Explore every episode of the podcast Brew Ha Ha

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! 🍕🍻

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.

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?

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.

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! 🍕🍻

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.

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!

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. 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.!

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.

Herlinda Heras and Kevin McGee Kevin McGee from Anderson Valley Brewing Company joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. AVBC is the official brewery of the 2024 Great Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Kevin McGee has been on this show a few times, most recently this episode on May 2, 2024. Anderson Valley Brewing Company has been in business for 37 years. Their entire property is now licensed as a beer tasting room. There is a disc golf course on the site now. They like to offer an experience a little more memorable than just drinking a beer. His family bought the company in 2019 and they also relaunched the Healdsburg Beer Company. 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. Kevin tried making wine at home but without success. His wife suggested he try beer, so he changed his business plan in 2007. At the time it was hard to sell the beer, but Guy Fieri's restaurant was one of the first customers. AVBC was the first brewery to use only solar energy. They also have a completely self-contained water system that draws water from wells on the property and returns all their used water to the ground on site. The Great Dickens Christmas Fair This year AVBC is the official brewery of the Great Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, from November 23 through December 22, from 10am-6pm.

Jeffery House and Herlinda Heras Jeffery House is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, with news about the company he founded and is back managing now. Jeffery has been on Brew Ha Ha before. His most recent visit was this episode last May, after his book was released. He sold Ace Cider to Vintage Wine Estates which burned through money and declared bankruptcy. He and his sons attempted to buy the brand back. They went to an auction in New York for the assets. They “got pipped at the post” as a third-generation Budweiser distributor had the winning bid. But Jeffery approached them offering his services and they accepted it. Jeffery is confident that in a year or two they should be back to where they were. Jeffery mentions that they had been debt free for five years and their distribution was getting really strong. The consumers have been very loyal. Awareness of the brand is strong and they are happy with the compliments they are receiving now. The Cider King Jeffery House’s book The Cider King came out in May. It is his autobiography, tracing his life from England, in the advertising business, coming to America, starting to import British beer into America. He encountered cider while in the beer business. The book goes through all the events from his discovery of the Sebastopol apple orchards to the founding and growth of Ace Cider. 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. Their ciders range from 5% to 8% ABV but the alcohol is not as prominent in the flavor profile, compared to beer. They discovered a strong demand in the Hispanic market, for example there are about 500 taps of Ace Cider in El Paso, TX. Herlinda mentions that cider is a great choice for holiday meals and also for toasts. Jeffery says you could pour his Joker cider and it will pass for California sparkling wine. Jeffery’s wife was in the cantina scene of Star Wars, she was an intergalactic spy smoking a hookah pipe in the bar. In the western part of Britain, cider is a more popular drink than beer. Bretagne, in northwest France, is also the home of cider in France. That is also the land of crepes and their classic combination is any kind of crepes with a glass of cider. Cider is gluten free, low calorie and refreshing. It is also versatile, so you can drink it alone or with anything. Cider is actually made more like wine than beer and is taxed as wine too. You make it in a couple of weeks. You can vintage age it but it doesn’t have to undergo all that. It is growing in popularity as people gain awareness of it. That is a different than the trajectory of some of those seltzer drinks. They shot up in popularity then down again (kind of like shaking a can, opening it, getting a big splash, then just a wet mess).

Author Tara Nurin is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, after judging at Bahia Beer in Brazil with Herlinda last week. Tara Nurin and Herlinda Heras were in Bahia, Brazil last week, to be judges at the Bahia Beer Festival of the Brazilian International Beer Awards. They discovered Brazilian drinks and steakhouse style, and did a city tour of Salvador, the capital, too. Bahia is the part of Brazil closest to Africa and since colonial times has had the largest African population. Bahia is not on the main tourist path so the Bahia promoters were very happy to meet the international beer crowd. It also seemed that the locals were actively participating and happy that they were all there. Tara is the author of "A Woman's Place Is In the Brewhouse." She got a standing ovation at the end of a presentation she gave about diversity and wellness in the industry. Herlinda found Brazilian beer flavored with Acerola cherries and a lot of dark beers. There is a type of Brazilian beer called Catarina Sour, from Santa Catarina. Tara found that the overall quality of the Brazilian beers was exceptionally high. 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. Here is the results page at the Bahia Beer Festival website. (Use the handy Google translate button to read the Portuguese page in English.) They also discovered the Brazilian steakhouse style called churrascaria, which serves all kinds of roasted meats on skewers. There is a large Japanese population there too and they found one churrascaria restaurant that also had a sushi bar. Herlinda reports that a top class resort with unlimited drinks cost only $70 per day. Cashaça is a distilled spirit similar to rum, used to make a cocktail called a Caipirinha. Herlinda brought some back and will make one for Steve soon, but not today. We also hear from Tara Nurin about her plans to offer consulting services focussed on wellness in the beverage industry. After the competition, Herlinda and Tara received this message from the organizers:  "Fellow Judges,  I would like to thank the panel of judges, who played an essential role last week in the 1st BBA – Brazilian International Beer Awards, held in the state of Bahia in Brazil, that already born as the largest international beer competition in Latin America in its first edition.  The numbers reflect the success of the event: 1,060 samples were entered, sent by 188 breweries from 34 countries. In total, 101 breweries were awarded, 86 Brazilian and 15 international.  The 274 medals awarded highlight the excellence of the participating beers:  • 99 gold medals  • 88 silver medals  • 87 bronze medals  Of the total, Brazilian breweries won 229 medals, while international breweries took home 45. See you in March 2025 at CBC BRASIL - Concurso Brasileiro de Cervejas em BALNEÁRIO CAMBORIÚ-SC"

Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today features a call from Herlinda in Bahia, Brazil, where she is a judge at Bahia Beer, part of the Brazilian International Beer Awards. Mark Carpenter is also joining Steve Jaxon in the studio today. He was head brewer at the now-closed Anchor Brewing for more than four decades. He was also this show's co-host for many years. Herlinda is in Bahia, which is in the north of Brazil. It is a city and region with a mixed history. Since it is the port closest to Africa it was a center of the early slave trade into Brazil. It remains one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the country. There are over 1000 beers up for tasting and judging and about 25 judges. The resort on the beach is delightful and cost only $70 per night. They are judging beers from 8am to 6pm for two consecutive days. 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. Mark in Romania Mark will have to come back to hear more about Brazil when Herlinda returns. He describes his time in Romania, where everything is less expensive on the exchange. For example, his friend spends $7 per month for TV and cell service. Mark recommends Romania to everyone. The food is great and the people are very friendly. Up in the north the picturesque homes and villages seem stuck in past time.

Michael Young, Kat Prescott and Mike Griffo, Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras enjoying the Thursday Drive Brew Ha Ha. Mike Griffo and Kat Prescott are in from Griffo Distillery in Petaluma on this edition of Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Jenny Griffo was on the schedule but is not available. Jenny has been on the show before, on this episode of April 18, 2023. Kat is the Griffo Distillery events coordinator. Every weekend they do put on music performances which are kid friendly and dog friendly. They had a sound engineer come in to help them design the room and the acoustics are great. The bands and audiences always appreciate it. Griffo Distillery Gin won "White Spirit of the Year" at the ASCoT Awards.  They serve cocktails that use their spirits and a year-round rotation of seasonal ingredients. You can also purchase a cocktail kit to bring home. Plus, there are cocktails in cans. Their version of a Tom Collins uses a little blood orange juice and cardamom clove syrup from Phaedra Achor’s Flora Luna Apothecary. 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. “We are driven to lift and defy expectations of flavor through ingenuity and precision and to enliven moments of togetherness.” – The Griffo Distillery website Espresso Corretto Mike has a doctorate in physics and he explains that doing experiments in quantum mechanics is less interesting than operating a high-tech custom-designed distillery. Griffo Distillery also makes cocktails with cold brew coffee, such as the espresso martini in a bottle that Steve is going to taste. Their Espresso Corretto is aged in grappa barrels and uses cold brew because it is less acidic. "Corretto" literally means "corrected" in Italian, and "caffé corretto" is a shot of anything into some coffee, usually grappa, whiskey or an Amaro like Ramazzotti, Amaro Lucano or Averna. The common Italian term is "caffé corretto" because in Italian we don't say "espresso" most of the time, we just say "caffé" and assume that all of it is espresso of one kind or another (stovetop or pressure machine). I'll have a shot of Amaro in mine, grazie. -cd  “I told them we shake cocktails in studio.” – Herlinda Heras Espresso Martinis may be the most popular cocktail in America right now, says Herlinda. The Old Fashioneds, Espresso Martinis and the Gin Gimlets are their three most popular cocktails. They are located close to Lagunitas, five doors down. Kat has worked with the Mystic Theater. She has a lot of experience with live music show production which she applies to organizing concerts and community events. They have local partners like COTS which assists the homeless in Sonoma County who use the concerts to get attention to their work assisting people in need.

Cody Hildreth from The Block, Petaluma and Lorraine Barber both join Herlinds Heras and Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. also organizes cool events in Petaluma. Lorraine was on this show recently talking about Barber Lee Spirits and Barber Cellars. She is also organizing a Petaluma Craft Cocktail Week and The Block is one of the featured bars. Cody has brought two cocktails that The Block will be featuring during Petaluma Craft Cocktail Week. The first is a barrel-aged blood orange Negroni. A Negroni is usually made with gin, Campari and red vermouth, but The Block's version is unique. The Block has been open for about seven years. They have live music, pizza, tacos and food trucks outside. Mombo's Pizza is making pizzas there, too. It is an indoor/outdoor space, with dog-friendly space on the outdoor side. There are picnic tables and booths, so it's good for everything from a family night out to a date. The Block is located right next to the ten-story grain mill that dominates the horizon in downtown Petaluma. Lorraine is present in Petaluma as a partner in Barber Lee Spirits and Barber Cellars and she also organizes community fairs that focus on local producers and provide a marketplace to connect local producers with customers. @Petaluma_Cocktail_Society This first week, Petaluma Craft Cocktail Week is focussing on a Whiskey Sour. All the participating locations will make one. You can get a card at any destination and you can take your card to the other bars to try the whiskey sour there and get the card stamped. Find it with the hashtag " @Petaluma_Cocktail_Society " Lorraine explains how Whiskey Sour is a recipe that lends itself to "riffing on it." They also use Bitter Girl Bitters exclusively. 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 Block also has Trivia Night and Bingo Night. "It gets rowdy on Wednesday nights." They have a roster of bands that come through playing lots of music, from rock to country to what not, anything from two-person band to a big band with horns. Holiday Food Fair, Tues. Nov. 26 Also, don't miss the 8th annual Holiday Food Fair on Tuesday, November 26, at the Petaluma Hotel. This got started in 2017 when businesses needed extra support, as a way to connect local producers to customers. They will have a Santa and snow, and admission is only $5. Then, on Dec. 3rd, is the annual Petaluma Holiday Makers Fair. This is another opportunity to connect local craft makers to customers.

Natalie Cilurzo Natalie Cilurzo is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Russian River Brewing Co. is celebrating 20 years in Santa Rosa and 6 years at the Windsor location.  The special beer called Pliny for President 2024 is back. Pliny has been running for president every time around since they opened the brewpub. They have quarterly releases of Pliny for President, so this is the last batch until 2028. The beer is very hop forward, featuring Simcoe, Amarillo, Citra, Zumo and Nectaron hops. Pliny is the candidate of the Keg Party. Vinny is known as the Hopfather, and also for his Belgian-inspired sour, barrel aged beers. He grew up in a winery in Temecula where his parents planted the first wine grapes in 1968. He grew up in the vineyard and in the cellar and on the bottling line. Intinction This beer called Intinction, which is dipping bread into wine. It is almost like a Lambrusco, red and bubbly. The grapes are Petite Syrah, which is a dark grape and gives a dark color. The ABV is high because it went through 2 fermentations, it is 10.26%. It won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival. 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 are installing some new equipment for CO2 recovery from their closed top cylindrical fermentation tanks which will reduce their need to purchase CO2. They also have a wastewater treatment plant. The purple pipes carry this water which is treated water and is used for landscaping. They built their Windsor facility with dual plumbing, so they are ready to make the switch to the purple pipes when the regulations catch up to the new law. Shadow of a Doubt beer is named after the Alfred Hitchcock film which was shot in 1943 in Santa Rosa. The beer is a dark imperial porter. A local graphic designer designed the label. Tonight at dusk they are showing the movie in the beer garden in Windsor.  

Mike Barber, Lorraine Barber and Aaron Lee. Lorraine Barber, co-founder of Barber Lee Spirits, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. This is her first time on the show, but Lorraine’s husband Mike Barber was on Brew Ha Ha on this episode recorded on Nov. 4, 2019. Lorraine and Mike Barber also operate Barber Cellars which produces estate grown, hand-crafted Sonoma County wines. Lorraine describes their operation as “grain to glass” which means, “from the raw ingredient to the finished product, everything is fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled under their own roof.” They opened in the beginning of 2019, just in time for the pandemic. The name Barber Lee Spirits comes from the three partners, Lorraine Barber, her husband Mike Barber and their partner Aaron Lee. Read their whole story on this page of their site. 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. Barber Lee Spirits' address is 120 Washington St., Petaluma, CA 94952, which is located next to the Petaluma hotel in downtown Petaluma, on a lively street near many other restaurants and bars including Volpi’s Ristorante and Bar. They are open Wednesday through Sunday. See their 'visit the distillery' page for hours and phone. Wednesdays are Happy Hour All Day with half-priced cocktails. They serve tasting flights of their spirits and also have an extensive cocktail menu. Deviled Egg Competition This year they held their 3rd annual deviled egg competition which is a lot of fun and is a benefit for Petaluma People's Services. They also organize the Holiday Food Fair the Thursday before Thanksgiving, at the Petaluma Hotel. The annual Holiday Food Fair got started in 2017 when many local businesses were depressed. They set up an indoor farmers market featuring only local producers, to connect them with customers. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Among the spirits they make in Lambanog, a Philippine specialty made from coconut juice. Their partner Aaron Lee tried it on a visit there and he was able to source dehydrated palm nectar for their production. It is 100 proof so at that strength it makes an excellent mixer. It's not sweet but has a toasted coconut flavor. It is a white spirit so they don't age it. Lorraine describes their pursuit of spirits that are interesting and unusual, like absinthe and rum made with piloncillo sugar from Mexico. There is also a locally sourced Gravenstein Apple Brandy. She's Canadian so she also thought of doing the most Canadian thing she could, which is a maple finished rye. The maple syrup aged in the whiskey barrels is delicious. Barber Cellars has been making wine for about 18 years. The wine tasting room and distillery tasting room are next to each other in Petaluma. They are busy right now "doing punchdowns" after harvest. They also have a cheese shop and she has brought some cheeses, like a Brabander from the Netherlands and a Mimolette from France and many others. They offer a rotating selection of exotic cheeses. Photos from https://www.barberleespirits.com/our-story/  .

Click the logo to visit Pouring for Neighbors at the NC Craft Brewers Guild site. Lisa Parker, executive director of the North Carolina Craft Brewers’ Guild, talks about Hurricane Helene relief in North Carolina on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Steve Jaxon. She is calling from Ashville, North Carolina, which Hurricane Helene hit hard. She will talk about Pouring for Neighbors, their fund raising initiative. The map at the top of this episode page, from NOAA, reports rainfall from Helene, as of Sept. 27. You can see that Ashville is in the area that got the most rain. In fact, Lisa describes the conditions in the majority of western North Carolina as a war zone. The area is a hotbed of craft brewing. They have 120 breweries in the counties designated for FEMA relief. The devastation is heartbreaking but the collaboration among the breweries and the neighbors is vigorous and inspiring. Most of the area was not a flood zone so a lot of residents did not carry flood insurance. There are linemen out in the field restoring power. Many bridges and roadbeds have been washed out and there are many landslides. 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. Pouring for Neighbors Most of us remember the fires that hit Sonoma County in 2017 and 2019. At that time of need, many brewers around the world united to produce special beers whose proceeds went to local relief, supporting services for the people affected. This kind of campaign has become an occasional event after other disasters and Hurricane Helene is an example of that. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Being in western North Carolina, Ashville was in the middle of Helene’s path of destruction at the end of its run up the south-eastern United States. Pouring for Neighbors began "right off the bat" to raise money. It is a tap designation program. Any brewery or taproom or restaurant can designate a tap and donate at least a dollar from each sale to Pouring for Neighbors. There are three options at the website. The web page has all the information you need to participate, and there is also a long list participating breweries. There is a coalition of breweries assisting in delivering supplies. The National Guard and FEMA are all on the ground helping out. Any reports to the contrary are false. :)

Golden State Cider Unfiltered Breanne Heuss, Marketing Director for Sonoma Craft, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Sonoma Craft is the umbrella organization that holds Golden State Cider, Sun & Shine Cocktails and Seismic Brewing. Visit Sun & Shine on Instagram, here. This is Breanne’s first time on Brew Ha Ha but co-owner Christopher Jackson was on this episode of the show on May 19, 2022, to talk about Golden State Cider. He was also on this episode in July 2019 to talk about starting Seismic Brewing. Breanne is responsible for marketing the three brands that share their company values of making high quality products using sustainable practices. Seismic Brewing has refocused as a craft lager brand, with distribution at the tap room and in selected locations in the Bay Area, but on draft only. They still make their different lagers, including Tremor and the Red lager. Breanne has been with Sonoma Craft for three years, and she worked for Golden State Cider before that. Herlinda mentions that spirits have overtaken beer in terms of annual sales in the US. Unfiltered After they taste their Unfiltered cider, they will taste a cocktail too. Golden State Cider has different tiers of cider. The base tier, called the core tier, includes the Mighty Dry, Brut and Jamaica. They have added one that is unfiltered, which is very dry and has big rich apple flavor. They also have a non-alcoholic cider, called “Dry and Mighty.” 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 Sun & Shine Cocktail is the Valencia Mimosa. It is made with fresh Valencia orange juice, and a bit of apple eau-de-vie. Each can holds two mimosas. The ABV is 10%. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. All the Sonoma Craft companies are dedicated to sustainable practices and to supporting local and statewide charities. They are also involved in hurricane relief in western North Carolina, with the local Craft Brewer’s Guild.  And they support local farmers by using fruit and other ingredients as much as possible from growers that are local, California-based or on the west coast. Golden State Cider has the Core series, the Harvest series and the Radical series. You can find all of them here on the Ciders page of their website.  They are open Monday through Sunday from noon to nine.

The Rio Nido Roadhouse Oktoberfest crew. Raena Jones-Metzger from Rio Nido Roadhouse joins Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Brew Ha Ha is a double show and podcast today. Claire Elaine from Wooden Petal Bake Shop is also with us today. Since we have two guests on one radio show, we make two podcasts from the one live show, so that each guest can have their own podcast audio and a sharable (and indexable) web page. So over here is Claire Elaine and Wooden Petal Bake Shop’s podcast episode page. Gioia Merrill, the sous-chef and Tricia Bagley, one of their bartenders, also join Raena in the conversation, after the break (at about the 9:30 mark). Raena was on the radio with Herlinda five years ago, just before her daughter was born. Reyna has brought some Oktoberfest beers to taste. They will offer flights and pints of these beers. The Rio Nido Roadhouse fifteenth annual Oktoberfest will be Sunday, September 29, from 1pm to 4pm. There is no entry fee. They will be serving a Warsteiner German pilsner, Headlands Brewery Festbeer and another from Cooperage. There is also a German dark beer only on draft. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. They have a bratwurst, knackwurst and a weisswurst combination, chef-made spaezle, caramel apples, braised cabbage and a whole German menu. They also have games, live music and kids activities. Costumes are encouraged. Keith Church and David Albini, accordionists, will play the music to make it sound like Bavaria. The weather forecast is good, 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. For more information, visit their website Rio Nido Roadhouse dot com. Photos from the Rio Nido Roadhouse website. 

Claire Elaine from Wooden Petal Bake Shop in Santa Rosa, joins Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Brew Ha Ha is a double show and podcast today. Also in the studio is Raena Jones-Metzger from Rio Nido Roadhouse. Occasionally, if we have two guests on one radio show, we make two podcasts from the live show, so that each guest can have their own podcast audio and a sharable (and indexable) web page of their own episode. The Rio Nido Roadhouse podcast episode page is over here. Claire describes her day in the bake shop which begins at 3:30 or 4:00 making dough and then sandwiches from her pretzel buns. Wooden Petal is a name that Claire came up with, based on her grandmother’s catering company Wooden Spoon. Also, she was “an English granny” and used to call Elaine Petal, hence Wooden Petal. She and her partner built their shop a couple of years ago, from scratch. They had to re-permit the location to serve food. Moonlight Brewing Co. is where she did her first pop-up selling pretzels. Wooden Petal is at 4984 Sonoma Hwy. near Middle Rincon Rd. They are open 7am to 1 pm. Pretzel Buns Make Great Sandwiches Wooden Petal’s pretzel buns make great sandwiches. Turkey or Salami with chive butter, with cheddar is called the You Betcha. The East Coaster is a classic deli sandwich with mayo mustard and cheddar, and the Valencia has fresh mozzarella, pesto and house tapenade. 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. Tomorrow, Friday Sept. 27, (as we are live on Thursday Sept. 26) Wooden Petal debuts the Meatball Grinder, which is meatballs, ricotta and parmesan, on a pretzel bun. Claire and Wooden Petal Bake Shop were featured in the Press Democrat recently, here is the article. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Claire suggests ordering ahead online, or by phone. Her original idea was that pretzels would be popular in Beer City. At first, she started by doing pop-ups, and the response was always great because her pretzels always fit into the events where she appears. She is very proud of having a lot of loyal local customers.

Lindsey, Connor and Jeff. Connor was about 5, now he's 12. Jeff Reitz and Lindsey Osborne from Barley and Bine Beer Café in Windsor, join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. People often confuse bines and vines. Hops grow on bines, not vines, which grow vertically. The Barley and Bine Oktoberfest party is Saturday, September 28, from 2pm to 11pm. They have a large selection of beers, almost all are California-based breweries. Herlinda remembers that they have been through a lot since they opened the café seven years ago. They have survived fires and a pandemic. Now they are getting ready for their sixth year celebrating Oktoberfest. Their Oktoberfest party feature the Steve Balich Band which plays authentic German and Bavarian music. Herlinda suggests watching their social media for updates about special events, including appearances of special beers that have a cult following. 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. Oktoberfest Marzen means March which is Festbeer brewing time, so they are consumed in the fall. These are not necessarily high-alcohol beers. They are tasting one from Cooperage with is 5.7% ABV. Jeff and Lindsey have brought two items from their Oktoberfest menu. This will be their sixth year celebrating Oktoberfest. They will have 15 different beers on party day. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Barley and Bine makes a half-liter size beer stein, which is a German beer glass. Oktoberfest is also a chance for them to serve brats, which they do in great numbers. They also have 5 different kinds of mustard. They change the menu every month including lots of kinds of street tacos and tater tot nachos of all kinds. The soft pretzels are probably their #1 item. They also have a digital menu board that shows up-to-the-minute information about the beer including when the keg was tapped and how much beer is left in the keg.

Paul Hawley and Miguel Smith from Fogbelt Brewing are the guests on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Fogbelt first brewed beer in 2013 and started brewing commercially in 2014. They also have a pub in Santa Rosa and a new larger production space. They were among the first brewers to emphasize fresh hops and wet hopped beer and this is the time of year when that is happening. September 16-22 they have interesting corn dogs, not the normal kind. Each month they work on different beer and food pairings. Today they have a wet hop IPA that goes with a jalapeño corn dog. One is made with Fruity Pebbles. Another is a Ramen noodle corn dog, with a cheese sauce. “These are the wildest looking cord dogs that I have ever seen.” -Steve Jaxon Wet hopped beers are very seasonal and you would try to drink them as soon as you can. Their wet hop Oktoberfest celebration takes place in their parking lot on Saturday, September 21. They will also have a full German menu with sausages and potato salad, sauerkraut, etc. Monthly Beer & Food Pairings Every month they do a week-long food pairing, alternating between their two locations. In September the wet hopped beers go with these exotic corn dogs. Then, this October, the Santa Rosa location will feature tamales. 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. Miguel came to Fogbelt as Head Chef, after having worked in fine restaurants in San Francisco and many other places, since age 14. The morning of a hop harvest, Paul will go out to the fields and inspect the crop. They bring the hops directly to the brewery. Meanwhile, Remy in getting the wort made in the brewery, and he then adds the hops to the empty clean vessel, then they pour the boiling wort back in, for kind of a tea extraction before going into fermentation. The requirements of logistics make it fun and challenging. Picking window on hops is usually a couple of weeks, so they have a little wiggle room. But if the weather changes suddenly they might have to react fast. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. They have a dog costume contest, and the winner gets featured on a beer the following year. There was mastiff dog dressed as the joker that won last year and his beer is coming soon. Herlinda has bad news, that Hopland Tap is closing. Ron Lindenbusch kept it open as long as he could.

Nile Zacherle of Mad Fritz Beer and Melissa Luci of Alexander Valley Hop Farm join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. It’s hop season! Mad Fritz Beer is known as a cult brewery, since it is small and has a dedicated following. Mad Fritz is based in Napa. Nile has brought some beer made with fresh wet hops. The hops come from Alexander Valley Hop Farm. Melissa Luci has been on BHH before, on this episode almost exactly a year ago, on Sept. 15, 2023. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Alexander Valley Hop Farm is located on a lot that has an unusual shape, it is very long and narrow, but the hops don’t mind that. The AV website is small but their Instagram page is great. The plants are trained to crawl up 18 feet of a string made of coconut fiber, that are 15 feet apart. Their goal is to have it reach the top by summer Solstice, so that the branches that produce the cones will mature at the right time. 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. Brewers can only make wet hopped beers at this time of year at hop harvest time. They have to get the hops from the farm to the brewery as fast as possible. Starting at sunrise, they deliver to the brewer the same day. Nothing is left from this year’s harvest! Nile and his wife are partners in the brewery. Their two children Madeleine and Fritz gave Mad Fritz the name. The Ost House IPA is always available at their tap room and brewery. It uses Triumph hops, 100%, grown at AV Hops. They age the beer in neutral French oak, to allow the beer to settle to a clear beer, slowly.

Leah Scurto and Herlinda Heras. Leah Scurto from Pizzaleah joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke who is sitting in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. Herlinda Heras is back from another trip to Liverpool, this time to see Pete Best and his band. Leah Scurto is Herlinda’s neighbor and friend. This is her first time on Brew Ha Ha but she was a guest on our other podcast, California Wine Country, on this CWC episode of April 27, 2022. In that show we hear about how Leah was getting ready to serve pizzas at the 2022 Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience. Herlinda brought Leah into beer judging. Leah will be cooking at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO, in October later this year. “They get the best of the best of the chefs, paired up with breweries.” It’s Leah’s fourth year doing it. Leah's partner this year is a brewery from Iowa called Big Grove, which is the official craft brewer of the Iowa Hawkeyes, check out their website^. Big Grove making a double IPA and an Oktoberfest for the Great American Beer Fest. Leah is cooking for Thursday and Friday nights. To pair with the double IPA she will make pickles with that brew, then make a pickle dip. She will make a mushroom pizza to go with the Oktoberfest. Pizzaleah in Windsor, near Oliver's Pizzaleah is located in Windsor near Oliver’s, at 9240 Old Redwood Hwy, #116. Their beer list includes a tap where she rotates local brewers in and out. Right now there is a beer from Ghost Town in Oakland. 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. Leah has brought some pizzas including the Old Graybeard which is the people’s favorite. It’s a sweet, spicy and salty with a little orange zest. They make their own sausage for the pizzas. Everything is in-house including the peperoni which is a recipe that Leah worked on for years. They pair that pizza with the Old Caz Free Craig’s. Leah participates in international pizza competitions This summer she was at the Caputo Cup in Naples. Caputo is a brand of flour from Naples and they put on the pizza festival and the competition. Leah placed third! See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. When Leah needed a job in Santa Cruz in college, she got hired at a pizza shop where she eventually stayed for more then 2 decades. She opened 20 restaurants for them so she sure knows the business. She opened her restaurant about four years ago and survived the pandemic as the first order of business. It happened to be just as the pandemic was closing everyone down. She weathered the storm by being available for delivery at a time when that was the only way to get food to the people. The beer selection at Pizzaleah is important to Leah. She wants to support local brewers by featuring their products and also whenever possible she tries to support small local suppliers and organic production. The Lola pizza, with pesto, potato and caramelized onion, is paired with the Crispy Crusher from Cooperage.

The Moonlight Sonata is indeed in three movements. Brian Hunt and Erin Latham-Ponneck are on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, for the Moonlight Brewing 32nd Anniversary. Brian has been on Brew Ha Ha many times, the most recent was this episode in October of 2023. On Saturday, August 24, from noon to 10 pm, Moonlight Brewing Co. will celebrate its 32nd anniversary, with music from The Sam Chase and the Untraditional, and others. There will be food trucks, attractions and activities for everyone including children, in addition to lots of delicious beer. In addition to all that, they will have a kids zone with a jumpy house and a magician. 32 Years of Moonlight Brewing Moonlight Brewing is now the oldest brewery in the county. Brian tells about getting “the beer guy”, Dr. Michael Lewis as an advisor when he changed majors to fermentation science at UC Davis. Then he went to work for Schlitz in Milwaukee. At that time, they were not invested in making great beer there. So Brian got away from that scene, with the lesson that people won’t be attracted to crappy beer. He came back from Milwaukee in 1981 and worked for a series of breweries before starting his own brewery 32 years ago in 1992. Brian is Erin’s stepdad. At first, he “poached” her away from her job to hire her for the bookkeeping. That led to more, as we will hear. 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. In the meantime, they taste the beer called Sulla Luna, a Czech-inspired amber lager that Brian originally made with Birrificio Italiano. He met them in Milano at a beer convention and when they visited here, they brewed this collaboration. Several months into the job she learned that there were actual offices above the brewery. So she moved into a proper room with a desk. Erin’s official title is Chaos Management Specialist and Adult In Charge. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Brian has some interesting opinions about hops, especially that beer can be flavored with plants other than hops. Listen to him tell the history of hop use in beer in Europe.

Today Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras is an Old Caz update directly from co-owner Brian Rengel. He has been on this show many times, the last time was this episode on May 23, 2024, along with cidermaker Jeffery House. Old Caz is now open in its new location. It has “…the same vibe and the same feel as the old spot,” says Brian Rengel co-owner of Old Caz. They have used the same flooring and bar tops from the old place, which was built completely with free stuff. But it’s bigger and it has parking and real bathrooms. They will be making beer in their new facility and you will be able to drink fresh beer straight from the tank on the anniversary party. They have a brand new lunch service with wraps, sandwiches, salads and sides and they get homemade pretzels from a nearby shop. Of course there are deserts. The menu includes all the Old Caz beers, as well as hard kombucha, wine and sparkling mead. Every evening there are food trucks for dinner. Tuesday Night Trivia The Tuesday trivia night is packed. People start coming at 3 and you might not be able to get a table after 4. Their taproom manager Rob is in charge and they had 45 teams competing. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Old Caz is open Monday through Thursday 11-9pm, Friday and Saturday 11-10pm and Sunday 11-8pm. This year’s Old Caz anniversary party will take place Saturday and Sunday August 24-25 at the new location in SoMo Village. 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 Chismosa is a Mexican Amber Lager which is similar to a Modelo. It happened to win Gold at the World Beer Cup! "I've been saying this to everyone, all of our friends and our customers and our regulars. I'm excited for everyone to see where we are right now, because we've come this far in a very short period of time. If you give me another five years, we're going to be putting beer on the moon. So, pay attention!" Another Old Caz beer is the Bukovany Pivo, a Czech style. Co-founder Tom's family had a small brewery and pub in the Czech town of Bukovany, and Pivo means Beer in Czech. Breakfast Skaggs beer is an oatmeal-based stout, with additional flavor of maple syrup and vanilla bean. Brian mentions a couple of ideas, such as a Mexican Imperial, which would be an original, and a quad IPA. Trust Tom to make it great. Catastrophe is a Rye Beer in an orange caution-cone colored can. Not everyone likes rye IPA but this one has die-hard fans. Instead of having to manage a kitchen with a large menu, they have a rotation of food trucks. To make it easy for them, Old Caz is installing a reinforced concrete pad where the trucks can park, with power hookups.

Golden Rule Cider from Ethic Cider. Ethic Ciders founder New Lawton is back on this crunchy episode of Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, to promote this year's Gravenstein Apple Fair. Ned Lawton appeared on Brew Ha Ha on this August 25, 2018 episode, promoting Cider Week that year. Herlinda is going to Italy next week to visit some friends who have bought a house near Lake Como, which they will be converting into a bed and breakfast. The Gravenstein apple is to cider makers what Pinot Noir is to local winemakers. It is the go-to fruit for their art. It is tart and sweet and ripens early. Ethic Ciders got started with their acquisition of an old apple orchard which was in need of renovation. Once that was done they were able to produce a crop and make the cider from that. Gravitude: Grateful for Gravensteins They are tasting a cider called Gravitude. Its name means "grateful for Gravensteins. It is sparkling and very food friendly. The tartness is what makes it combine with foods in the same way that a wine with strong acidity does. 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 will be pouring ciders at the Gravenstein Apple Fair on Aug. 10. There they will also be launching a new product, Gravitude in cans. Some of their ciders are traditional and others are their creative recipes that combine flavors. You will also be able to meet the cider makers.  There are also styles that come from different countries. It is popular in France, from Brittany. There will be cider producers and also cheese and gelato "It is a really classic country fair," says Herlinda. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. There is also a press where you can press apples. Some producers will have special ciders to pour. The arts and crafts are true local artisans and you can find stuff you won't see anywhere else.

There is no new Brew Ha Ha show today, due to travel schedules, so for this week's podcast edition here is an encore show of a visit with Ron Lindenbush from last March. Brew Ha Ha will be back with a new episode next week, Thursday Aug. 1. Cheers! Ron Lindenbusch, Hopland Tap founder and owner, is back again on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. He has been on Brew Ha Ha several times, including this episode on July 5, 2018, again on May 28, 2020 along with Natalie Cilurzo, and again on May 6, 2021. These episodes chronicle Ron's career with Lagunitas up to and including the Heineken purchase. Today's live radio show is a triple-header. We have two other guests in the studio along with Ron today. The episode with Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here. Ryan Frank, brewmaster at Headlands Brewing, also has his own podcast episode on this page. Since he left Lagunitas at the end of a very successful run, Ron Lindenbusch found the perfect location in Hopland to set up the tavern that he always dreamed of. Steve remembers when it was the Hopland Brewery, they had bands including some pretty famous ones. Hopland Tap also does live music. This Saturday the band is Left-Hand Monkey Wrench. 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. On Tap at Museum of Sonoma County Herlinda Heras is helping the Museum of Sonoma County develop its upcoming exhibition ON TAP about the history of brewing in Sonoma County. Ron Lindenbush was with her at the museum today to record some video that will be used in the exhibition. He personally holds a lot of the stories of the history that is the subject of the exhibit. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. They are tasting a non-alcoholic beer that Ron makes. It actually tastes like beer. One is called Electro Lime. Ron explains that it is made just like beer, then the alcohol is removed. What remains is a beverage that actually tastes like beer. The non-alcoholic beer scene is completely different than it was ten years ago.

Renée and Don. The New Albion story continues here in part two of Renée DeLuca and Don Barkley's visit to Brew Ha ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Part one of today's show, with Renée DeLuca as the featured guest, is on this other podcast episode. Herlinda Heras' father is also in the studio with us today. Don Barkley was on Brew Ha Ha three weeks ago on this episode of June 27. Today he is back to meet Renée and to bring some of Jack McAuliffe's New Albion Ale that he has brewed for the Beer Garden event this Saturday. Don was studying fermentation science at UC Davis when he asked his professor, Dr. Michael Lewis, how he could get a job in the brewing industry. Professor Lewis told him he would have to cut his hair. Don didn't like that idea so the professor suggested he contact Jack McAuliffe, who wouldn't care about long hair. Jack was known for coming to the library and going over all the books about brewing, although he was not enrolled. Don tells the story of going to Sonoma to meet Jack, who initially refused Don. But when Don came back he talked to Susie Dennison and made a deal to work for a case of beer a week. Don still has the recipes. Russian River Brewing Co. will have three race cars on display at their Windsor pub, on Wednesday, July 24. Two top fuel dragsters and one funny car and drivers, will be there to greet visitors. It's a promotion for the NHRA Sonoma Nationals that are taking place at Sonoma Raceway on July 26-28. 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. New Albion Pale Ale Kevin Lovett is the brewer at Wolfhouse Brewing Co. He is also the son of Michael Lovett, Don's dearest friend. Michael and Don both started at the New Albion brewery together. Now they are brewing the old recipe at Kevin's brewery. Kevin Lovett was a guest on Brew Ha Ha on June 9, 2022, here is the episode page. In that interview with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras, we hear about how Kevin literally grew up at Mendocino Brewing Company. Jack McAuliffe has a name for today's beers flavored with ingredients like cinnamon or cardamom. He calls them hula hoop beers, which is hilarious. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Albion is the name of Britain in ancient Greek and t is also a poetic name for Britain. Sir Francis Drake sailed on his ship The Golden Hind and was the first European to sail into San Francisco Bay. The Golden Hind is the ship on the New Albion Pale Ale label. The best place to get a taste of the New Albion Pale Ale is at the Museum of Sonoma County Summer Beer Garden. It's open from 4-8pm, $15 general admission, ample shady parking available across the street.

Renée DeLuca and Don Barkley Renée DeLuca, Jack McAuliffe's daughter, is our special guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. This is Renée's first time on Brew Ha Ha. Her father is one of the most famous figures in craft brewing history. She is visiting Santa Rosa to attend the celebration at the Museum of Sonoma County this coming Saturday, July 20 from 4pm-8pm. It will be in the sculpture garden which is becoming a beer garden for the event. Don Barkley is also in the studio today. He was our in-studio guest on this episode just three weeks ago. This is part one of the podcast of their live radio show, featuring Renée DeLuca with Herlinda Heras and Steve Jaxon. In part two of the podcast, Don Barkley joins them in the studio. That episode is right here. 🍻 Brewer's Daughter Beer Company Renée DeLuca now runs the Brewer's Daughter Beer Company which is producing the New Albion brand. She was able to revive the brand in 2011. By then, Jack had retired from beer and wasn't interested or aware of the craft brew scene. She took him to visit the Great American Beer Festival in Denver and everyone wanted to meet him. Listen to how Renée tells about how she bonded with her father over the beer. Jack had never been to a beer fest. At one point, there was an awards ceremony for a home brewer who won the Sam Adams contest. At that time, Jim Koch, the founder of Sam Adams, revealed that he had retained the business rights to New Albion so that nobody else could do something unworthy with it. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Today, the recognition has been coming from all corners. In 2019 they were in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Part of the exhibit FOOD: Transforming the American Table is dedicated to beer and New Albion is a big part of that story. New Albion Beer Reborn When Jim Koch invited them to come to Boston to make the beer again, she invited Don Barkley, who had the recipes. Renée tells the story of how Jim Koch returned the IP rights and the LLC to Jack. The New Albion beer will be served at the Museum of Sonoma County Beer Garden event from 4-8pm on Saturday, July 20. Brewers who will be pouring include Russian River Brewing, Moonlight Brewing, Lagunitas and Pond Farm. 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 was in the Navy in the 1960s, where he worked as welder stationed in Scotland. There he learned to like the Porters, Ales and Stouts he found in Scotland. Discharged from the Navy in California, he decided he had to make those beers himself.

Beer Historian John Burton and Eric Stanley, curator of the Museum of Sonoma County join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. John Burton also operates the Santa Rosa Bartending School. The exhibit ON TAP has been open at the Museum of Sonoma County since April. Check it out before it closes on September 1. This Saturday, July 20 there is a reception from 4:00 to 8:00 PM, where they will serve a very special beer. They will convert their sculpture garden into a beer garden. They will serve an original recipe from Jack McAuliffe, one of the co-founders of New Albion Brewery. Herlinda has brought some of the beer to taste today. It is a pale ale with Cascade hops. It’s not very hoppy by today’s standards but it was considered hoppy in 1977. Albion is the name of Britain in the Greek language. The Cascade Hop was the first type created in a university laboratory, in the early seventies. 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 lent the museum a lot of pieces from his collection, for the On Tap exhibit. Some bottles are as old as the 1800s. He also has a lot of pieces from the Grace Bros. brand, which was the great local brand from 1897-1966. John Burton knew Virginia and Cathy Grace. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The exhibition traces the brewing business from the arrival of German immigrants in the 1840s. This inspired the idea to transform the Museum of Sonoma County sculpture garden into a German-style beer garden for the event on July 20.

Tony Magee tells his story. There is no new Brew Ha Ha show today, Thursday July 4, since our home station 95.5 Wine Country Radio is taking the Independence Day holiday. So here is a chance to listen again to our interview with Tony Magee, the now-retired founder of Lagunitas. He may be elusive and seem to have gained mythical status, but Herlinda Heras has just finished interviewing him for the Sonoma County Museum's ON TAP exhibit, along with Don Barkley and Mark Carpenter, and today he tells his story for us. This interview was recorded live on the radio on April 18, 2024. Tony Magee, the now-retired founder of Lagunitas, is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. The last time Tony Magee was on Brew Ha Ha was this episode in 2014. Today he and his wife have a ranch where they host retired horses and also some cattle. Herlinda Heras has been working with the Museum of Sonoma County to organize On Tap, the exhibit about craft beer history that is opening this weekend. Tony sat for a video interview for the exhibition and he is pleased to be part of it. He started Lagunitas in 1993 and grew it into one of the largest breweries in the country. In 2017 Heineken acquired the company. Tony tells the interesting back story to the acquisition. Lagunitas was beginning to sell beer outside the US, which is not easy to do. He also had grown Lagunitas to a point where the US market was starting to feel saturated with new beer brands as the popularity of craft beer grew. He started to think about a longer term plan for the company, rather than endure infinite domestic competition. Heineken was (and is) the last family-owned global brewer. Click to visit the Museum of Sonoma County website. Finding the Right Partner All the other big companies are multinationals. Tony says Lagunitas never really discussed the acquisition with other companies because none of them had Heineken’s character. Hearing him tell the story, he sounds really pleased with how it all happened. He says he thought of the brewery as an art project, with an artist will eventually sell and once that happens, that’s it. He gives credit to Heineken for updating the structure of the business operation but for not changing the beer or the recipes and the brew master is still there. This is the best time in the last thousand years to be a beer lover. -Tony Magee Herlinda asks what the inspiration was for the brewery. For Tony, he was doing a completely different job. He was in commercial printing sales and he was a home brewer. His brother got him a home brew kit for Christmas of 1992, in January of ’93 he brewed it, and by December of 1993 the brewery was open. He recognized things in brewing that reminded him of music. As musician that helped him understand brewing. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. A lot of Lagunitas beer is IPA style and hop focused. His friend Grant Johnston who was a brewer at Marin Brewing would also homebrew. He was experimenting by adding his hops late in the boil, which boosted the flavors and didn’t let bitterness develop by boiling too long. This was how they created a hop-forward style that became the central thesis of the 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. 22:50, they mention Cappuccino Stout, which Tony says may be one of the earliest coffee beers in the US.  (In a Kurt Vonnegut story written long before the craft beer era, there is a mention of an award-winning beer in a fictional Indiana state fair, and coffee was the secret ingredient.) They also mention the 420 Waldos and the Lagunitas beer that celebrates the story. The Waldos were guests on Brew Ha Ha on this episode back in 2019. They remember the Beer Circus, which sounds like you had to have seen it.

Legendary brewer Don Barkley is again our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. His last appearance on BHH was this episode of March 28, 2019. Don founded the Mendocino Brewing Company in 1983 as the Hopland Brewery. It was the very first brew pub in the United States. They had a big hit with Red Tail Ale and their brew pub was the model for all subsequent ones. They are brewing a revival of one of Jack McAuliffe's original New Albion Brewing Company recipe. New Albion was the first craft brewery. Jack made all of their equipment himself. Michael Lovett and Don Barkley worked for New Albion and left to start Mendocino Brewing after New Albion closed. Don kept all of Jack's notes and instructions, that is how they have the exact recipe for New Albion Pale Ale to make today. 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. At a time when everyone else was producing lager beer, Red Tail Ale was a unique new flavor. They tried to expand the business with some outside investors, but in Don's opinion they were never able to figure out how to make a craft brewery work. Wolfhouse Brewing in Cloverdale is making the beer although they can't call it that. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. It is hard to make it just right. Herlinda remembers a brewer that tried to make it and it wasn't quite right. They also made Blue Heron which was an IPA.

The Admirals, on the sea of malt. Dave McLean from Admiral Maltings in Alameda is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Admiral Dave has been on Brew Ha Ha before, including this interview recorded on June 28, 2018. Dave is also the Beer Lands coordinator for the Outside Lands music festival. On Saturday June 29 they are putting on It's The Malt, which they hope will become an annual event. Admiral Maltings' three partners all have backgrounds perfect for their roles in the company, in beer and agriculture. They wanted to have locally grown organic malt to use as brewers and now the company supplies many other brewers too. Dave explains the role of malt starting with the fact that beer is made mostly from barley but as it grows in the field it is not ready to use in brewing. The malting process involves steeping the grain in water, germinating it and then stopping that process. Then the brewer takes it and does all the other steps in the brewing process. Admiral Maltings is the first floor malting facility in California since Prohibition. They do different types of malt, to follow specifications that their customers, the brewers. 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. Admiral Maltings also operates The Rake pub, on the same site as the malting facility in Alameda. They only serve beers and distilled spirits that use their malts. The Rake has windows that overlook the malting floor, which is a unique feature. "Watching malt germinate has never been this much fun!" - Admiral Maltings Herlinda is just back from judging at the Aro Rojo 2024 competition in Monterrey, Mexico and she has brought some beers back from there, for tasting. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The festival on June 29 will feature some beers brewed with the special malt made for the event. The Rake pub menu will offer their BBQ-centric menu. The Rake is a full service restaurant so kids and dogs are ok.

Herlinda Heras Herlinda Heras calls into the studio from the Aro Rojo 2024 in Mexico, to speak to Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today fro Monterrey, the capital of the state of Nuevo León. She is a judge in a competition called the Aro Rojo 2024. Aro Rojo means "Red Ring" and their logo is a dragon in the shape of a ring. There are both professional and home brew competitions with a total of 715 beers in the competition. There are judges from all over the world, including Charlie Papazian, the godfather of home brew in the United States. Pete Schlossberg from Pete's Wicked Ales is also there as a judge. About a quarter of the judges are women, this year. 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. Getting Through Customs with Beer Herlinda brought a lot of beers to show at the presentation, two suitcases worth. She always brings beer wherever she travels and she has never had issues at customs. This time the passport folks waved her through but the Mexican National Guard stopped her. They were looking for beer, and she was not supposed to have more than three liters. But they didn't open the other suitcase and they eventually let her through. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. She explained that the beer she had may have been over three liters. When she said they were commercial samples and not for sale, they let her pass. Monterrey is also the home of the largest beer factory in the world. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Freshtival 2024 is this weekend and Colin McDonnell from HenHouse Brewing is here to tell us all about it. It takes place on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at SOMO Village. There is no beer older than seven days. Colin explains that beer is a lot more perishable than a lot of people realize. Especially when craft beer is made with carefully chosen flavors, it need to be enjoyed while fresh. So they wanted to create a festival to celebrate freshness and to show people how tasty fresh beer can be. The festival is also a chance to taste new flavors, and to taste familiar beers but fresher than ever. Early access tickets open at 12:30 and general admission is at 1:30. There are bands performing until 5:00. There are also several food vendors there. This is their fourth edition. Humboldt Cider will also be there, with seven different ciders. Cider is different than beer so it's not subject to the seven-day rule. Hoppy beer doesn't have a long shelf life. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! No Beer Older Than Seven Days They are tasting an IPA that is only 10 days old. Even if it's past the Freshtival limit, it's still very fresh. There is no bar in the world where you can taste over 150 fresh beers from 63 breweries. The people who make the beer are really into it. "The Freshtival is the largest gathering of fresh beer in the known universe." They will even be printing fresh shirts 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. Colin says, "Give me something insane to do and I'll be inspired." 7-day beer a very unusual task and it inspires great beer. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.  

Gary Saperstein, organizer of BEER FEST - The Good One, joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today on Brew Ha Ha. Gary holds the title of Development Director for Face to Face, the organizers of Beer Fest - The Good One. It takes place Saturday, June 8, 2024 at the Luther Burbank Center. Visit Eventbrite for tickets. Face to Face has for 40 years been working to end HIV in Sonoma County, 1983-2023. This year is the 31st annual edition of Beer Fest, which makes it the oldest beer festival in Sonoma County. The event is held outdoors and there will be tents and shade as well lots of beer, food and music. 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. Face to Face In 1983 Face to Face started, right at the beginning of the Aids crisis. A group of angels saw a need for help and set up the organization to help terminal patients. Over the years, the agency has evolved and does much more work than before, but their mission is rooted in the history of HIV. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! There will be many local breweries attending and pouring beer at Beer Fest, including Lagunitas, Hen House, Lost Coast, Farmers, Moonlight, Russian River and many smaller labels you don’t see every day. Herlinda had her first taste of Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat Ale at the Beer Fest. "My favorite beer is the one in front of me." -Mark Carpenter, founding father of Brew Ha Ha Today, Herlinda has brought two beers fresh from the Hen House, brewery which is about to hold its annual Freshtival on June 15, 2024. One is a refreshing IPA called Frozen Envelope. The other is Virtuoso, a West Coast IPA. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Herlinda's Next Competition: Aro Rojo in Mexico Herlinda is leaving soon for Mexico City where she will be a judge at Aro Rojo, the big Mexican beer competition. She will also give a talk there about the history of beer in California. That's a hot topic for them to hear about there, because of the international importance of our local craft brewing industry. They saw that Herlinda had a lot to do with setting up On Tap, the exhibit at the Museum of Sonoma County about the history of hops and brewing in Sonoma County. Oliver's Market is the biggest sponsor of all of Beer Fest: The Good One. They will be serving Korean street tacos for the event. Trader Joe's is a sponsor. Visit Santa Rosa is a sponsor, always interested in promoting Santa Rosa and its title Beer City. Gary describes how Face to Face has evolved, and managed to keep its services free. They also provide mental health services. They do needle exchange and supply Narcan. This has saved over 3500 lives, according to Gary.

Jessica Christensen, Mixologist and Beverage Manager, and Robb Stites, head of Communications and Community at Graton Resort and Casino join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Jessica is a Sonoma County native. She is responsible for all of the drinks at nine different bars at the Graton Resort and Casino. She started as a bartender at Negri's in Occidental when she was 21. After a few years she worked at Calistoga Inn and Brewery. After that, she was recruited to the Graton casino and soon got into management there. The first drink served today, after the soothing and inspiring sound of the cocktail shaker, is an Apricot Pisco cocktail. Pisco is a distilled spirit from Peru with a flavor that is close to rum. Robb Stites had a background in public relations before coming to the casino about two years ago. He describes the philanthropy and in-kind donations that they do as an expression of their commitment to the community. Jessica describes the Apricot Pisco cocktail that is in Steve's glass. It is made with Pisco, Luxardo apricot liqueur, fresh lemon, some acqua fava for the foam and some simple syrup. Acqua fava is technically garbano bean juice, which can produce a foamy texture. (Sometimes bartenders use egg whites for foam, but many people prefer this vegan alternative.) Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! There are several bars in the resort; G-Bar is a sports bar and Sky Bar in the lobby has won several polls from Casino Player magazine. Sky Bar is a lounge bar at the center of the venue, Lobby Bar is a little more for craft cocktails, away from the gaming floor. There are also frequent concerts and comedy shows. The swimming pool is open not only to hotel guests now. You can buy day passes now for a cabaña, a lounger or a day bed, those are available seven days a week. Guests can bring food in from another restaurant or order from the poolside menu. The pool bar is right nearby. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The next cocktail they taste is a new take on a traditional recipe, called a Jalapeño Margarita. It will soon be on the Lobby Bar menu. It has Jalapeño-infused tequila, plus Cointreau, lime juice and agave. Floating on top, there is an Aperol and lime citrus foam. 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. Jessica describes the pool menu, which is the same as last year and is designed to be quick, fresh and delicious. Kiwi, blueberry, watermelon, mango and spiked lemonade. They also have a cocktail competition called Full Tilt. The first year the competitors were mostly from north bay but this year they will open it to bartenders from all over the Bay Area. One portion of the competition will be Iron Chef style, where the competitors get a set of ingredients they have to work with. This year it will focus on agave-based drinks. The Campari group is the sponsor. 🍹

Herlinda Heras, Bryan Rengel and Jeffery House. Jeffery House, founder of Ace Cider is here, so is Bryan Rengel from Old Caz Beer, on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Bryan's last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode back in January 2024. Jeffery's last BHH appearance was this episode in August of 2022. Jeffery House, founder of Ace Cider, has a new book. The Cider King is a story of how he came from England and ended up on the west coast. He got handcuffed for not having a green card but the judge gave him voluntary departure instead of deportation. A friend of his was importing cognacs and Armagnacs and various spirits, so he started working with him. He noticed an opportunity to import British and Belgian beer. Then, on his friend’s suggestion became the first to import Sonoma wine to the UK, beginning in 1981. Bryan Rengel tells the story of how he built Old Caz with his partners, using materials that were entirely DIY, found and acquired for free. Now they are building the new location bringing in the same materials. He and his partner love cycling in the mountains and named the brewery after a very challenging road that they love to ride, which is Old Cazadero Road. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Old Caz new location Opens June 1 They are definitely opening on June 1, having passed the health department inspection last Tuesday and the City of Rhonert Park gave their official approval today. There is some work to do still. Noon on June 1, they will have a grand opening ribbon cutting. The Old Caz Cavalcade will be a 3.5 mile march from the old location to the new one. Join the cool kids for that.   The Cider King is the name of Jeffery House’s new book. It’s on Amazon and Kindle as of a couple of weeks ago. The Kindle version for 90 days is free. He will do an audio book version of it in his own voice. He started Ace Cider with seed money from a settlement from the end of a distribution agreement he had in England. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Somebody told me they were growing apples in west (Sonoma) county. I drove up here one day to Sebastopol. It was like England with sunshine. The cows were happy, the fields were green…” In 1993 they made their first cider. 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. Bryan modestly announces that Old Caz Beer won Gold for Chismoso Mexican Lager at the World Cup of Beer. They had forgotten even sending in the beer. He also just found out about another gold from Rolling Stone Magazine.

The Pink Boot Society national conference Taylor Lane is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. She is local chapter president of the Pink Boots Society. She is also a Lab Supervisor for Gallo Sonoma, and used to do the same job for Russian River Brewing. Also in the studio today is Simone Yingst from the Santa Rosa Central Library. We also have a special guest, Simone Yingst from the Sonoma County Library. She is an adult services librarian at the downtown Santa Rosa library. There is a talk series called The Future is Fermented, happening at the library on May 22. The Pink Boots Society The Pink Boots Society is a national organization founded in 2007 by a woman brewer who realized that she was often the only woman in the room at beer events. They work on education, offer scholarships and support networking among its members. They have expanded their membership from beer people to people who work with any fermented beverages, and from women to also include non-binary persons. The Pink Boots Society National Conference will be in Philadelphia, June 24-26, 2024. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Taylor Lane has a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Microbiology. She thought that would lead her into the veterinary or pharma field, but she discovered fermentation when she took a class in fermentation while in grad school. That made her realize that she knew all about the processes of making beer and other fermented foods and beverages. A job at Russian River would soon follow, as the lab supervisor. Taylor continues to thrive in the same role at Gallo Sonoma. 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 delivery has just arrived from Old Possum and Flagship BBQ who are putting on a birthday event soon. As we know, Flagship is now operating the kitchen at Old Possum. They were here on BHH in January to announce it. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! The subject of the talk on May 22 is Burnout in a Passion-based Business. The Future is Fermented, happening at the library on May 22.

Herlinda Heras with Raven Brewery guests. The brewer and co-founder of Pivovar Raven, or Raven Brewery in Pilsen, Czech Republic are our guests today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. They are Ladislav Vrtiš, co-founder, and Jiří Vašek, whose first name translates to George in English. Miroslov Puc is also in the studio but we won't hear from him on the broadcast. They are friends of Lana Svitankova, Herlinda’s fellow international beer judge and a recent guest on BHH. The crew from Raven Brewing in Pilzen is on a beer tour of California. First they spent 5 days in San Diego, now it’s Sonoma County and environs, including Beer City, Santa Rosa. Sierra Nevada and Russian River Brewing Co. are on the itinerary too. They just came back from a driving tour through Yosemite National Park. Czech Pilsner and German Pilsner are different. For the Czech, they have softer water, especially in the town of Pilzen. Second, the brewing process, they use decoction to brew the beer. The Germans and US use infusion. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Pivovar Raven, or Raven Brewery The Raven brewery was founded in Pilzen in 2015. A law was proposed to require bars that serve beer to also offer a non-alcoholic beverage at a price that is lower than the cheapest beer. But the law did not pass. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Pilsner Urquell is still a very popular brand in Czechia. It might cost $3 in Prague. In smaller cities, you can get a good local pilsner for a buck. The local bars are also the meeting place for social life and also to find service people. 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 California IPAs are a bit strong, around 7 or 8 ABV. The Czech beers are lighter.

Anderson Valley Brewing Co. CEO Kevin McGee joins Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras. The last time Kevin was on Brew Ha Ha was this episode from last November. Also, AVBC brewmaster Fal Allen has been on Brew Ha Ha many times. His last appearance was this episode in September 2023. Tara Nurin is also in the studio today for the live Brew Ha Ha radio show, and her part of the conversation is on this podcast episode. Wellness and mental health is an important topic in the brewing industry, especially after the uncertainty and stress of the last few years. Listen to Tara Nurin speaking about that today, on this podcast episode. Under the new owners of AVBC, the company expanded its suite of mental health benefits for employees. They also have opened pathways for people to have access to therapy. 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 first tasting is the Black Light, 95 calories, and it is black like a stout even if it is a light. It won the European Beer Star Award, another silver medal two years ago and it won the Brussels Beer Challenge last year. They love this beer. It's great to have a new beer that is so successful. There weren't a lot of good light craft beers. They started with the intention of making a good tasting beer and it happened to be light, at 3.8% ABV. It gets its black color from black rice, not from blackened malt as usual with dark beers. This was Fal Allen's invention. He also wanted to make a Pilsner, which is The Pilsner under ABVC's label. Summer Solstice is another periodic beer that has some devoted fans. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Anderson Valley Brewing Co has been practicing sustainable brewing for long before Kevin became CEO. They use only water drawn from wells on their property and they return all their used water to the ground. It is a zero-effluent operation. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! They expect about 3000 people at the Booneville Beer Fest on Sat. May 4, May the fourth be with you, Star Wars fans. It is a benefit for local charities all within about 10 miles of the brewery. It is their 26th edition.

Tara Nurin Beverage industry mental health is the subject with Tara Nurin today on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras. Tara has been on Brew Ha Ha many times, the last time was this episode just last week. The day before yesterday, Lana Svitankova, Herlinda and Tara were at UC Davis speaking about the brewing industry. Tara was there to discuss her book and to read a part of it. The students at UC Davis in the brewing program come from all over the world. Lana and Herlinda talked about international judging and they took questions from the students. The members of the panel at UC Davis were an all-star lineup of the craft brewing world. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! A Beautiful Mind Last night they attended Lo and Behold's event called A Beautiful Mind, a fund raiser for NAMI, the National Association for Mental Illness. They held a cocktail competition and a raffle and it was sold out. May is National Mental Health Awareness month. You can order the Beautiful Mind cocktail at a roster of local restaurants and the proceeds go to NAMI. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. People in the beverage and hospitality industry can suffer physical and mental ailments due to work stress. She has been developing ways to teach resilience to managers, owners on how to create holistically healthy workspaces. In addition, Tara teaches workers to understand their own needs and to be able to maintain a stable state of mental health for the long term. 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. Tara practices Transcendental Meditation and she also applies it to her efforts to reduce stress in the hospitality workspace.

Smith Street Taps 10th Anniversary commemorative glass. Meng and Kim Chow, owners of Smith Street Taps in Singapore, join Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. It is their first time on Brew Ha Ha. Lana Svitankova is also in the studio today. Her full conversation with Herlinda can be heard over here on its own podcast episode. Meng and Kim have brought a Smith Street Taps glass like the one pictured here, as a gift for Steve. They have just celebrated their tenth anniversary. They also have another stall now, called by a similar name, Smith Street Taproom. Herlinda met Meng and Kim in Singapore when she was judging in the Asia Beer Cup. The city is obviously very clean and well organized, and Herlinda remembers feeling safe in the city, even when she got lost at night. Singapore's Hawker Stalls Smith Street Taps is located among the hawker stalls in Singapore. These are large food courts with many restaurants serving a wide variety of styles of food. It is Singapore's way of organizing what would otherwise be street food. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Kim explains that Smith Street Taps is the first and only hawker stall dedicated to craft beer, among all the many hawker stalls in Singapore. They have craft beer on tap from all over the world. Hawker culture in Singapore is heritage, so it is protected, promoted and highly appreciated." -Kim Chow Rumble in the Jungle (photo by Lana Svitankova). Meng has opened a beer called Rumble in the Jungle, a Stout which he produced in a collaboration with Brewlander, a local brewery, and Jungle Beer, formerly of Singapore and now based in India. It is a stout flavored with chickory from India, with an 8% ABV. "Works for me!" says Steve Jaxon. Herlinda remembers a 16 hour flight from California to Singapore, which Meng and Kim also just did. Thinking out loud, next time, she might fly 9 hours to Japan first, then fly the next leg from Japan to Singapore, another 9 hours. The Singapore Sling The Singapore Sling is the number one local cocktail. It is a gin-based cocktail believed to have been created by a bartender at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. They still serve them there, so go get one if you're visiting Singapore, it can't be missed. Spoiler Alert! --> In a shaker with ice, add gin, cherry liqueur, Cointreau, Benedictine, pineapple juice, lime juice, Grenadine syrup and a dash of Angostura bitters. Serve strained into a hurricane 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. Meng had the first craft beer bottle shop in Singapore, before Smith Street Taps. He is on his way to Boston for his son's graduation from Northeastern University. Meng's great wish is to find out how he can get to drive a hop picking machine like the one at the museum. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP is about the history of hops and beer in Sonoma County. It will remain open until September 1. Click on the green the On Tap logo (or that link) to visit the museum's website: Photo credits: featured image, C.Y. Shing, Flicker/PD/CC. Beer glass, Smith Street IG. Rumble bottle, Lana Svitankova.

Tara Nurin, historian of brewing, at UC Davis Tara Nurin, historian of women's role in brewing history, is our guest again on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. She was on the show on this episode on February 23, 2023, with her book A Woman's Place Is In the Brewhouse. Lana Svitankova is also here, she is a beer judge from Ukraine and a judging colleague of Herlinda. She is visiting for some events associated with the opening of the Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP on Saturday April 27 at 4pm. On Tuesday, April 30, at 1 pm, Tara Nurin, Lana Svitankova and Herlinda Heras will be appearing at a conference at UC Davis as part of the Professional Brewing Program. On Saturday, April 27, Tara will be reading the chapter about Sonoma County, at the exhibit. That is the story that starts with the opening of New Albion, the first new brewery post-Prohibition, which opened in 1976. Tara tells the story of the man and two women who founded New Albion. Tara’s book tells about the women have been involved in brewing throughout history. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Lana has translated some books about brewing into the Ukrainian language. She is also a promoter of the Ukrainian style of beer, a golden ale. She describes it as a cousin of British and Belgian golden ale, the difference is that the Belgian is stronger and the British is lower in ABV and not that sweet. Ukrainians like it sweet and not very bitter. 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. Ukrainian Golden Ale Until recently, a Ukrainian golden ale has been available in markets in Los Angeles. The one that Lana has brought has a name that is hard to pronounce. Lana used to work for a Ukrainian brewery called Barbar, who made golden ale and stout, mostly. Herlinda met Lana when they were judging in Finland and Poland. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! The Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP is about the history of hops and beer in Sonoma County. Don Barkley did a video interview with Herlinda, that will be playing in the exhibit. It opened with a big crowd on April 20 and will remain open until September 1. Click on the green the On Tap logo (or that link) to visit the museum's website:

Tony Magee returns to BHH with Herlinda Heras. Tony Magee, the now-retired founder of Lagunitas, is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. The last time Tony Magee was on Brew Ha Ha was this episode in 2014. Today he and his wife have a ranch where they host retired horses and also some cattle. Herlinda Heras has been working with the Museum of Sonoma County to organize On Tap, the exhibit about craft beer history that is opening this weekend. Tony sat for a video interview for the exhibition and he is pleased to be part of it. He started Lagunitas in 1993 and grew it into one of the largest breweries in the country. In 2017 Heineken acquired the company. Tony tells the interesting back story to the acquisition. Lagunitas was beginning to sell beer outside the US, which is not easy to do. He also had grown Lagunitas to a point where the US market was starting to feel saturated with new beer brands as the popularity of craft beer grew. He started to think about a longer term plan for the company, rather than endure infinite domestic competition. Heineken was (and is) the last family-owned global brewer. Click to visit the Museum of Sonoma County website. Finding the Right Partner All the other big companies are multinationals. Tony says Lagunitas never really discussed the acquisition with other companies because none of them had Heineken’s character. Hearing him tell the story, he sounds really pleased with how it all happened. He says he thought of the brewery as an art project, with an artist will eventually sell and once that happens, that’s it. He gives credit to Heineken for updating the structure of the business operation but for not changing the beer or the recipes and the brew master is still there. This is the best time in the last thousand years to be a beer lover. -Tony Magee Herlinda asks what the inspiration was for the brewery. For Tony, he was doing a completely different job. He was in commercial printing sales and he was a home brewer. His brother got him a home brew kit for Christmas of 1992, in January of ’93 he brewed it, and by December of 1993 the brewery was open. He recognized things in brewing that reminded him of music. As musician that helped him understand brewing. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. A lot of Lagunitas beer is IPA style and hop focused. His friend Grant Johnston who was a brewer at Marin Brewing would also homebrew. He was experimenting by adding his hops late in the boil, which boosted the flavors and didn’t let bitterness develop by boiling too long. This was how they created a hop-forward style that became the central thesis of the 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. 22:50, they mention Cappuccino Stout, which Tony says may be one of the earliest coffee beers in the US.  (In a Kurt Vonnegut story written long before the craft beer era, there is a mention of an award-winning beer in a fictional Indiana state fair, and coffee was the secret ingredient.) Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! They also mention the 420 Waldos and the Lagunitas beer that celebrates the story. The Waldos were guests on Brew Ha Ha on this episode back in 2019. They remember the Beer Circus, which sounds like you had to have seen it.

John Burton, beer memorabilia collector, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. He is working with Herlinda Heras who is assisting the Museum of Sonoma County with its upcoming exhibition ON TAP, about Sonoma County hops and the history or craft brewing. John Burton made a great collection of beer memorabilia while he worked as a bartender in Santa Rosa for a long time. He also operates a well-known bartending school called Santa Rosa Bartending. Herlinda has organized interviews with some of the biggest names in local beer history, like Tony McGee and Mark Carpenter, for the museum. She connected them to John Burton and he will be providing some choice items for the exhibit. Grace Bros. was a local brand that started in 1897 in Santa Rosa and the brand continued until the late 1960s. John’s collection of bottles and cans starts in their first year. John has a lot of Grace Bros. pieces. A 1960s Grace Bros. Beer Commercial In the show, we hear a 30-second commercial for Grace Bros. beer, from John's collection. It was recorded probably in the 1960s in Hollywood, California. In the 1940s, Grace Bros. was the fourth-largest brewery in California. Here is the commercial: http://brewhaharadio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Grace_Bros_Beer_30_sec.mp3 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 Burton is a member of a beer memorabilia organization that organizes exhibits. Herlinda’s friend Ken Hartoonian also has a collection. He was a guest on Brew Ha Ha recently. John shares memories of the Grace family and how they decided to stay in Santa Rosa instead of Southern California. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. John is also the writer and publisher of some books about his collection. He has also written an instructional book about bartending, called Bartending Basics. Herlinda is organizing a reception for all of the ‘legends’ of the local brewing industry. She will invite the founding fathers and mothers of the business. She is looking forward to the On Tap exhibition being full of really interesting, beautiful and memorable material. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Russian River Brewing is a sponsor of the exhibit, so is Lagunitas and Oliver’s Market. The sculpture garden is beautiful and they will turn it into a beer garden for one evening. The grand opening is April 27.

Richard McChinak and Ben Kerstetter from Battle of the Brews are in-studio guests on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Richard McChinak, is the Battle of the Brews co-chair, and Ben Kerstetter is the newly elected incoming President of the 20/30 Club, Santa Rosa chapter n. 50. The 20/30 Club started doing this event 27 years ago. They only had about 20 breweries back then but now there are many more. Saturday April 6 from 1-5 pm at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. There are 20/30 chapters all over the country. They do a lot of fundraising events for under-privileged youth in Sonoma County. As musical attractions, Battle of the Brews has Painted Waves and Voodoo Vultures playing plus a local DJ Rob Cervantes, who is a Drive Hall of Famer. Herlinda Heras has been going to Battle of the Brews since its beginning. This is Herlinda’s eleventh time judging at this event. It’s a chance to meet all her friends in the business. The weather is supposed to be good. One year the band was Digital Underground but they had to scale it back after that year. 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 is a big Raffle Station in the middle of the show. All of the money raised goes to causes related to helping kids. The $95 admission ticket gets you all the food and drinks you can manage to enjoy, plus all the music and the whole scene. They also have cider, hard kombucha as well as non-alcoholic options. A Great Day for Barbeque This year the Barbeque section is different, they doubled the number of BBQs and brought in many other food vendors. There is an entire parking lot full of food vendors. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The judging is a BJCP-sanctioned event. There is also a People’s Choice award. Some brewers will bring exclusive beers brewed just for the event. There are even awards for Best Chicken and also a People’s Choice award for barbeque. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! There are so many beers and it is so much fun that it is easy to drink more than you thought you would. So plan you transportation with all the options available, except driving.