows the history of sake production. The milling of the rice has an effect on the flavor, the more milled, the more delicate the flavor. You have to taste it to understand it. The highest ABV sake is 20%. His mentor in Japan is a 10th generation sake maker.
Visit Russian River Brewing Co. on 4th St. and at their Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for hours, menus and beers on tap.
Stuart worked at Hana where he became friends with the Tominaga family. He later became a partner with Ken in a sake distribution company, before he took the job he has now.
These bottles of Hachidori sake are the very first ones that Stuart has produced for sale. They will be rolling out into some retail and restaurants. They will range in price from about $30/35, then one at about $45, then one at about $100. Sake does not age like wine and usually fresher is better. Stuart stores it in a fridge or at a white wine temperature.
Sake rice is very high in starch. The more glucose, the more starch, the more elegant style of sake you will get.
When Stuart is helping restaurant customers choose sake, he starts by asking them what they like. Some people’s wine preferences are a way to predict what sake one would also like. The key is to drink some sake to taste it and find out what you like.
Hiveworks Mead Co.
Friday, January 3, 2025 • Duration 33:20
hiveworks mead co.
Sean Duckworth, COO and Alexander Mendoza, CEO of Hiveworks Mead Co. are back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. The last time they were on the show was this episode back on February 22, 2024.
Steve Jaxon starts by asking Sean and Alex simply to tell about mead. It is an alcoholic fermented beverage made from honey. Mead is probably the oldest fermented beverage in human history, is gluten free and has tons of flavor, so what’s not to love? It takes about six weeks from beginning the brewing process to when it is delivered. Mead is like honey in that it is not perishable. It might lose some of its flavor but it does not go “off.”
Herlinda remembers finding great mead in Finland when she was there to judge a beer and Sahti competition. Braggot is a style of mead that can have stronger flavor and higher alcohol, but which also uses grain in its production. The term Honeymoon refers to drinking mead for a month after getting married.
Silver Medal Winners in their First Competition
They are based in Rohnert Park. One of their products just won a Silver medal in its category in the first competition they have been able to enter.
Mead is actually the fastest growing sector of the alcoholic beverage industry today. The TV series Game of Thrones had a lot to do with raising awareness of mead and making it more popular. Since their style of mead is relatively light, that makes it easy for people to try it and get to know it.
Their overall style is a Dry mead, with no residual sugar. Some other meads are sweeter and thicker. Another mead is hopped. Their hopped mead is not a braggot because there is no use of grain.
Herlinda wants to mention President Carter who signed California Senator Alan Cranston’s bill to allow home brewing in the US. That was the one legal change that let the home brewing movement begin.
Alex and Sean have known each other since the second grade. They were home brewing in their early twenties. It didn’t hurt that they also played a little D&D. So at one point they realized that there was no commercial product similar to their idea.
They are expanding their distribution throughout the Bay Area into restaurants and shops. They will double their production capacity in the next year. Watch out for Hiveworks Mead Co.!
Flora Luna Apothecary founder Phaedra Achor
Thursday, December 19, 2024 • Duration 33:29
Phaedra Achor
Flora Luna Apothecary founder Phaedra Achor is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. Phaedra was also on Brew Ha Ha almost exactly two years ago on this episode on Dec. 22, 2022.
There is big news in the beer world. Herlinda reports that RateBeer dot com is closing. Our friend and former co-host Joe Tucker sold it to a big brewing company several years ago. Buying a big beer ratings company, only to shut it down, looks like a corporate power play. There may be buyers who wish to purchase its assets. A lot of site users have postings there that date back many years. There are a lot of stakeholders who have questions. Herlinda will try to get Joe Tucker to come on the show soon to tell us more about it.
Flora Luna Apothecary is Phaedra’s company that produces botanical bitters, syrups and infusions, for creating uniquely flavorful cocktails and other beverages.
Phaedra has a lot to say about holiday cocktails. The first one she is making in the studio today, named Festival of Lights, is a celebration of Hanukkah. It is a gin fizz made with olive oil which gives it a unique flavor and texture.
Visit Russian River Brewing Co. on 4th St. and at their Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for hours, menus and beers on tap.
What Bitters Are
Bitters are botanical extracts, made from three components, a bark, a root and an aromatic botanical. Then, when you macerate them in an alcohol base, you extract the bitter compounds. Traditionally they were a medicinal, used to soothe the gut. Angostura bitters are the most famous example. Syrups are similar to bitters but they are more an infusion, with the ingredient cooked in the syrup.
Phaedra formulates all the recipes and makes everything herself. Her website has all of her products. Her quarterly subscription box contains seasonal concoctions four times a year. The recipes that come with it can be made with or without alcohol.
Flora Luna began in 2015 when Phaedra threw a cocktail party and made five different kinds of bitters for the occasion. They were a hit and some guests were really impressed. This encouraged Phaedra, then she realized that there was interest in cocktails and a lack of great bitters on the market. For the rest of the show they continue tasting and discussing some beautiful craft cocktails.
