Brew Ha Ha

Drew and Kevin Patterson from the Marin Irish Festival 2026 join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Drew also came on Brew Ha Ha last year on April 24, 2025, to promote last year’s event.  This year the festival has grown to cover two days, Saturday and Sunday May 16 and 17. Herlinda remembers attending the first Marin Irish Festival last year. Kevin’s parents started the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in the ‘70s. They also produce the Dickens Christmas Faire at the Cow Palace in December. They have everything Irish; food and drink, music, sheep dogs and a sanctioned Irish dance competition, called a feis, pronounced “fesh.” Theirs is maybe the biggest feis on the west coast. They have some Guinness, Smithwick and Tullamore whiskey, There are two Irish pubs. One is called the Bearded Goose, and the other is called The Gander. They sell all the Irish brews they can bring in. Drew says live music is what makes an Irish pub live. You can actually bring your instruments and play along. ++++ Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. ++++ Lagoon Park Comes to Life Lagoon Park is in the Marin County fairgrounds. The park comes to life with 6 stages. There will be demonstrations of falconry. One falconer has worked with them for more than 30 years. They will actually fly the birds from the main stage. There is also a pen for a small flock of sheep, where they demonstrate how sheep dogs work with the sheep. The festival began when some friends of Kevin’s were organizing a feis, but they had nothing happening around it. They developed the festival around the feis. Smithwick’s is a red ale and they are proud that they have it on draft. The Guinness is also on draft. Every glass of Guinness takes a two-minute pour. Tickets are $30 which Herlinda says is reasonable enough to allow someone to also do some shopping. There is a selection of craft vendors, makers of candles, glass blowing, kilts and more. There is a traditional meat pie booth. Hop Monk puts a special menu together. They also have kebobs and Greek food. The Tully Pickleback is a shot of pickle juice with a shot of Tullamore Dew whiskey. Hair of the dog? Pre-emptive hair of the dog? For example, Hop Monk makes Irish tacos, with corned beef and cabbage on a tortilla.   

On Brew Ha Ha today, Herlinda is calling in from Philadelphia to talk to Daedalus Howell about the Craft Brewers Conference there, happening along with the World Beer Cup. Russian River Brewing Co.’s Velvet Glow Helles-style lager just won a Bronze medal at the World Beer Cup. Just as Herlinda was checking in with her media credentials, there was a crush of other media people around her. She saw that Joe Frazier’s daughter was there for the dedication of a statue of Joe Frazier in Philadelphia. Frazier was a heavyweight champion from Philadelphia. Next year the conference will be in San Antonio. The World Beer Cup is a competition among more than 8,144 beers from 1,644 breweries in 50 different countries. There were 255 judges, 128 of them were from outside the US.  113 beer categories and 5 cider categories made for an average of 69 beers in a category in the competition. So there are dozens of winners in all the different categories and styles. The local promoters always showcase the local beers, so Herlinda noticed that there were lots of Pennsylvania beers too, in circulation. Why does Gen Z drink less? The conference has sessions about the state of the business, and equipment, yeast, etc. There was a seminar about why Gen Z people aren’t drinking as much. They collected suggested reasons why, and Herlinda’s Gen Z daughter had some thoughts. She points out that there are so many people on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications now and you can’t drink when you’re on those meds. Nobody had brought that up. Another seminar reported evidence showing that people are spending 45% more time alone still, after Covid. Socialization is important to personal well-being as well as to recovery in the industry. Breweries are aware that to keep people together, they have to offer beverages and experiences beyond just the beer. Herlinda’s daughter also points out that that people have limited disposable income and don’t want to lose a day to a hangover. The RRBC site describes Velvet Glow as an homage to an old Grace Brother’s beer. The Grace Brother’s brewery operated in Santa Rosa from 1933 to 1966. They created many iconic beer brands including Velvet Glow and Happy Hops. Velvet Glow is a clean, crisp, and refreshing Helles-style lager. It has a bright straw color and flavors of bread crust and biscuit. There is a very low bitterness with a mild hop aroma. The top five countries for number of entries were the US, Canada, China, Japan and Brazil. Herlinda got some really cute socks too, that she will bring back. In Brews News, Toronado Beer Bar in SF has been acquired by one of its regulars. The owner was ready to retire so it’s a good move. Firestone Walker has also bought Stone Brewing in Southern California. Some locations will close but it will continue. Sapporo had owned Stone and the Firestone people are happy. Nice that it’s a beer company and not a hedge fund. Also, Evil Genius of Philadelphia has bought out 21st Amendment Brewing in SF, a favorite stop of baseball fans in the city.  

Tara Nurin calls in to Brew Ha Ha to discuss plans for a documentary film about the subject of her book A Woman’s Place Is In The Brewhouse. This call came near the end of the episode with Gabi Demozzi, which is right here. The film is called Witchy Boots.  Tara is a journalist who covers the beverage business and the personal stories of people in the beverage industry. She is the author of A Woman’s Place Is In The Brewhouse and she has been on Brew Ha Ha many times. Tara covered mental health in the beverage industry on this episode on May 2, 2024. Tara also holds the honor of being the guest on our first podcast episode here in February of 2018. Tara lives near Philadelphia, the site of next week’s Craft Beer conference. The Pink Boots Society is kicking off the conference on Sunday with an inclusive festival that is inclusive of beverages and of people. Philadelphia is known for other foods than cheesesteaks. The Redding Terminal Market is the oldest indoor food market in the country. Also, the Italian Market takes up several blocks in south Philadelphia. In recent years there are some Mexican restaurants in the area and further south, some Asian restaurants. It is becoming more eclectic. Herlinda remembers some killer pizza too. There are several oldest, coolest, original this or that, all over the city, to discover. Look for Philadelphia to be the official home of the 250th anniversary of the US, this year in July, 2026.  

Gabi Demozzi, a Dim Sum chef and beer judge from Brazil, is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Gabi is a certified Cicerone, professor, consultant and chef who has been working with beer for 16 years. She is currently working on opening a restaurant that will match Dim Sum with craft beer named Dim Sum da Gabi. It is already operating via delivery and private dinners. Today is her first time on the show. Herlinda met Gabi two years ago when she was a judge in the Brazilian national beer competition. Herlinda describes her trip to Brazil in this episode, from the week after she got back. Gabi was in Denver recently for the World Beer Cup, and they will be in Philadelphia next week for the World Beer Cup. A Beer Judge’s Job Judging beer is hard work and carries a lot of responsibility. In the field of professional beer judging, there are thousands of beers in many different categories. Usually there are four or five judges per category. Beer judges have to swallow the beer in order to properly evaluate it. This is different than wine judges who spit the wine out after they taste it. Yesterday Gabi spent six hours at Russian River Brewing Co. in Windsor. Afterwards they even went to Russian River downtown. The official Brew Ha Ha cocktail shaker is ready and we hear it in minute 10. Gabi has brought a bottle of Cachaça (pron. “ka-SHA-sa”). It is distilled from fresh sugar cane juice. The Caipirinha (pron. “kai-pi-REEN-ya”) is the Brazilian national cocktail, made with cachaça. This one is flavored with cinnamon and clove. She mixes limes and lemons, but Caipirinhas can be made with any kind of fruit juice. The better quality the Cachaça, the tastier your Caipirinha will be.   

It’s not business as usual this time on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell, as Herlinda presents Beatles and Brews today. She has had this playlist on her main fridge for about 6 years. What’s more, she has such a collection of beers that she can line up the labels to match the songs for today’s show. The show begins with two Beatles tunes, She Loves You and I Want You / She’s So Heavy. Herlinda is a Beatles superfan. She knows Pete Best, who was the drummer for The Beatles before Ringo joined the band. Herlinda even has a signed picture with him from when he played in Petaluma on tour. Pete’s mother Mona Best bet on a horse named Never Say Die to win the 1954 Epsom Derby, at 33-1 odds. (sorry, audio garbled at 8:00) She used the winnings to buy the house where they built The Casbah Coffee Club in the basement. Pete’s brother Roag still runs tours at the original Casbah location. She Loves You goes with A View From The Top from Five Boroughs Brewing in Brooklyn. They brewed this beer to commemorate the refurbishing of the Empire State Building. It matches the Beatles arrival in NY in 1964 on Ed Sullivan and at Shea Stadium, and all the later New York connections. Daedalus asks Herlinda how she became such a big Beatles fan. Herlinda’s dad was in the Navy, and they were stationed for a while at Hunter’s Point Shipyard. Candlestick Park was nearby, and her mom wasn’t at the Beatles concert, but she said she could hear the crowd screaming. When her dad was in the Far East in the Navy, there where places where he could record albums onto reel-to-reel. Herlinda had an Akai reel-to-reel tape player. He gave her an audio documentary history of the Beatles that she listened to it over and over again. Black is Beautiful and Blackbird Herlinda was doing her math homework one day while living at Hamilton AFB in Novato. She was listening to KRQR San Francisco when the news came in of John Lennon’s murder. She immediately started her reel-to-reel recorder and captured the local coverage from all the local radio stations. Herlinda opens a beer called Black is Beautiful. She pairs it with the Beatles song Blackbird and points out Paul McCartney’s story of its origin. A bird means a girl in British English and Paul had seen stories of young black girls having to be escorted to school in the American south, and he wrote the song to describe them. The Black Is Beautiful beer started from an African American brewer Marcus Baskerville in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The song Tomorrow Never Knows, with its Indian sitars, suggests an IPA, India Pale Ale. There is more beer and Beatles music than we have time for in one show, so we will have to revisit this topic. Before we end this episode, Herlinda opens a Ukrainian style Golden Ale flavored with coriander. The BJCP judging guidelines recently admitted this Ukrainian style to their catalog. Herlinda suggests the song Golden Slumbers, for the Ukrainian ale. We will have to do a 2.0. We didn’t even get to the English beers. 

Herlinda’s cousins Lloyd and Lee Palmer are visiting from Oregon and they are in the Brew Ha Ha converted train coach studio with Herlinda and Daedalus today. Lloyd Palmer is a train expert and today he will tell us all about the retired train cars that make up the Wine Country Radio studios and offices here in Santa Rosa. Herlinda has brought her family to the show before. Her father Eloy Heras, a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam, was on this episode back in April of 2018. That day, he told some stories that involved both the Navy and beer. Also, Eloy and Herlinda’s brother Anthony came on Brew Ha Ha on this episode, last year on June 19, 2025. Lloyd is also a retired Navy veteran like Herlinda’s father Eloy. “Trains and beer? I can talk all day!” said cousin Lloyd upon Herlinda’s invitation. They have a caboose in their own backyard, with beer. Lee says they have brewskis in the caboosky. Lloyd has a collection of almost 2500 craft beer tap handles. They are all on display in his garage. He started the collection about 30 years ago. He collects tap handles from Oregon microbreweries and IPAs nationwide. Trains are the only vehicle you can drink a beer on and not really worry about it. –Daedalus Howell, Words of Wisdom The Wine Country Radio studios may be the only train car radio studios that Lloyd has ever heard of. There are several types of cars. There is a boxcar and a baggage car. The KRSH studios and Exitos, sister stations, are in the boxcar. He thinks the Wine Country Radio studio was a passenger coach, not a caboose, given its fine original woodwork, high vaulted cieling and windows. Rails from 1925, Cars from 1910-1915 There is still some rail and some historical railroad ties in the ground under the cars. Lloyd found the mill mark on a rail from 1925 from a steel mill in Tennessee. He suggests that these tracks were a spur at a station, used for maintenance, before becoming a train parking lot. A spur means it is not parallel to the main track. Lee has turned her caboose into a painting studio. She wanted to restore it rather than convert it. The caboose is from 1981 and was in use until about 2006. The interior colors are the same except they put a little bar in it. There was a strict rule on the railroad called Rule G which prohibited workers from consuming alcohol before or during work shifts. Now they have a red bar across the Rule G sign. In an ironic twist, Brew Ha Ha is recorded in Studio G. Lloyd estimates the Studio G coach was built from about 1910-1915 since it is made of wood, rather than steel. Its full length extends past the hallway that crosses it. As for the boxcar, that is a standard 40-foot boxcar. They were in use from the 1940s to 1960s, for what they called single car freight, or single loads. Most interstate trains today are what they call Unit Trains like oil tankers or double-stacked container trains. Those carry standard freight containers so boxcars are much less in use today. If you ship a lot of freight, rail takes a lot of freight off the roads. Each rail car takes 3 trucks off the road. So a 100-car train takes 300 trucks off the roads. There is a great train station in Los Angeles, Union Station. It is in fine shape despite its age. The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner runs from San Luis Obispo to San Diego with convenient station stops all along the way. 

James Pardieu and Drew Tomassini, co-chairs of Battle of the Brews 2026 and D.J. Graves, co-owner of 3rd Street Aleworks, join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Battle of the Brews is an annual event that the Active 20-30 Club #50 of Santa Rosa produces to raise money for their charitable activities. They describe their mission as, “providing young adults an opportunity for personal growth, friendships, and leadership development while improving the quality of life for the underserved children in our communities.” The Battle of the Brews 2026 will have a panel of judges for the Craft Cup competition. There will also be a People’s Choice competition. There will be over 50 different breweries. They expect over 100 different craft brews to be available. In addition to all the beers, there will be a Barbeque competition featuring 10 different BBQ teams. The three categories are ribs, Tri-Tip and chicken. One of the Active 20-30 Club’s favorite and most popular initatives is the Back-t0-School Shopping Day The Active 20-30 Club of Santa Rosa members are men in their 20s and 30s. The organization provides an opportunity for community service to men at a time in their lives before they start families. Daedalus Remembers Tony Magee Daedalus remembers being a cub reporter at the Petaluma Argus-Courier when he visited Tony Magee. He asked how his beer fit in and Tony said, “We’re going to take out foreign beers and replace them with craft beer.” He became fabulously successful. Then he attracted the only buyer he really wanted, as he explained on this episode of Brew Ha Ha in April of 2024. Then he became a foreign beer, in an ironic twist of fate. Listen to Tony Magee’s complete interview with Herlinda Heras from April 18, 2024, which was a great scoop for the show! Herlinda remembers bringing Lagunitas to a beer festival in Lithuania in December one year. Now Laginitas IPA is the number one IPA brand in the world. Beer judges use Lagunitas IPA as the baseline for that style. She explains that with Lagunitas and Russian River Brewing Co., Sonoma County’s reputation as a world beer capital is secure. 

Herlinda and Lisa. Adam Lamb and Jevon Hatter Oiadeje from the Rewind Arcade Taproom in Sebastopol join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Lisa Brower is also here in the studio. She is the host of Jeopardy! bar league that meets at Rewind Arcade. Jevon was on Brew Ha Ha last year on this episode, talking about Rewind Arcade. Their third anniversary falls on Memorial Day this year. The Barlow is a great place for this kind of thing, says Daedalus. Herlinda lists the selection of beers that Jevon has brought. He is in charge of the beer menu. It has a great variety as well as an automated tap system. You get an RFID card that you use to track your pours and make your check. Jevon appreciates that there are so many great local producers to feature. They have 33 pinball machines, up from the original 10. They also sell Stern pinball machines and service them too. He spent a lot of time in a bowling alley as a kid, where his stepdad was the bartender. Here is their 30-second tour Instagram video. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. Jeopardy! Bar Leagues Herlinda mentions her friend Lisa Brower who is the host of a live local version of the game show Jeopardy! They are the only official Jeopardy! bar league in Sonoma and Marin Counties. It is officially sponsored by Sony Television. They worked with a company called “Geeks who Drink” that organized the business. They got the rights to produce it and set up an entirely digital system of results reporting. Everything is on your phone. As an officially sanctioned event the questions come from the Jeopardy! staff. They are launching the national Jeopardy! bar league championships. Teams from around the country will be divided into regions with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. The winner national winner gets a sponsored trip to Los Angeles, a studio tour to meet the host and team and an exclusive audition.  They also win an official Jeopardy! party at their home venue. Herlinda and Daedalus consider putting a team together, a dream team with them and Aurelio and Mindi. @19m Daedalus, a host, asks how you become a host of Jeopardy! Their answer button is on their phone, laptop or tablet. The tournament will go on for the next 8 weeks. There are links to it all at Rewind Arcade website. @23m Thanks for plugging the podcast on the radio show! 🔌🍻 Rewind Arcade has kept their licenses to beer and wine. This way, they are eligible to allow all ages in the locale. If they served distilled spirits, they could not admit people under 21. They have a jukebox and DJs once or twice a month on a Friday or a Saturday. Pinball community is fully inclusive and accessible. Adam’s son is eleven years old and is a pinball wizard.

Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha with the first taste of Pliny the Younger 2026. This is the 22nd year that Russian River Brewing Company makes Pliny the Younger. “It’s the biggest news of the year in beerdom,” declares Daedalus Howell. For the last 22 years, Brew Ha Ha has hosted the first taste of Pliny the Younger and this is Daedalus Howell’s first time as the host, for this big event. Pliny the Younger has become a “colossal, global event,” says Daedalus. Natalie Cilurzo describes the pressure that they all feel at RRBC during Pliny. Life throws curveballs, like recessions, weather and Covid, but Pliny pours on.  “We keep doing the best we can. “We are just elated when we see people waiting on Friday morning,” says Natalie. Vinny Cilurzo describes Pliny the Younger as using seven hops, the same as last year, but in a different mix. It’s always (about) 10.25% ABV. It used to be 11 but they dialed it back. The malt is a mix of two malts. There is “two row” malt from the US and Canada and some Pilsner malt. It has is a lot of sugar that gives it a dry taste. There was a potential of smoke taint in the region where their Simcoe hops come from. They had to pick the hops earlier. Vinny summarized the history of Pliny the Younger. It was available for five years before the world discovered it. In 2010 there were people waiting outside the brewery at 7AM. Vinny did not know that their beer was Number One and Number Two in the world, on two influential beer rating sites. “We still don’t know how it happened.” 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. The Community of Pliny the Younger They did fill growlers and they didn’t distribute it. It was a small batch but word got out to beer enthusiasts. That was a moment when curiosity about beer was rising, back then. Today Craft Beer is established. Back then, there was a novelty factor. Vinny and Natalie both say that their favorite part of the whole thing is walking the line and meeting the customers. Herlinda appreciates that both Vinny and Natalie are natural teachers. Also, they are working as hard as their staff, to make the event a success. “It’s a lot of fun for us,” says Natalie. It has turned into a big reunion. They get visitors from all over the world. There are people who have met in line at Pliny the Younger who have gone on to get married. It’s a pilgrimage. You can meet people from around the corner and around the world. Some people have an annual friends reunion at Pliny.

Dr. Hoby Wedler, a PhD organic chemist and sensory expert, is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. He has been on the show before, the last time was this episode back in August of 2020. His Instagram has almost 480,000 followers as of today’s show date. Hoby was born sightless, and was raised to have high expectations for himself. He was inspired by his great high school chemistry teacher who has worked at Petaluma High School for a while. He thought he might study history because the prospect of needing an assistant to perform manual jobs in a chem lab. But his graduate advisor was a computational organic chemist. This subject provided an avenue for him to study chemistry with more independence. His original goal was to teach freshman chemistry at the college level. He is an inspired teacher and wants to make his subject more than a requirement. “Hey maybe this is something really interesting that I never thought I would love.” He taught several freshman chemistry courses while at UC Davis. He prepared lessons and study materials carefully, but found that many students just wanted “the minimum knowledge value” to simply pass the class. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. Then Hoby met Francis Ford Coppola, who asked to organize truly blind tastings at his winery. Hoby then trained his palette by tasting and smelling things, day after day. He was at UC Davis where the brewing program was going on right next to where he was getting his PhD in computational organic chemistry. Professor Charlie Bamforth, “The Pope of Foam” worked nearby, so did Michael Lewis. An Intersection of Art and Science Hoby thinks of wine and spirits and beer as a very fine intersection between art and science. Science gives us the tools and art gives us the way we want to use those tools. Herlinda first met Hoby Wedler at one of his Tasting in the Dark events. Guests were encouraged to take their time and focus on taste and smell. They use the blindfold “…so people can focus on their other senses even more.” Today they will taste two brews, a barleywine and a Tripel from CuVer Brewing in Windsor. Herlinda admits that as a beer judge, she begins by looking at the beer. Is it clear? What color is the foam? Hoby says you can smell the carbonation. Hoby points out that you can hear the carbonation too. When he smells the cuVer, he tastes clove, allspice, a bit of nutmeg and orange peel. These elements are coming from the yeast, which produces esters. Belgian yeast is special and produces esters that carry these fruity flavors. He can also taste the malt. It has a low-to-mid hop profile but the flavor is dominated by grain and malt, and the ester compounds coming from the yeast. He also knows that the water in Belgium is special, it’s very pure. Herlinda smells coriander and also the alcohol. Tasting in the Dark Hoby promotes his tasting experience called Tasting in the Dark. It works with many kinds of foods and beverages, including wine, beer, spirits, olive oil, vinegar and even beef. He did a tasting experience of scotch, gin and bourbon for the launch of a new kind of freshwater fish bait. The bait is designed to be attractive to the fishes’ sense of smell. Hoby’s Instagram has grown explosively in the last year. He put a few reels online from their tastings and they proved to be very popular. Some of them were from Hawaii about tropical fruit. They went from 3000 followers to 480,000 followers today. The second tasting is a Barleywine called Bigfoot from Sierra Nevada. Hoby knows Ken Grossman who started Sierra Nevada out of the back of his pickup truck in 19790. Barleywine uses light hops and so much malted barley that the beer has a similar alcohol concentration to wine, 9.6% ABV.

Jenna Bautista from the Pink Boots Society, also a Senior Quality Analyst for Lagunitas, joins Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Jenna Bautista joins Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha, with Adam Bosch from Parliament Brewing Co. also in studio. International Women’s Day is Sunday March 8, this year. There is a whole weekend of Pink Boots Society collaborations to check out. Lagunitas has made Glass Breaker, using Nectaron, Simcoe, and O-33 experimental hops. It has pine and stone fruit flavors and is a little over 8.5% ABV. It will be released this Saturday. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. The Pink Boots Society North Bay has partnered with CuVer in Windsor to brew a Belgian IPA called By Her Bootstraps. HenHouse is releasing The Coven, a botanical rice lager flavored with sage, grapefruit and lemon peel and lavender. They are releasing it at Fort Point Valencia on Sunday. Jenna was just in New Orleans for the Pink Boots Society conference. They had a couple hundred women and non-binary people working in the beverage industry. They had a speaker from Europe who talked about advocating for yourself in a tough industry and how to advocate for others. Friday there is a performance of Werewolf on Holiday at Lagunitas, too.

Adam Bosch from Parliament Brewing is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras today to talk about the Cheesesteak Competition on March 21. Adam has been on the show several times, the most recent was this episode last September. Chris Amadio from Mamadios food truck, is in the studio. They were the people’s choice winner at last year’s Cheesesteak competition. First, they are drinking Capital Letters, a new West Coast IPA that they started brewing last year. The hops are Riwaka, Citra and Nelson. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. This is their third year of the Parliament Brewing Cheesesteak competition. Apart from the five cheesesteak vendors, they will have four bands and a dj, plenty of seats, tables and chairs, tents and parking. The cheesesteak vendors will be Mamadio’s, Lila’s Streetside Eats, The Spot Food Truck, Golden Steak Warriors and Canevari’s Deli. There will also be so far about 13 merch vendors, and food and beverage vendors. Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, Flyers. Herlinda recalls visiting Philadelphia and finding cheesesteaks. The old city has cobblestone streets and lots of corner shops like delis and restaurants. There is also a burgeoning brewery scene. Chris Amadio is from Philadelphia and he can really turn on the Philly accent when he wants to. Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, Flyers. The competition is for cheesesteaks not limited to Philly style, so everyone can have their own twist. There will be two awards, one from the judges and the people’s choice award. Herlinda will actually be one of the judges on March 21. One of the other judges is Mercedes Ramos who runs the SoCo Market, who has also been on the show. The Cheesesteak competition day is kid friendly and dog friendly. There will be four bands, SPF, Citizen Flannel, Werewolf on Holiday and then Ellie James and the Electric Dream. 🍻

The Fort Point HenHouse merger is the subject today with Justin Catalana of Fort Point Brewing and Colin MacDonald of HenHouse Brewing, on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras. Justin is calling in on the phone today while his friend and colleague Colin is in the studio at Wine C0untry Radio with Herlinda Heras. Fort Point Beer Co. has been featured on Brew Ha Ha before, the last time was this episode. Colin has been on the show before, most recently this episode in 2024 about the Freshtival that year. Recently HenHouse and Fort Point breweries joined forces. Although they still produce beers under the two brands, Colin describes them as having complimentary strengths. HenHouse is rooted in the North Bay and Fort Point has grown to be San Francisco’s biggest craft beer. The first beer tasted today is an alcohol-free KSA from Fort Point. SF Beer Week is happening all over the Bay Area. Fort Point makes KSA which is a non-alcoholic Kölsch style beer. They also make other NA beers. Herlinda will be with Fort Point at the Dim Sum Brunch at the Hong Kong Lounge on Saturday. KSA is the beer they are most known for. Kolsch style beer comes from Cologne, Germany. They will be serving this beer tonight in the same style as a brew pub in Cologne, in the same kind of glasses. The event on Saturday is a huge Dim Sum service with Fort Point beers. This is one of Herlinda’s favorite SF Beer Week events. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. Big Chicken Big Chicken is a double IPA that HenHouse makes once a year. It is also a statement about freshness. They want it to be the freshest beer it can be. You can buy beer that was packaged the same day. Fresh beer is so much better and makes enough of a difference that they founded the brewery on that principle. They used to do a promotion called the Freshtival, where they brought beers in that were no more than a week old. This Sunday Mar. 1 they have an event to promote the end of Big Chicken this year. Colin compares its flavor to a tropical fruit bowl. That then begs the question, what do you pair it with? Something big and intense, so fried chicken. The Big Chicken fest this year closes with the Fried Chicken competition at Palace of Barrels in Petaluma, from noon to 4 PM. They will have 5 food trucks there serving to the people and a distinguished panel of judges. There will also be a separate hot sauce award. There will be a distinguished guest list and plenty of great tasting fresh beer. 🍻

Marty Nachel Marty Nachel, founder of the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame, calls in to discuss the 2026 HOF nominations, on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Marty has been on the show before, including this episode back in December, about his recently published book the Beer Story Project. Today’s Brew Ha Ha show is appearing online as 3 separate podcast episodes, so that all the guests can have their own page, and their own Internet traffic. This also makes it easier for listeners to find the guest they are looking for, among the other two.  Marty Nachel is a well-known author who also wrote the popular book Beer for Dummies. He is calling from Chicago, which always invites the comparison of the weather there and in Santa Rosa, California, aka Beer City. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame will induct its second annual class on Saturday, February 28, at 3:00 EST, 12 noon PST, they will livestream their induction ceremony. Eight people are being inducted this year, whose names will be revealed at the ceremony. There are links to the live stream at their website. There will also be events at different breweries where people will gather to watch. Herlinda wants to have one here in California too, next year. The event will be on YouTube afterwards, for on-demand viewing. This is the second year of the Craft Beer Hall of Fame. Last year the inaugural class included several famous founders of the craft beer movement. Jack MacAuliffe, Fritz Maytag, Ken Grossman, food and beverage journalist Michael Jackson, and eight others made up the class.

Conor Begley from Fathers Brewing is the guest of Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha today. This is his first time on the show. Sayre Petrokowski, the executive director of the Brewers Guild, introduced Herlinda to Conor. Fathers Brewing was launched less than a year ago, last July. They went through a lot of R&D to create their first two flagship beers. They are a lager (with a red label) and a light lager (with a blue label). Before Fathers Brewing, Conor started a software company that he sold for a lot of money in 2021. His bio is a whirlwind from graduation, to “a startup company that grew really fast” then went to Australia with his girlfriend who is now his wife. He worked for Thunder Road Brewing Co. in Melbourne, Australia, running their digital and social media operations. What he learned there led to his software company, which in the long term has led him back to beer. Relentless R&D The brand is being built in a streamlined format for growth and further investment. Conor is committed to founding the company upon the best possible quality product by a relentless process of R&D. The brand identifies as “clean beer” similar to how his partner’s previous company had a product based on clean skin care. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. When the question for a brewery is, ‘How to stand out?’ Fathers Brewing is defining itself by being organic and clean. Their first production on other people’s equipent, a.k.a. “gypsy brewing” worked at first. Now they have invested in the company adding capacity, from 20 barrels to 400 barrels at a time. That improves the quality and makes it consistent, in the higher quantity. Mikkeller and Evin Twin beers are actually made by rival brewers who are twins. They were gypsy brewing for a long time. Mikkeller became one of the most sought after and expensive beers in the world this way. Conor spoke to a lot of other successful beer entreprenurs, to learn from them. Overall in the brewing business, people are willing to help each other. Clean Beer They have tested for the presence of micro plastics in beer, in the materials from suppliers and in all stages of packaging and processing. Any stage that uses plastic has the potential to shed microscopic plastic debris. Another example, is using surfactants to supress the production of foam. But the material is plastic. It may increase the yield but, “that can’t be good.” So pouring plastic on the beer is right out!

Herlinda, Rob and Chismosa Rob Saccuzzo, Old Caz GM, is our guest in studio today on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. This is Rob’s first time on the show but the brewery has been featured many times. Old Caz co-founder Brian Rengel is the featured guest on this episode of Jan. 21, 2024. He was back for an update the following August on this episode on August 8, 2024. Rob Saccuzzo is the General Manager of Old Caz Beer and is also a board member of the Bay Area Brewers Guild. They are preparing for some big events coming soon. SF Beer Week is the biggest event of the year, and they are also putting on the SF Beer Week Beer Fest at the Salesforce Park beer garden on the top of a skyscraper in the city. Rob is busy doing ten events at Old Caz in ten days. They are releasing 16 beers, six of which are being released at the kickoff party on February 20th and many of them are collaborations. Old Caz themselves are releasing another seven. “This is the biggest slew of events we’ve ever done,” says Rob. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. One of the things Herlinda likes about the beer business is collaboration and mutual assistance. Rob describes one with the same ingredients and two brewers. One brewery will add all the hops at the beginning then the beer is hot, and other one only later when it is cool, to produce two different flavor profiles. Chismosa Rob is also a very enthusiastic participant at beer festivals. He likes to remind people that Old Caz is a party and everyone is invited. While they can talk seriously about beer, they will also spray confetti in a Mexican wrestling suit just to get attention for the beer. Their most awarded beer is Chismosa, and has won medals in numerous beer festivals for this beer. He compliments their brewing team for keeping it so consistent. Rob says that if someone had told him in high school that his chemistry class would help him make beer later in life, he would have paid more attention. Old Caz has “a cavalcade of human beings who are hard working and who believe in the brewery.”

Natalie and Pliny Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha with the first taste of Pliny the Younger 2026 from Russian River Brewing Co. Today is a very special edition of Brew Ha Ha because Vinny Cilurzo is also here along with Natalie Cilurzo. They have brought the first taste of the Pliny the Younger 2026 in a keg. Today they celebrate the distribution of Pliny the Younger on draft at all of the bars and restaurants in their distribution network. It will all leave the brewery by Friday. It is a huge effort for the staff but it is like a holiday event. The retail release at the two RRBC locations runs from March 20 to April 2, 2026. Tapenings have begun! Pliny the Younger 2026 “tapenings” are happening and will go on the rest of the month in about 130 locations. The other release of Pliny the Younger to the general public will be in March. Right now, the trucks are on the road for Maine, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, as well as northern and southern California. Vinny also mentions ten or so brewers who are working hard in both breweries. Their sales reps in southern California have worked hard to prepare for Pliny the Younger 2026 to be a big event. A month ago, every tank in both breweries was full. The month of February would normally be the slowest time of the year for a brewery. Their original idea was to create a promotional brew to goose sales for the slow time. At first they never dreamed that it would become such a success. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. Vinny tells the story of Pliny the Younger Vinny describes Russian River Brewing Co.’s history since he took over the brand from Korbel, the original founder. It used to be that barley wine was the winter brew. Vinny decided to see how far they could push the hops. For the first five years of Pliny the Younger, “It wasn’t a huge deal.” But in 2010 everything changed. Vinny would always show up on the first Friday in February to tap the first keg. That time, there were people waiting outside. That is when Vinny learned that this beer was rated the number one and two beer in the world on two popular beer rating websites. He did not know about any of that. By the time they opened, they had to call every employee they could get, and limited people to 4 growlers per person. A table of 4 would buy 16 growlers. They were overwhelmed by its popularity that day. The websites were taking votes from beer enthusiasts. They ended up having to make up rules to govern and limit the traffic. During covid they had to split the distribution between bars and restaurants first and then the retail distribution later. They were forced to wait about 2 months and ended up March into April. They do that every year because it turned out to be an easier way to manage the whole season. Herlinda remembers how they organized a vaccine clinic at the brewery. The Magnificent Seven Hops The recipe has changed a little bit from year to year, but for the last few years it has used the same selection of hops. This is the first year they have used the exact same seven hops. They are Simcoe, Amarillo, Citra, Tangier, Mosaic, Nectaron and Warrior. There are five different hop formats. There are whole cone hops (as they grow) and there are pellets, which resemble rabbit food. Then there are other advanced products that are concentrated flavor extracts. Some of the processes that hop companies are using for extracts are the same as used to make cannabis extracts. As for the malt, it is about 60% silo malt, 30% Pilsner malt and about 10% sugar. They use sugar because it ferments right into alcohol and doesn’t leave any body at all. Pliny the Younger 2026 is 10.5% alcohol but it doesn’t taste so strong. The Sonoma County Economic Development Board has studied the economic impact of Pliny the Younger. In 2024, the last year studied, they found 8.3 million dollar impact on the community. This comes from business to hotels and other hospitality businesses and more. Natalie and Vinny are very proud of this.

Chris Kren-Mora from Visit Santa Rosa is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras, presenting Santa Rosa Beer Passport and FeBREWary. Chris has been on Wine Country Radio before but this is his first time on Brew Ha Ha. This week marks the 12th anniversary of Brew Ha Ha on the radio and 8 years of the podcast. To promote the local brewing industry, we emphasize the pronunciation of the month of FeBREWary, and the Santa Rosa Beer Passport promotion is also starting now. The month of February also brings Pliny the Younger from Russian River Brewing Co., with two weeks of release to bars and taprooms, before the March release in their two locations. They have different menus on 4th St. in downtown Santa Rosa and at the big Windsor location. Chris visited HenHouse Brewing around the corner from the studio, on his way in. They sent over a beer for Beatles fan Herlinda, called “The Walrus Was Paul” which shows the HenHouse chickens crossing the street, in imitation of the famous Abbey Road album cover. 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 Pliny the Younger 2026 information. HenHouse has both locations – Petaluma and Santa Rosa – on the Beer Passport itinerary. Starting on Saturday Feb. 7, there is a special shuttle service. It includes Cooperage, CuVer in Windsor, Santa Rosa’s HenHouse, Moonlight Brewing in Coffey Park, Shady Oak on B St. in Santa Rosa and both locations of Russian River Brewing Co. And the Smart Train goes to Windsor now, so that is a great option too. Old Caz is a Beer Passport stop, but they are not on the shuttle itinerary. February is a low month for tourism, so these promotions are intended to raise traffic in an otherwise slow period. Herlinda and Chris continue, while tasting some brews from Shady Oak. They agree that Shady Oak is a great locale as well as great brewers. Herlinda was a judge at their smash burger competition, along with Hunter Fieri, Guy Fieri’s son. They had six smash burger trucks in competion. Chris has brought several beers to taste today, from breweries participating in Santa Rosa Beer Passport. 🍻

Nick Gislason of Hanabi Lager 1/22/26 – Santa Rosa, CA –  Since there is no live radio show today, for the podcast here is an encore performance of one of our favorite shows from last year, with Nick Gislason of Hanabi Lager. Brew Ha Ha will be back live on 1/29 with Janelle and Chris from Visit Santa Rosa talking about FeBrewary and Santa Rosa Beer Passport. Nick Gislason, co-founder and Head Brewer at Hanabi Lager Co. is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Herlinda Heras is just back from Belgium and brought back so much beer that she had to pay for overweight suitcases. Daedalus is also back from his own trip to Paris and London. He gets to reconnect with Herlinda for a few minutes before having to leave for an event later this evening. One of the beers that Herlinda brought back is from the Saint Sixtus Monastery in Westvleteren, where she visited. Daedalus gets to taste it before he has to take off. Hanabi is Japanese for “Fireworks” The labels feature drawings of the patterns that different Japanese fireworks make, up in the air. Nick explains that “hanabi” means fireworks, in Japanese. “Hana” means flower and “bi” means fire, so literally their word for fireworks means “fire flowers.” The fireworks manufacturers used these drawings in the 1800s to describe their products, before photography was available to show the patterns that they make. Nick grew up on San Juan Island in Washington, and learned brewing from an uncle who was a home brewer. In college he brewed at Boundary Bay Brewing in Bellingham, where he met his wife. They both became winemakers and launched Hanabi Lager about six years ago. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Grain-Forward Lagers Nick says Hanabi makes grain-forward lagers. They are tasting the Hana Pilsner, which Herlinda says has a refined taste. Nick explains that beer is made from grain, and water, and hops are like a spice. Hops is like the barrels to wine, where the grapes are the main ingredient. So Nick focusses his energy in using the most delicious grains in the world. That fact that these plants are so important to human nutrition for thousands of years makes them sacred. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 They select grains mainly for the flavor they give to the beer. These flavors mostly come from old heirloom varieties of grains. Heirloom varieties of grain can be compared to heirloom tomatoes, for their superior flavor. To make beer, Nick explains, first you grow the grain, then sprout the seeds, then you have to arrest their growth before it goes too far. Then you dry them and lightly toast them. This process is called malting. Then you steep a barley tea, spice it with hops, and ferment it, basically. They do four different beers, one for each of the four seasons. Each one features a different heirloom grain. The Summer beer uses Eraclea, a grain from Italy. Nick is also a part-time pyrotechnician. He works with Lopez Community Fireworks back home in Washington. They practice the Japanese art of fireworks.

SF Beer Week 2026 Sayre Pietrowski is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell, to introduce SF Beer Week, coming soon this February 20 through March 1, 2026. Sayre was on the show last August when he had recently been named Executive Director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild. This is Sayre’s first time for SF Beer Week as the Executive Director. He explains that the guild was born from an alliance of local beer organizations that got together and promoted a beer festival. Then they learned that other cities had beer weeks. So they decided to bring it to San Francisco, with the support of great brewers like Pliny the Younger and Anchor Brewing. In 2008 or 09 the whole guild was a small enough number to fit on one evening’s menu. IPA 2000 Nick Mamere the brewmaster at Bartlett Hall was 9 years old when the first SF Beer Week took place. On January 29, he is hosting a 7-barrel batch of what IPA tasted like in the year 2000. It’s called IPA 2000. Then, in Oakland, they will make a brew called IPA 2025 with the same brewer, at Brix Factory Brewing and brewer John Gillooly. They have plans for a whole series, IPA 2010, 2015 and 2020, then one called 2030 to guess about the flavors to come. Sayre compares these retro brews to a cover song. On January 22, the North Bay Guild will be brewing IPA 2020 at Old Caz. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Herlinda remembers that two years ago, SF Beer Week had an astronaut theme and she thought people were dressing up. She and her college friend dressed in red Star Trek Uhuru dresses. It turned out that they were the only people in costume but it ended up being a fun time. SF Beer Week and more Sayre tells us the same thing he tells him members, that they would like to create an atmosphere about SF Beer Week similar to the excitement that surrounds the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau. This means an event where people know there will be an abundance of great beers along with fun experiences. He remembers 2017 and 2018 before the pandemic when it was like that and they want to build back up to that level of excitement and participation. In terms of volume, beer is a larger market than wine. Sayre notices that wine has a lot more information around it that people like to study. His job now is to try to build up that kind of culture of appreciation around beer. The more there is for people to know about beer, the more they can share information and enjoyment with others. Herlinda mentions that sometimes, non-profit organizations hire leaders with management skills but who come from outside their industry. She appreciates the fact that Sayre is already a local beer insider, in his new role with the Guild.

Rob Shwenker, Russian River Keepers Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Co. and Rob Shwenker from Russian River Keeper join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. This is Rob’s first time on the show. Natalie has been on many times before, the last time was this episode last January for the preview of Pliny the Younger. They are here to present a new beer called 110 West Coast Pils, which refers to the number of miles that the Russian River Runs, from Ukiah down to Jenner. Vinny Cilurzo made it for the first time last year, and came up with the name of this beer. Natalie felt the need to do something positive for the river. She worked with with Russian River Keepers several years ago. Then she and Vinny were invited to the annual Russian River Keeper gala where she met Rob. Their idea was to distribute their new West Coast Pils with a portion of the proceeds going to Russian River Keeper. This arrangement is for perpetuity for as long as they make 110. “It’s not a promotion, it’s a commitment,” says Daedalus. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Russian River Keeper Rob describes the purpose of Russian River Keeper as protection of a healthy Russian River habitat. “Our mission is a healthy, fishable, swimmable equitably shared Russian River. (…) We pull about 500,000 pounds of trash out of the watershed every year.” They work to prevent trash from entering the river because ultimately that leads to the marine environment. They also do restoration, fighting to preserve animal and plant species. One example is the giant bamboo that they are removing. It is a massive user of water and hard to remove. Russian River Keeper is also an advocate for the river at all applicable levels of government. Some of Rob’s job involves lobbying in Sacramento for favorable environmental legislation. They are members of the California Coast Keeper Alliance. Worldwide there are about 300 different water keepers. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The Russian River used to be one of the largest salmon runs in the country. Russian River Keeper helped end the practice of extracting gravel from the river. There are fewer fish and so fewer apex predators and overall a less fertile environment. They have seen some species coming back too. They also help during times of flood. There are unhoused people near the river that they help, who need assistance evacuating in a flood emergency. 110 West Coast Pils They are tasting Russian River 110 West Coast Pils. It is a relatively new beer style, low alcohol, only 5.2% ABV, but hopped like an IPA. “It drinks like a Pilsner but you get that hop punch.” Herlinda with Dr. Ron and Natalie They will have it in cans in March, in advance of Pliny the Younger, and in anticipation of river weather. It has 4 hops, Tangier, one of the newer hops, and then all New Zealanders, Nectaron and NCH 106 and NCH 109, which haven’t got their nicknames yet. It takes about 10 years for a new hop variety to reach the market ready to sell. There are a lot of tests it has to pass. Those last two are still in the development phase. Those two come from Dr. Ron, who was on this episode of Brew Ha Ha in May of last year. Since New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere, we have to wait several months to get them here. But we get the hops from Yakima right away. Natalie tells the story of how she and Vinny moved to Sonoma County when Vinny got the brewer’s job at Russian River Brewing which was at the time a division of Korbel. When Korbel decided to leave the beer business, Vinny and Natalie and partners were able to acquire the company. The rest is the history of craft brewing. But when they first lived in the area, they crossed the Wohler Bridge on their honeymoon then on Vinny’s commute. It is on the label of 101 West Coast Pils because it represents their love of the river and the whole scene. The Wohler Bridge  

Herlinda, Tim and Shennen Shennen O’Donnell and Tim Welch, owners of Young and Yonder distillery, join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Tim found a distillery that was already built and available for sale, so he bought it. It was a distilling facility and event space. They started a live music space due to Shennen’s experience. She grew up at The Mystic Theater which her parents owned and she has worked there all her life. Tim worked as a distiller for Moylan’s and won awards for many distilled products. Tim’s buddy from college was also a distiller who opened a distillery of his own in Mississippi. So he ran the place for “a lot of years.” They focussed on whiskey but also made other distilled products. Young and Yonder is located up in Healdsburg. Shennen describes their location as “Industrial Chic” with a casual fun funky feel. Tim does private tours and tastings. All of their grain comes from Admiral Maltings. All the botanicals for the absynthe and the gin come from San Francisco Herb Company. All organic and local. Admiral Maltings had a big distillers festival. The Rake Pub at Admiral Malting also serves Young and Yonder. Admiral Malting has been on Brew Ha Ha on May 1 of this year on this episode and the year before too, right here on June 20, 2024. They focus on locally grown grain, so that their malt does not have to travel long distances. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Russian River Brewing Co. Release in Jan. 2026 Russian River Brewing Co. has a special release coming out on Saturday, January 10, 2026. So Natalie Cilurzo will be on the first Brew Ha Ha show of the new year, on Thursday, January 8, 2026. As they are tasting a lime vodka made by Young and Yonder also makes absynthe and gin, which use lots of botanicals. Their botanicals come from San Francisco Herb Company. Tim describes their line, there is a 100% single malted rye, and a high rye bourbon, which is 60% non-gmo corn, 30% rye 5% barley 5% wheat. The single malt is 100% barley, but not released yet. They also have some barrel finished bourbons and rye. They use port and sherry barrels from Sonoma PortWorks, which are their next door neighbors. They also make an Absynthe which is made with wormwood. The flavors in this drink take a long time to describe. “Taste it!’ And since Young and Yonder are a full-service distillery, they also make gin. Tim has just made his second batch of it. 60 lbs of botanicals go into the mix, then 15 more pounds. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Young and Yonder also make Amaro, which goes by its Italian name in English. There are many brands of Amaro in Italy. Some famous brands are Ramazzotti, Averna, Lucano and Montenegro. They are all slightly different liquers made from herbs. They are traditional, medicinal and artisinal, a triple play! How much is science versus art? As a distiller, is it more one or the other? Well, if you are making something the same every time, then you are very careful, but if you are experimenting, you’re your own boss.

Dean Biersch, who runs Hopmonk Taverns and co-founded Gordon/Biersch, joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. This is his first time on the show. Herlinda has invited Dean Biersch whom she ran into at a Hopmonk concert last Saturday. Dean remembers his first job in hospitality was preparing big spreads for the passengers at Hornblower Yachts in San Francisco. “You learn a lot when you work on boats,” says Dean. “Hospitality in general is like 90% planning.” Daedalus remembers covering the opening of Hopmonk for the local press, back when it opened. Dean remembers having to reorganize the physical space in the first location in Novato, to create a beer garden. They developed the first venue as a music venture and beer garden at the same time and he feels that it is a magic combination. They would love to have more large concerts in Sonoma but there are regulatory barriers. 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 trailing edge of the leading edge” Hopmonk was “on the trailing edge of the leading edge” of the beer revolution. His job was in the city and then a friend introduced him to a brewpub in Hopland. He had tasted real ale while traveling in Europe, so he recognized what they were doing there in Hopland. He wrote a business plan, showed it to a friend of the family who had always invited such a move, then he met Dan Gordon. They eventually became business partners. Dan had taken a brewery engineering university program in Germany. He brought small scale craft German beer to California, with Gordon/Biersch beers. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 They are tasting a Quad, Firestone Sticky Monkey that Dean says is “smooth, big, malty… It’s big, it’s dark, it’s smooth, it’s bold,” he continues. It is barrel aged and pretty strong. Dean sees a lot of parallels in music promotion and running a brewpub. There are live performers and fresh beers that need care and attention. There is always something new. How do you keep both of those streams fresh, for 18 years? “Music is something that’s irreplaceable.” You can’t change the uniqueness of a live performance. He produces it the same way he wants to present the rest of the details for the guests. Bill De Carli and all the staff in all three locations have stuck together through covid and all the challenges. They have all helped reach out and bring new artists. For a while Gordon/Biersch had six properties in California. They could not grow the company any larger due to state licensing issues, as a combination brewery and brew pub. They split the company and Dean stayed with the brewery for a while, and settled in Sonoma. But his heart was in the hospitality business so he had to build up Hopmonk. Dan Gordon Dan Gordon is still making beer for them. He actually brought brewer’s yeast from Germany. Later he built a lab where he propagated the yeast to use in his brewery. Dan actually apprenticed at the AB brewery in Fairfield, which Herlinda reports will be closing. “The iceberg lettuce of beer.” He approached Jack McAuliffe but he couldn’t get hired.

Stateline Road Smokehouse co-owner Jeremy Threat is visiting Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell today. This is his first time on the show. During the show, author Marty Nachel called in to talk about his new book. That portion of the live radio show with Marty Nachel is on this separate podcast episode, so that both guests can have their own separately indexed episode page. Darryl Bell, the chef at Stateline Road Smokehouse, comes from Kansas City. He is also Jeremy’s business partner. After college Jeremy worked in operations management in the restaurant industry. So he went from hotel restaurants to a management position. Working for Thomas Keller, the owner of French Laundry was demanding. In previous restaurant jobs, he learned about the business side of the restaurant business. But at French Laundry, he learned how to create a company culture that fostered excellence. Keller was always pushing to improve, along the lines of the Japanese concept of kaizen. How do you do the same thing time after time, while making it consistently as good as it can be? That is the question. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The Stateline Road Smokehouse is located in a 4000-square foot quonset hut that was a former auto body shop. He and his partner started out to do something unpretentious. In Napa that would make them stand out among all the white linen tablecloths. They are striving for what Daedalus calls an excellent experience without being “elevated” in style or pretense. What Darryl brings is Kansas City barbeque with the perspective of also having trained in France. The Ranch Gordo Greens and Beans salad is an example. Sink Drinks at the Door There is an old ceramic sink near the front door, full of ice and cans of a wide selection of beers. When people order cole slaw or potato salad, they realize that they take as much care with the sides as they do with the meats. Some recipes take the effort of several people and up to 17 hours to produce. 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. Kansas City is often called “wet” barbeque. Texans have a dryer approach to brisket, it is dryer and they cut it thicker. Darryl’s barbeque is a combination of influences, not exactly like one or another of the canonical styles. The butcher greets guests at the door. He is like a tour guide. “We are not just barbeque.” They also have a different secret fish recipe on the menu, every day. Herlinda thinks of cider as a great beverage for barbeque. Currently they have Shilling Imperial Apple on tap. In the summer they offer different choices. They are lucky that they got a liquor license without too much trouble and expense. The cocktail list includes one called “Hey You Guys” with a paper umbrella. The first boozie slushie tasted like a real creamsicle. He makes one called The Dude Abides which is a White Russian, inspired by The Big Lebowski. Beer, Wine and Boozie Slushies Stateline Road Smokehouse serves Hanabi Lager beer, which is also located in Napa. For wine, they wanted to focus on one varietal and do it as well as possible. So they have chosen to serve a Centium Sauvignon Blanc. He has it for $15 a glass, not the $25 or more that others will charge. He wanted to have a choice like this at a good price. For example, he has Rombauer Chardonnay for $10 a glass, instead of at least $18. When you get something excellent at a price that is low, his guests feel satisfied with the meal and also with the cost. This exceeds their expectations, which is Jeremy’s goal.

Marty Nachel, author of The Beer Story Project Author Marty Nachel is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell, to talk about his new book The Beer Story Project. He has been on BHH before, the last time was this episode last February. Marty also came on this show to talk about one of his other books, Beer for Dummies, on this episode in 2023. (Marty’s phone call came in during the Stateline Road Smokehouse episode, which has its own separate podcast page, right here. This way, both Marty Nachel’s book and Jeremy Threat’s restaurant each get their own online presence for their segment.) Marty Nachel is the founder of the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame and has just published a new book, The Beer Story Project. He started collecting stories in March of this year from as many people in craft brewing as he could find. Craft Brewers Tell Their Stories The stories are really across the spectrum from funny to sad, depending on where they are coming from. He simply asked them to tell their stories. Some people gave a few sentences, others wrote several pages. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 One of his stories that stands out came from a friend, Tom Bidell, who wrote a story about the late beer critic Michael Jackson not the pop singer of the same name). He did a series of videos called The Beer Hunter some of which are on YouTube. Tom went to London to interview his friend Michael Jackson, but soon after he arrived for the interview, he learned that his friend had just died. So the story is a powerful remembrance of a close friend who was very influential in the craft beer world. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. “Publishers can make things difficult for writers, so I decided to self-publish.” The Beer Story Project is available on amazon dot dom, in print and on Kindle.

Anderson Valley Brewing Company taproom. Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell host another edition of Brew Ha Ha, featuring guests from Anderson Valley Brewing Company. They are the official beer sponsor of the Great Dickens Fair, a Christmas celebration happening at the Cow Palace now through Dec. 21. (During this show, we also got a phone call from Kevin Patterson, manager of the Great Dickens Fair. His portion of this show can be heard over here, on this other podcast episode. This way both guests have their own podcast episode, for their own linking and listener traffic.) Jason O’Connell and Ben Padrone are here from Anderson Valley Brewing Company. Jason is the new owner and Ben is the Lab Manager. They begin by tasting their Salted Caramel Porter, which gets its flavors from the malts that are used, not from any actual caramelized sugars. It is aged for 6 months in bourbon barrels and comes in at 9.5% ABV. QA and QC Jason’s background is in the wine industry and he finds the beer world to be more fun. He says he bought the brewery because he was bored. Ben’s job is QA and QC, quality assurance and quality control. They do a lot of testing on the water and the product. They get their water from wells that are on their property. Anyone visiting Anderson Valley may want to visit their 18-hole championship Disc Golf course. Next year’s Booneville Beer Fest is on May 2 next year. The theme is Godzilla vs. Barkley and there is a Japanese sake connection. Stay tuned for more information before the date. They have already about a dozen breweries signed on. Among beer producers this is one of the favorite events. Fal Allen is Back at Anderson Valley BC Fal Allen is back. Fal Allen is back on the scene at Anderson Valley Brewing Company. He has been the brewer there and a key person in the company. He left the company for a while and was working in New Zealand. Now he is working with AVBC for the moment from Hawaii. Fal Allen has a great radio voice and has been on Brew Ha Ha before. Here is his last appearance on Brew Ha Ha. Next they taste their West Coast IPA, which uses Mosaic, Citra and Ekuanot hops. All seven of the beers they brought today are available at the Great Dickens Fair. SAKE They have a plan to start making sake and to use the best possible rice. Sake is gluten free, which is an advantage for some people. They are experimenting with Sato, a kind of rice for sake. They are also making a sake flavored beer. Herlinda remembers when her friends asked her to taste a large selection of sake to help them get an import company started. Watch out for this to develop over the next five years. 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. Ben went to Humboldt State then the Master Brewers program at UC Davis. Jason studied engineering at U of British Columbia and worked in construction before working in the wine industry. He has recently acquired AVBC. Jason describes the situation as “exciting.” The sake idea is getting attention. Sake falls under the TTB brewers license but the labeling falls under wine. It is actually brewed like beer despite that some people in English refer to it as ‘rice wine.’ Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 There are a lot of wineries in the vicinity of Booneville so there are a lot of places to visit. The area specializes in white wines and Pinot Noir. “You’ll never go thirsty up there,” says Herlinda. Ben describes how they use bourbon barrels to age the beer for 6 months. This gives a complex and unique flavor profile that you have to taste!

Kevin Patterson, from the Great Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace through December 21, joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Anderson Valley Brewing Company is also in the studio today. They are the official beer sponsor of the Great Dickens Fair. (The AVBC  portion of today’s radio show can be heard over here, at this other podcast page. This way, each guest gets to manage their own web traffic.) The Cow Palace in San Francisco has some great exhibition halls, that they turn into a miniature version of London, including shops, theaters, and six different pubs. Each one has its own style and identity. You enter the Great Dickens Fair through Victoria Station on a train that passes through a magical forest. Then you are “whisked into the 19th century” where the first stop is a pub called The Leather Bottle. This comes right out of Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers. 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. Twilight All Day The lighting in the Fair is twilight all the time, which makes everything theatrical. The miniature village feaures a thousand costumed people, plus many of the visitors come in costume. You can also purchase a costume there. Some people really go all out. There is a music shop with instruments and singers. They serve beverages of all kinds. Some people have been working at the fair every year for a long time. This is the Fair’s 41st year and their 25th at the Cow Palace. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Kevin suggests you arrive with a good appetite. There are so many options including fish and chips that rival the best in the world. Look for the meat pies and sausage rolls. There is also a Greek booth that makes Spanakopita and plenty of traditional English recipes. The artisan chocolatier at the Fair makes fresh chocolates every day.

Fieldwork Brewing Company co-founder Barry Braden joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha today. Barry Braden and Erin Callahan are here from Fieldwork Brewing Co. They are expanding into Santa Rosa and Erin will manage their restaurant in Montgomery Village. They will open soon, after one last regulatory step. There is a buzz in the neighborhood and people passing by are noticing that it looks like a restaurant already. They will have an extensive beer selection and a full menu including pizza, salad, wings, French fries, fried cauliflower and pickles and lots more. Barry tells about how they serve a rotation of beers, so that fans of different types of beer can keep coming back for their favorites. He also says this is one way to make the brewers’ jobs interesting. They are using a lot of new technologies with their hops, including hop distillates, extracts and experimental hops. Fieldwork Brewing also works with Berkeley Yeast. This company is engineering yeast to mimic certain flavors. This goes mostly into the hop-driven beers and their non-alcoholic or “N/A” beers. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Amidst the current downturn in the beer market, Fieldworks Brewing is actually growing. They are opening their tenth location in the Bay Area. The NHL’s San José Sharks have chosen Fieldwork as their official non-alcoholic beer. Some of their N/A drinks use compounds (with complex chemical names) which confer extra flavors as well as a mood lift, according to Erin. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 A beverage company, not just a brewer of beer Daedalus notices that Fieldwork produces an excellent product all across its product line including the N/A drinks, which elevates the quality level of the entire emerging market of N/A drinks. Barry explains that it took them some time to emerge in the N/A market. They waited for the brewing technology to evolve so that their N/A cocktails tastes like real ones, and their N/A beers tastes like real beer. So, if you want to go out with friends and not drink alcohol, for whatever reason, “…we have something for you,” says Barry. Fieldwork Brewing Co. products are available in many local retail stores as well as their locations.

We open with Herlinda Heras calling from Belgium. Leah Scurto of PizzaLeah and Fairfax Brewing Co’s Dan McGarry talk to Daedalus Howell after that. Herlinda is on a barge on a canal in Belgium, on a beer voyage sponsored by Visit Flanders, the tourist bureau. Herlinda’s tour has taken her near the sites of some important battles of World War One. It included a visit to Flanders Fields. They visited the Saint Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, Belgium. The monks who live there and make beer were quite surprised when one of their beers came out Number One on RateBeer dot com. “The poor monks didn’t know what to do with themselves, but now it’s quite the destination.” They went to Rodenbach for a blending class and also to Chimay. Vinny and Natalie from Russian River Brewing Co. are also in Belgium for the Brussels Beer Challenge. However they and Herlinda are on different itineraries this time and won’t meet up over there. Herlinda has also visited some small local breweries in France and Belgium. She will have a lot to say about her trip on next week’s show. “It’s tough but somebody’s got to do it.” Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 After Herlinda’s call, Leah Scurto from PizzaLeah and Dan McGarry from Fairfax Brewing Company take up the conversation with Daedalus. Leah has brought a Detroit-style pizza, to go with the nice rice lager that Dan has poured, a true rice lager. Detroit style has a carmelized cheese crown, cooked in a tapered pan. The dough rises for four hours in the morning. Fairfax Brewing Company Fairfax Brewing Company is based in Marin County and they are now gaining distribution in Sonoma County. Dan and his partner have been in the restaurant industry for a long time. They begin by going out to the people they know. Daedalus is the editor of the Pacific Sun which did this story on Fairfax Brewing Co. Their distribution is mainly by kegs to restaurants. Later they hope to put some cans on shelves. They celebrate their one-year anniversary on September 9th. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Their hazy is their number one seller, and the hazy is also the top seller at PizzaLeah. But Leah also reports people coming in asking for something that is not hazy. Trends have life cycles and while IPAs are here to stay, other styles will continue to emerge. Older drinkers have observed the evolution of craft beers. Dan says it has been “real fun to watch. … A good time for beer.” The Pizza Business Leah Scurto has built PizzaLeah’s success with great pizzas and also by engaging with the community. She loves teaching how to make pizza at the Artisan Baking Center in Petaluma. She also has been in many international pizza competitions. Daedalus and Leah agree that he local pizza scene has reached new heights. Leah cites Psychic Pie in Sebastopol for their original takes on traditional styles, and a couple of others. Sonoma Pizza Co. and Slow Co Pizza are both stand out. Leah notices that the pizza community is supportive and friendly, not jealous of others or envious of their success. People gladly share recipes and advice.

Kenneth Di Alba from Songbird Parlour is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. This is his first time on the show. Herlinda says and Daedalus agrees that Songbird Parlour should be the next Michelin starred restaurant in Sonoma County. Daedalus reads from a review he wrote for the Bohemian along with Kary Hess. It sounds delicious. Songbird Parlour is located in the historic Jack London village in Glen Ellen. It was founded in maybe 1832, he thinks. The property has been many things, a creamery, a winery, wine storage, recording studios, even. Now, it is a restaurant for the second time. Upon entering the place, Daedalus says he feels immediately transported. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Kenneth has brought some appetizers to taste. They serve wine, beer and spritzer cocktails. Port and tonic is a Portuguese drink. They use a white Port made locally. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Songbird took over their lease in 2020 which turned out to be a good time prepare the project. The pandemic moved us to broaden our horizons and invest, says Kenneth. It’s always daunting to open a restaurant. If you have to make an effort to go there, the experience had better be rewarding. Everything they serve comes from nearby. Their neighbors raise the food they serve, including cheeses, greens, mushrooms and more. “…featuring everyone in the surrounding community.” The ice cream comes from Sweet Scoops.

Aaron Gore Aaron Gore, Vice President of the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. He is His personal website and his nickname are The Ale Chaser. In addition to his role with the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame, Aaron is VP of Sales & Marketing for The 5th Ingredient. They make customizable brewery management software. Herlinda was at the Sonoma County Tourism annual meeting yesterday. She talked to Santa Rosa mayor Mark Stapp about coming on the Drive this Friday (tomorrow).  Herlinda is now a certified Health and Wellness coach. She will also be starting a Health and Wellness segment on the Drive, stay tuned for details. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Aaron Gore joins the conversation on the phone. The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame was founded about a year and a half ago. Its purpose is to memorialize and celebrate the people who made the craft beer revolution. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The 5th Ingredient From Aaron’s perspective, the people starting in the craft beer business now, are more aware of the business realities of starting a brewery, than were the original home brewers. The software company The 5th Ingredient refers to the four ingredients listed in the famous German Reinheitsgebot, of water, malted barley, hops and yeast. The further ingredient would be the technology that makes the operation run as smoothly as it can. That is where modern software comes into the picture in the brewery. The next list of inductees to the Hall of Fame will be announced in February 2026. Herlinda Heras is an elector.

Julie Julie Schreiber from Mycoventures is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Mycoventures leads mushroom foraging adventures in wine country. They have a big event coming soon. She and her partner are doing a couple of new pop-ups. She has been cooking for a very long time and foraging for more than 30 years. So she likes to combine her interests. Julie is also a wine judge and winemaker. Yesterday she tasted 130-150 wines as a judge in the Harvest Fair. She uses bubbly water as a palette cleanser. Herlinda and Julie have a lot of knowledge and experience with palette cleansers during judging and how to manage the flavor load. Julie brought a truffle salami, a truffle potato chip and a truffle pate. They go well with cider or beer. Herlinda will have a dry Sincere Cider with this. Julie describes clever ways to get the mushrooms into the recipe, especially with powdered mushrooms. Julie uses a coffee grinder to grind dry mushrooms. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! How about a mushroom pizza? 🍕🍻 Truffles, and Cider along with What makes truffles so special? Well, they are different. They grow underground. They have a ripening cycle that produces the aroma that is attractive to critters. So  the truffle paté and the dry cider are already great by themseves, but take a bite of the paté and a sip of the cider together and that just makes it perfect. Daedalus favors the paté first and the cider chaser. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Julie is also a musician and has a musical metaphor for flavors of wine. The high note of a chord is like the acidity and the low notes are the structures and tannins. They also like the idea of serving grape juice from different wine grapes. It can be cut with sparkling water. Julie and Herlinda are both members of Les Dames d’Escoffier, who were featured on this Brew Ha Ha show last August. Julie gets to describe a typical menu of her Forest & Farm dinners. First there are truffled deviled eggs. Stay tuned to hear the rest after 23:00 in.

Adam Bosch, Parliament Brewing co-founder, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. His last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode back in June, with Herlinda and Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon that day. Herlinda was judging the International Bread Awards at the Las Vegas Convention Center last weekend. There was also a cyber security convention on the other side of the convention center. Apparently the guys from the cybersecurity side were eager to check out the free sample in the bakery competition. The winner, a film maker, won with a sourdough from ancient grains, that he made. Daedalus observes, “a different kind of rising star.” Adam pops the top on one of two collabs they did to celebrate their sixth anniversary, which they will do on Sept. 20-21. The first is a take on a west coast Pils. Adam explains that he wants his west coast Pils to be light and drinkable, but still with a complex and rewarding flavor profile. What’s IBU? The term IBU, International Bitterness Units, is measurable in a lab, but they don’t have a lab. Herlinda guesses 68, Adam estimates lower, but it’s a guess only. He remembers beer at Bear Republic that rated over 100. Adam’s brother Justin went to UC Davis to study brewing and they are partners, together with their dad. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Adam describes the band lineup for Saturday and Sunday’s 6th anniversary party. They will have different food vendors each day. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Daedalus Howell sums it all up this way: “You can’t beat the vibe at Parliament. It’s really in the middle of the neighborhood and it’s the place where everyone in the neighborhood goes.” One of the collabs, the other one, is called Common Owl, done with Common Space brewing in Los Angeles. They were both up in Washington tasting hops and they became friends and decided to do the collab. They have a 48-hour lightning hops tour to do again this year. It is a smooth west coast IPA, with lime and other citrus notes. The collab also serve to get the brands some cross promotion onto each others’ home markets.

Goat Rock Cider. Goat Rock Cider co-founder Trevor Zebulon is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Trevor was on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke hosting, not too long ago on this episode. Now he is back with some news, along with another guest. He is part of the Petaluma Craft Beer Festival being held on Saturday, Sept. 13. John Burns from the Petaluma Rotary Club is also in, they are organizing the PCBF. Trevor has brought “something yummy” and he did say 15%. They open and pour, and we can hear it. When Daedalus was a reporter and arts and entertainment editor, John Burns was the publisher of the paper for about a year. So his career started then, and here they are together again, only about 15 miles from where they were before. Daedalus has also covered some of Trevor’s businesses, including one called Trevor’s Terrific Tours. He also had a place called Zebulon’s Lounge. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. What Rotary Club Does John describes what Rotary does. They put on events to raise money for the community, for homeless children, seniors, and river enhancement projects. On Saturday, they have great bands, including Orquestra Batacha and Johnny Sanchez who won the award for best Elvis impersonator in 2012. He is also impersonating Garth Brooks. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The Petaluma Craft Beer Festival will feature 21 breweries from 6 different counties all around the Bay Area. They will have Goat Rock Cider, Hiveworks Mead and Hoocha Hard Kombucha in addition to all the beer. There are lots of restaurants in Petaluma too so it’s a perfect excursion.

y Jeff Duckhorn, master distiller at Redwood Empire Whiskey, joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. This is his first time on the show, but Brew Ha Ha has covered whiskey makers before, such as here and here, in October and November of last year. Herlinda has wanted to have Redwood Empire Distillery on Brew Ha Ha for a long time. She saw that they were going to Mare Island for a grand opening party. Herlinda has personal connections to Mare Island, since she was born there when her father was in the Navy. Jeff Duckhorn is a master distiller, so he is in charge of the distillery and the distilling staff. He followed in indirect pathway to his present job. He was doing cost accounting for a wine company when the owner of the winery sold it and wanted to get into distilling. Jeff asked how he could be a part of that. They built the distillery in a couple of years and opened in 2015 with Jeff holding “the keys to the car.” Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Jeff has brought some of their whiskey to taste and discuss, their three core products that they launched in 2019. The first is their flagship product, called Pipe Dream. Named after Old Growth Redwood Trees Each of their whiskeys is named after a particular old grown redwood tree. The trees are well documented and have names. Pipe Dream is the name of one, and also their leading product name. Speaking of names, Jeff’s uncle is the person who founded and gave the family name Duckhorn to the famous winery. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 These are all 90 proof blends. They have been making whiskey since 2015 and these blends include their products and others that come from other distillers. This gives them the freedom to make the blends that they are making now. They use malts from Admiral Malting, who have been on Brew Ha Ha. Even if they are making Bourbon and Rye, they add a little bit of malt to everything. “It’s like the icing on the cake,” says Jeff. So, why is Redwood Empire moving to Mare Island? They have been looking for a larger home for the last several years. They started the facility in Graton but they have been hunting for a larger home for the last few years. Then they found a distillery on Mare Island that already has a tasting room and restaurant also built in. They were able to acquire the facility and will open on September 14. They have put away over 1700 barrels of whiskey there so far. Mare Island Mare Island has a history in shipbuilding starting in the mid 1800s through the twentieth century when it was an important west coast naval base. The brewery Mare Island Brewing Company was on this BHH episode in January 2023. Next, they are tasting a Rye, this one is 90% rye blended with other flavors from distilleries around the country. They are aged for 4 to 8 years. They are available at Bottle Barn. What differentiates whiskey and bourbon from rye? They have rules. You need to go into a new charred oak barrel. You have to call it something else if it doesn’t get made that way. That barrel is for one-time use. Some old barrels are then sold to Scotland and Mexico for whiskey and tequila. To be a rye whiskey it has to have at least 51% rye.

Justin from Kohana Rum and Laura Sanfelipe from Lo & Behold are our guests on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Lo & Behold Bar and Kitchen in Healdsburg is open on Mondays, which Herlinda likes. She was there recently, saw a Kohana Rum bottle and asked about it. She discovered that  Kohana Rum and Lo & Behold are sponsoring the Daquiri Crush Campaign, with proceeds going to Corazón Healdsburg. Laura describes the Daquiri Crush Campaign, which Justin brought to Lo & Behold. They have organized a Tiki Night with original and classic rum cocktails. Proceeds from the event are entirely donated to Corazón Healdsburg. The campaign will run for two months. The Corazón Healdsburg website says, “Corazón Healdsburg works to create a more just and compassionate community for all. Corazón operates a bilingual family resource center and offers family-centered case management, as well as a cradle-to-career approach to education for all ages. We amplify the local Latin-American voice, and host community events, trainings and discussions to promote and celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Hawaii to California Justin was born and raised in Hawaii, then moved to the Bay Area, then to Sonoma County since 2017. Kohana Rum grows 34 varietals of Hawaiian heirloom sugar cane. From that, they make single varietal rums, like the varietals of grapes and wine. “The Daquiri Crush Campaign is my love letter back to Sonoma C0unty reaching out for our farm team, supporting all of the incredible farm workers up here in Sonoma County.” Through the months of harvests, they will offer some daquiris in various locations. Go out and buy a daquiri for a farmer or a farm worker! Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 They will also have a few events, starting with a Tiki Night. Herlinda remembers when they used to have them more often. It’s time to bring that back! “The nights you’ll never remember with the friends you’ll never forget,” says Justin

Nicole Rogers from the Sonoma chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier joins Herinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Les Dames d’Escoffier is an international association of women in culinary professions, beverage, agriculture and the supporting industries. Nicole is the chair of the Grants committee. The Sonoma chapter was started in 2020. Their inaugural fund raising event last year was Birds & Bubbles, and this year’s edition is set for this Sunday, August 24. Herlinda is a brand new proud member. Julia Child was also a member. Nicole enjoys being a member which gives her a chance to meet other members when she travels. Ethic Cider and CuVer Belgian brewery will be at Birds & Bubbles, with cider and beer, so sparkling wine will not have the only bubbles at the event. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Dora Lee has brought a desert from Jimtown and Then Some, in Healdsburg. They look like little muffins made of mochi, the rice paste, with an apple filling and miso caramel drizzle. Jimtown is open again, owned by a a fellow Dame. She will be providing some of the desserts at the Birds & Bubbles event. For tickets, visit the Dames So. Co. So. Co. website. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The Sonoma County chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier has begun a micro-grant program. They have awarded the first grants of $1000 to three deserving Dames. They also have a cookbook author, chefs, restaurant owners, somelliers, marketing people, writer, retailers, and all ages, too. Herlinda mentions that a big part of this is mentorship.

Sayre Piotrkowski is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell to talk about the Bay Area Brewers Guild and more. San Francisco Beer Week is coming, from February 20 to March 1, 2026. Sayre has been on Brew Ha Ha before, his last time was this episode on May 4, 2023. All the beers that Sayre has brought today are multiple award winners. Old Caz and Ghost Town were both very local. Ghost Town hired a world class brewer, and Old Caz just kept getting better and better. Now, these two communities can walk to some of the best beer in the world. Sayre is the executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild. The guild started as six brewpubs in San Francisco. At its height it represented over 100 breweries and SF Beer Week would have over 1000 events in one week. Now that beer is getting back to an equilibrium where it is more connected to its community, and no longer serving an investor class that is looking only for big profits. Sayre agrees and says it is good that the “smart money” has left craft brewing. Some investors would only expect to sell the company for multiples of their investment. There are cases where brands have disappeared, such as Pete’s Wicked Ale. Herlinda cites the two examples of Lagunitas and Anchor. Craft versus Corporate Sayre wants people to understand the difference between buying a beer that is produced and sourced locally, and buying one from one of the biggest corporations in the world. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Some people still feel loyal to old brands but increasingly, it is evident that the difference between craft and corporate beer is the entire brewing ecosystem behind the glass. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 They are tasting a beer called Ostuary, a robust porter. It has a little cacao bean or coffee flavors. “You want to chew on it a little bit… I’ll pick this over eating, on a hot day,” says Herlinda. The current iteration of the Guild is based on who survived Covid.

Jason Lindell from Shady Oak Brewing Company is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke. Shady Oak has been on the show before, most recently on this episode in 2022. Shady Oak has shifted its name to “Brewing Company, so it is now called Shady Oak Brewing Company, after being called “Barrel House” until now. Harry Duke knows Shady Oak founder Steve Doty from having competed in trivia contests on opposing teams.  When Steve started Shady Oak, they made a lot of sour beers, but as tastes have changed, they have begun making other styles, like hazy and pilsners. The company is also starting to focus on organizing events. It is in a big space that is a former carpet warehouse. It is located in downtown Santa Rosa, near the Santa Rosa Mall. They also have a nice outdoor space in the back. The Smash Bash: Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025 They have remodeled the back area for this event, increasing capacity. This Saturday they are holding their first event. It is the first annual Smash Bash, they have the four best smash burger restaurants coming in. They have four well-known local food trucks coming in: Thanks for the Invite, Bayou on the Bay, Bennie’s Smash Burgers and The Spot. All four of them will be on the scene for the contest. They will have DJs and live bands. Some illustrious judges will pick a winner. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. A smash burger has the pattie smashed all the way down to a thin patty. Sometimes people lay 2 or three thick, plus condiments at will. Bayou on the Bay comes in regularly for their bingo nights. They wanted to do a contest and boom, this was the idea. They also do vinyl record sales and the next one is September 7th. Shady Oak is a beautiful space and they do a lot of private event. Now they would like to gain more awareness for the venue. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Usually the buns are brioche buns, which are soft and do a better job of supporting the burger. Shady Oak is kid friendly and dog friendly. They have free pinball and lots of games that people can play at the tables. Admission to the Smash Bash is free.

John Burton is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. He has been on the show once before, on this episode of April 11, 2024 and he was also the subject of this recent article in the Press Democrat. For long-time Sonoma County residents, John Burton is well-known, because one of his business was a bartending school that he ran for 47 years and recently closed for retirement. Herlinda was just a kid when John’s late wife Nancy was the mayor of Santa Rosa. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 John tells his story, starting at restaurants and the Flamingo. He met Virginia Grace when the Sonoma County Fair was the centerpiece of the social season. She didn’t know much about her family history in brewing and they started talking about it. Soon after, he wrote a book about Grace Brothers Brewery. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Breweriana Breweriana encompases everything related to beer, be it foam scrapers, bottles and cans and especially advertising. On Saturday Aug. 9 at 8:00 the Bennet Valley Grange on Grange Rd. there will be free a show of about 50 tables of breweriana wares. John does it almost like an antiques road show. He describes it as a combination of local history and collecting. If you have something you might be interested in selling to a collector, these are the people to meet. Grace Bros. was the fourth largest brewery in California during its heyday. They had other brands and produced beer in southern California too, in Los Angeles under the name of Southern. They had 140 different paper labels and 90 different can labels.

Beer memorabilia collector Ken Hartoonian joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. At the Grange in Santa Rosa, Saturday Aug. 9, 9am-2pm, the Breweriana and Antique Advertising Show. It is a collection of brewery advertising apart from just cans but also lots of different kinds of promotional items. Grace Brothers brewers was a famous local brewery that was in operation from before Prohibition until 1962. Some of their cans are featured in the show. Ken has one of the most impressive collections of historic beer memorabilia and artefacts. He started when he was 12 years old, he loves sticker so he wrote to companies to ask for them. Then in 1975 the beer can collecting craze took hold. Before he knew it he had more than 100 cans. The closet grew into a storage unit and now he has a large metal barn. Here is a 30-second radio commercial from Grace Bros., with a swing band that was popular in those years. http://brewhaharadio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Grace_Bros_Beer_30_sec.mp3 Harry asks what is the Holy Grail of the items, or what is most significant to him? The Holy Grail would be a 7-11 beer can but the most significant was one that he traded for at about age 16. It was called Pride of Newark, or PON. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Their toast is with Happy Hops, which was one of the Grace Brothers’ brands. Russian River still uses the name and the label with a cartoon of a happy hop. Grace Brothers made it through Prohibition by making ice and near-beer, which was weak enough to be legal. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. 

Renée De Luca joins Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha to remember her father Jack McAuliffe, who recently passed away. Renée was on this show a year ago, talking about her father and some new activity around the brand he founded. Here is part one of that episode, and Part Two follows here. Renée De Luca joins us on the telephone, she is the daughter of Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion brewing company, who passed away just recently. He passed away on July 15 at the age of eighty. He founded a whole beer revolution, is no exaggeration. His passing has been covered widely in the mainstream press such as NPR and the Washington Post, as well as many beer publications. During his life he was already the subject of some articles, due to his influence, although that came near the end of New Albion. Over the last few years Renée and brought him to some craft brewers conferences and she is confident he knew that he would be remembered. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. The First Post-Prohibition Micro-Brewery: New Albion Jack McAuliffe was in the US Navy in the 1960s where he enjoyed the local porters, ales and stouts. Back in the US, all there was to drink was crappy American commercial beer that he didn’t like. So he learned how to brew his own. His operation was the first post-Prohibition micro-brewery to be founded in the United States, in 1976. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Brewing was so new that all of the forms referred to wine and Jack had to handwrite the word beer onto them. They asked him why he used Cascade hops and he replied, that’s what the farmer had. He put a lot of equipment together himself by adapting different parts. Farmers make wine and scientists make beer, he said. Renée’s dog Porter is in the background.

Brent Koen from Surfside Drinks is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Brent has brought a lot of Surfside drinks today. The brand started on the east coast. He brought the Green Tea pack, the Ice Tea pack and the Lemonade pack. All are lower alcohol beverages. The company started as a vodka distiller but their mission changed as they read the market. The founders geared up with makeshift equipment in the parents’ basement. It was about the time that Breaking Bad was on TV. When their father saw the brew lab, he thought it was a meth lab or he acted as if it were that, and he kicked them out. So they got investors and got serious. Stateside Urban Craft Vodka started doing well, before Covid. When they noticed that people were pouring their vodka into different concoctions and cocktails, they thought of doing the same thing. That’s when they started making the light beverages. Surfside grew from 1.3 million cases in 2023 to to almost 5 million cases last year and projected growth to 12-15 million cases this year. Partners with the SF Giants Surfside Drinks are partners with the San Francisco Giants and they have branded locations inside the stadium.  The beverages have only 2 grams of sugar, 100 calories and only 4.5% alcohol. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Herlinda has seen the huge growth in the non-alcoholic category. Until now, judges at beer competitions did not want to judge that category, but not anymore. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. There are 12 different flavors, four lemonades, four green teas and four iced teas. They have three variety packs, different combinations and also large cans. They are now in all 50 states and are seeking to gain a foothold in markets like wine country. Even if these drinks are not super cold, they still go down smoothly. They only use 2 grams of sucralose for sweetening. There is also no carbonization in any of these drinks.

The Fogbelt caboose in Healdsburg. Eric and Pedro from the BBQ Team at Fogbelt Brewing join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Every year Stumptown Brewing puts on the Russian River Beer Revival and BBQ Cookout. This year is it on Saturday, August 16th. The Fogbelt team is competing with their ribs at the festival this summer. The Santa Rosa taproom is 1305 Cleveland, and the Healdsburg location is in a red caboose. They are tasting a beer called Eye of the Hawk, the second of their tribute brews to Mendocino Brewing Co. They started with a run of Red Tail Ale. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Pedro started at Anchor brewing in San Francisco. He was the curator of the tour program, so he had access to the brewery operation as well as to the library and archives. He became a tour guide there and eventually moved to another brewery before coming to Santa Rosa. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Pedro likes the Stumptown Beer Revival and BBQ Cookout because it is a chance to meet a lot of the key players in the local craft brew industry.

Today is the first Krush Backyard Concert, so we have Mark Cohen from Moonlight Brewing, who are pouring at the concert. He joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke who is sitting in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. Mark has brought some Reality Czech Pils, which won a Gold Medal in the Pilsner category, out of 167 entries. Pilsners are not an easy beer to make. They are cold fermented and takes a lot longer to make. Moonlight’s Pilsner is not filtered, but to make it clear they use an enzyme which takes out the solids and the glutens in the beer. It is not registered as gluten free but it is very low in gluten. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 There was a time when Brian Hunt started making beer with spruce tips and redwood tips, when there was a threat of a hop shortage. In the early years, the brewers like Brian Hunt were just learning how to brew. He wanted to get serious, so he moved to Milwaukee to work for Schlitz. He called his brewery Moonlight Brewing because at first, it was his moonlight gig, that he did outside of his other work. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Ron Lindenbusch tells about Best Day Brewing Ron Lindenbusch joins the conversation about five minutes in. He is a retired co-founder of Lagunitas and a veteran beer guru. He started at the beginning doing distribution, when he saw that Tony Magee made the best beer.  that spark became Lagunitas. They sold to Heineken in two stages, half in 2015 and the rest in 2018. Lagunitas is now the number one IPA in the world. Ron had some on tap in Belgium and France. Moonlight is pouring three beers at the Backyard Concert, they are Death and Taxes, the black lager, Reality Czech Pils, the gold medal winner, and the Bombay by Boat IPA. Best Day Brewing is Ron’s project to make only non-alcoholic beer. They make a full-strength beer then they remove the alcohol with a cold filtration. This way, it still tastes like beer.

Parliament Brewing Co. co-founder Adam Bosch joins Harry Duke, in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Adam’s last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode on December 28, 2023. Herlinda’s father Eloy and brother Anthony Heras are also in the studio today. Eloy devoted his career to the US Navy. He liked Olympia Beer and Herlinda got her first taste of beer from him. Adam Bosch talks about Parliament Brewing Co.’s plans to expand and their calendar of events. They had a cheesesteak invitational for National Cheesesteak Day last March. Their anniversary party September 20-21 this year, celebrating their sixth anniversary. They are located at 5865 West Labath Ave. Adam likes to think of it as just west of Costco and south of the casino in Rohnert Park. They are dog friendly as long as the dogs are. The beer they are currently tasting is Prism Hazy IPA, 6.6% ABV, which won Best Hazy at Battle of the Brews last April. It also won Best in Show. Their focus has been mainly local but they will now be looking for more distribution into the East Bay and Sacramento. Herlinda’s brother Anthony is a rattlesnake handler on the side. He knew someone who had a snake and when they needed a new handler, he got the job. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Kaleidoscope and River Raft A group of owls is called a Parliament, where people meet to take care of their community. Parliament Brewing’s “mainstay” beer Kaleidoscope is the collective noun for a group of butterflies. There are butterflies on the can. A new beer is River Raft, a hazy pale ale at 5.9% featuring Peacherene hops, a new kind. A raft is a group of otters. River Raft is on tap only, for now. It finishes “super dry” says Herlinda. They are also tasting the Brown Chicken Brown Cow. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Adam also brought a pilsner, called Pils that says “beer flavored beer” on the label. Pizzaleah has it on tap. It is an American brown ale. Justin, his brother, is the brewer and a UC Davis graduate. His dad does the books. Adam does everything else for Parliament. He is attracted to the business and the service side of the industry. But also, they are selling the culture, the service, comfort and experience. They have about 50 fruit trees around the building at Parliament.

Herlinda and Bex. Bex Pezzullo, founder and cider maker of Sincere Cider, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Bex started Sincere Cider right at the time of the pandemic. The lockdown started six days after she canned her first batch of cider. She had a 20 year career in event promotion and marketing, and she had a lot of personal contacts whom she had hope would help her at her launch. Instead of that, she ended up employing some friends who were unemployed bartenders to deliver cider. After that, since business was slow enough, she bought a 1993 camper van, named it Farley after the Chris Farley “living in a camper by the river” and hit the road. In every new city up the road, she would look for the cool bottle shops, bars and restaurants and bring cider to offer them. Before starting the cider company she had a job at an event festival company that worked with clients like Bonaroo and Outside Lands. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Granny Smith Apples and Chablis Yeast Bex likes to joke that she is a recovering sommelier, having worked as an Italian wine specialist. She did a few harvest seasons in Italy. They are sipping the Dry Apple Cider, made mostly with Granny Smith apples. She also uses a Chablis yeast which brings the right crispness and tanginess. Their core line-up includes a Rosé cider, called Granada, that has California organic pomegranate and blueberry juice and a little bit of orange zest. The color is beautiful, everyone agrees. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 For Pride Month, “Sincere is proudly a queer owned and operated business,” says Bex. There are some popups happening in the city. She explains how she enjoys integrating all of the ingredients into her ciders, like Granada, to make a “satisfying sip.” She is on the road a lot with her English Bulldog Shasta and spends a lot of weekends traveling to bring Sincere Cider around. Sincere Cider also makes seasonal ciders three times per year. The one they are tasting is Pine-Apple, an apple cider infused with pineapple as well as wild-foraged spruce tips. You just get a little hint of the forest. Pine-Apple is the summer seasonal.

Harry Duke, Herlinda Heras and Trevor Zebulon. Trevor Zebulon, founder of Goat Rock Cider, is here on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon and with Herlinda Heras. Trevor Zebulon started Goat Rock Cider with his friend Paul Hawley, before the pandemic. It was a side hustle for both of them, but the pandemic wrecked his regular business, a transportation company. Then he decided to go “full bore” ever since in Petaluma. He used to have a jazz club called Zebulon’s Jazz Lounge. He has a tasting room upstairs from where he makes the cider that has some of that old vibe. Goat Rock Cider is the only fully organic cider maker around. Some people use organic apples, but they follow organic practices throughout the process. He is only one person, by himself, so you have to make an appointment. He is there just on Saturdays for walk-up tastings. For a reservation, call or text (707) 409-0738 or go to Goat Rock Cider dot com. In addition to Goat Rock, which is fermented dry cider, he started a second organic cider brand called Nectar. They are named after gems, Sapphire and Emerald. It is sweetened with organic honey from Hawaii. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. He also started dabbling in the wine world. The unique thing about his wine is that they are all sourced from organic biodynamic vineyards. It is a pretty small production, very light and easy drinking. He calls it “natural wine adjacent” since he does use yeast and sulphur, but nothing else. Big West Wine Fest discount code VINE VIBE He will be pouring on Sunday at the June 14 and 15 in Guerneville at the Big West Wine Fest. VINE VIBE is the discount code. The venue is Solar Punk Farms in Gueneville.  He will not be at the Gravenstein Apple Fair this year, as a one-man show, it’s too much to do, with the tasting room opening at the same time. Technically, any fermented fruit is a type of wine product. No grain allowed in a winery, and winemakers can use any fruit they like. Cider is taxed as wine. If it is lower than 8.4% ABV it is cider, otherwise it has to be called apple wine. (Sake is actually more like beer and Cider is more like wine.) Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 There are many different types of apples, some are sweet, acidic, with and without tannins. There is a California apple called Wixen that has all those qualities in one apple. Usually you use a mix of apple juices to balance those flavors. The Sapphire cider would go perfectly with turkey, on a holiday table, says Harry. Or, barbequed brisket, says Herlinda. Cider and cheese also go well together. The Ruby Nectar cider is dry, fermented with some raspberries and some Hawaiian honey. At 6% ABV it’s not overpowering, but it is sweet and easy to drink.

Dan Klasen of the Beverage Federation calls in to speak with Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha, about the impact of impending tarrifs and more. Dan Klasen is the founder and President of the Beverage Federation. He is calling from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is based. The Beverage Federation Herlinda asks Dan to explain the Beverage Federation’s work, and also for his opinion on the impending tariffs. They are a group purchasing organization to provide resources to craft brewers. Their goal is to gain purchasing power by buying in bluk on behalf of their members. They are a growing organization. Companies in the craft beer industry have been focused on lowering operating costs. Other industries have similar services. 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 Federation gets inquiries from operators across the country that have the same issues, for example, when the price of cans or other supplies increases suddenly. This has been a busy year and a lot of challenges today weren’t around a year ago. Everyone wants to avoid the potential impact to the consumer. Three Things to Remember and Three to Forget Dan told Herlinda three things to remember and three things to forget. There are a few things to do in the short term, 60-90 days. As far as what not to do, be wary of long-term contracts right now. Some breweries may want to do a bulk buy but Dan suggests thinking all the way through the consequences including warehousing. Be wary of suppliers who say they know how long these changes may last. Stay focused on what you do know, more in the 60-90 day frame. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 As for things to do, one is have alternative suppliers. It’s prudent to have back-up, including setting up an account and getting pricing. That’s what medium and large operations do, and it’s good practice for small businesses too. It is a hedge against a sudden price spike. Another good idea is to get two or three quotes for supplies over a certain amount, to make sure that you can see all options. The last thing to do is to talk to your suppliers and manufacturers. They will want to communicate what they know is coming. It is good to be ready for that, such as, changes in terms to keep the supply coming. Membership is free, at Beverage Federation dot com. 🍻

Owner Michael Dunsford and Brewmaster Nick Bartlett from Napa Valley Brewing Co. join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on The Drive Brew Ha Ha. This is their first time on the program. The brewery was founded in 1987 and Michael’s family bought the brewery in 1989. It is on the grounds of the historic Calistoga Inn. Steve Jaxon used to live there in those years. Many great memories. Herlinda introduces Nick Bartlett. After Mad Fritz, this is the second Napa Valley brewery featured on Brew Ha Ha lately. Nick has been at Napa Valley Brewing a little over a year. He moved to Calistoga with his wife from Oakland for the job. It is quiet in his neighborhood, nothing like Oakland. In Oakland he was a brewer at Buck Wild Brewing, which is a gluten-free brewery. The Calistoga Inn The Calistoga Inn is a busy operation with a 150-seat patio and a 100-seat beer garden with live events. They have live music every night in the summer. So the brewery is a bit in the background on the grounds. Now they are bringing the brewery more front and center. Over 37 years Calistoga has changed. It used to be “fun and funky” but it has become “a little bit more sophisticated” with lots of new businesses and expansions. Michael was on the city council and assisted with some of that process. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Bottle Rock is coming up. It is not necessarily great for the restaurants since everyone is at the concerts and they have great food. The menu and the food style at Calistoga Inn is American and California wine country, for dinner everything from prime rib, lamb shanks, oysters, calamari, pastas, etc. They do breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. They get a lot of business from the locals as much as from visitors who come from all over. 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.