Brew Ha Ha Podcast

Herlinda Heras with Raven Brewery guests. The brewer and co-founder of Pivovar Raven, or Raven Brewery in Pilsen, Czech Republic are our guests today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. They are Ladislav Vrtiš, co-founder, and Jiri, which translates to George in English. Miroslov Puc is also in the studio but we won't hear from him on the broadcast. They are friends of Lana Svitankova, Herlinda’s fellow international beer judge and a recent guest on BHH. The crew from Raven Brewing in Pilzen is on a beer tour of California. First they spent 5 days in San Diego, now it’s Sonoma County and environs, including Beer City, Santa Rosa. Sierra Nevada and Russian River Brewing Co. are on the itinerary too. They just came back from a driving tour through Yosemite National Park. Czech Pilsner and German Pilsner are different. For the Czech, they have softer water, especially in the town of Pilzen. Second, the brewing process, they use decoction to brew the beer. The Germans and US use infusion. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Pivovar Raven, or Raven Brewery The Raven brewery was founded in Pilzen in 2015. A law was proposed to require bars that serve beer to also offer a non-alcoholic beverage at a price that is lower than the cheapest beer. But the law did not pass. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Pilsner Urquell is still a very popular brand in Czechia. It might cost $3 in Prague. In smaller cities, you can get a good local pilsner for a buck. The local bars are also the meeting place for social life and also to find service people. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. The California IPAs are a bit strong, around 7 or 8 ABV. The Czech beers are lighter.

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

Tara Nurin Beverage industry mental health is the subject with Tara Nurin today on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras. Tara has been on Brew Ha Ha many times, the last time was this episode just last week. The day before yesterday, Lana Svitankova, Herlinda and Tara were at UC Davis speaking about the brewing industry. Tara was there to discuss her book and to read a part of it. The students at UC Davis in the brewing program come from all over the world. Lana and Herlinda talked about international judging and they took questions from the students. The members of the panel at UC Davis were an all-star lineup of the craft brewing world. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! A Beautiful Mind Last night they attended Lo and Behold's event called A Beautiful Mind, a fund raiser for NAMI, the National Association for Mental Illness. They held a cocktail competition and a raffle and it was sold out. May is National Mental Health Awareness month. You can order the Beautiful Mind cocktail at a roster of local restaurants and the proceeds go to NAMI. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. People in the beverage and hospitality industry can suffer physical and mental ailments due to work stress. She has been developing ways to teach resilience to managers, owners on how to create holistically healthy workspaces. In addition, Tara teaches workers to understand their own needs and to be able to maintain a stable state of mental health for the long term. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Tara practices Transcendental Meditation and she also applies it to her efforts to reduce stress in the hospitality workspace.

Smith Street Taps 10th Anniversary commemorative glass. Meng and Kim Chow, owners of Smith Street Taps in Singapore, join Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. It is their first time on Brew Ha Ha. Lana Svitankova is also in the studio today. Her full conversation with Herlinda can be heard over here on its own podcast episode. Meng and Kim have brought a Smith Street Taps glass like the one pictured here, as a gift for Steve. They have just celebrated their tenth anniversary. They also have another stall now, called by a similar name, Smith Street Taproom. Herlinda met Meng and Kim in Singapore when she was judging in the Asia Beer Cup. The city is obviously very clean and well organized, and Herlinda remembers feeling safe in the city, even when she got lost at night. Singapore's Hawker Stalls Smith Street Taps is located among the hawker stalls in Singapore. These are large food courts with many restaurants serving a wide variety of styles of food. It is Singapore's way of organizing what would otherwise be street food. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Kim explains that Smith Street Taps is the first and only hawker stall dedicated to craft beer, among all the many hawker stalls in Singapore. They have craft beer on tap from all over the world. Hawker culture in Singapore is heritage, so it is protected, promoted and highly appreciated." -Kim Chow Rumble in the Jungle (photo by Lana Svitankova). Meng has opened a beer called Rumble in the Jungle, a Stout which he produced in a collaboration with Brewlander, a local brewery, and Jungle Beer, formerly of Singapore and now based in India. It is a stout flavored with chickory from India, with an 8% ABV. "Works for me!" says Steve Jaxon. Herlinda remembers a 16 hour flight from California to Singapore, which Meng and Kim also just did. Thinking out loud, next time, she might fly 9 hours to Japan first, then fly the next leg from Japan to Singapore, another 9 hours. The Singapore Sling The Singapore Sling is the number one local cocktail. It is a gin-based cocktail believed to have been created by a bartender at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. They still serve them there, so go get one if you're visiting Singapore, it can't be missed. Spoiler Alert! --> In a shaker with ice, add gin, cherry liqueur, Cointreau, Benedictine, pineapple juice, lime juice, Grenadine syrup and a dash of Angostura bitters. Serve strained into a hurricane glass. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Meng had the first craft beer bottle shop in Singapore, before Smith Street Taps. He is on his way to Boston for his son's graduation from Northeastern University. Meng's great wish is to find out how he can get to drive a hop picking machine like the one at the museum. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP is about the history of hops and beer in Sonoma County. It will remain open until September 1. Click on the green the On Tap logo (or that link) to visit the museum's website: Photo credits: featured image, C.Y. Shing, Flicker/PD/CC. Beer glass, Smith Street IG. Rumble bottle, Lana Svitankova.

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

Tony Magee returns to BHH with Herlinda Heras. Tony Magee, the now-retired founder of Lagunitas, is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. The last time Tony Magee was on Brew Ha Ha was this episode in 2014. Today he and his wife have a ranch where they host retired horses and also some cattle. Herlinda Heras has been working with the Museum of Sonoma County to organize On Tap, the exhibit about craft beer history that is opening this weekend. Tony sat for a video interview for the exhibition and he is pleased to be part of it. He started Lagunitas in 1993 and grew it into one of the largest breweries in the country. In 2017 Heineken acquired the company. Tony tells the interesting back story to the acquisition. Lagunitas was beginning to sell beer outside the US, which is not easy to do. He also had grown Lagunitas to a point where the US market was starting to feel saturated with new beer brands as the popularity of craft beer grew. He started to think about a longer term plan for the company, rather than endure infinite domestic competition. Heineken was (and is) the last family-owned global brewer. Click to visit the Museum of Sonoma County website. Finding the Right Partner All the other big companies are multinationals. Tony says Lagunitas never really discussed the acquisition with other companies because none of them had Heineken’s character. Hearing him tell the story, he sounds really pleased with how it all happened. He says he thought of the brewery as an art project, with an artist will eventually sell and once that happens, that’s it. He gives credit to Heineken for updating the structure of the business operation but for not changing the beer or the recipes and the brew master is still there. This is the best time in the last thousand years to be a beer lover. -Tony Magee Herlinda asks what the inspiration was for the brewery. For Tony, he was doing a completely different job. He was in commercial printing sales and he was a home brewer. His brother got him a home brew kit for Christmas of 1992, in January of ’93 he brewed it, and by December of 1993 the brewery was open. He recognized things in brewing that reminded him of music. As musician that helped him understand brewing. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. A lot of Lagunitas beer is IPA style and hop focused. His friend Grant Johnston who was a brewer at Marin Brewing would also homebrew. He was experimenting by adding his hops late in the boil, which boosted the flavors and didn’t let bitterness develop by boiling too long. This was how they created a hop-forward style that became the central thesis of the brewery. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. 22:50, they mention Cappuccino Stout, which Tony says may be one of the earliest coffee beers in the US. (In a Kurt Vonnegut story written long before the craft beer era, there is a mention of an award-winning beer in a fictional Indiana state fair, and coffee was the secret ingredient.) Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! They also mention the 420 Waldos and the Lagunitas beer that celebrates the story. The Waldos were guests on Brew Ha Ha on this episode back in 2019. They remember the Beer Circus, which sounds like you had to have seen it.

John Burton, beer memorabilia collector, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. He is working with Herlinda Heras who is assisting the Museum of Sonoma County with its upcoming exhibition ON TAP, about Sonoma County hops and the history or craft brewing. John Burton made a great collection of beer memorabilia while he worked as a bartender in Santa Rosa for a long time. He also operates a well-known bartending school called Santa Rosa Bartending. Herlinda has organized interviews with some of the biggest names in local beer history, like Tony McGee and Mark Carpenter, for the museum. She connected them to John Burton and he will be providing some choice items for the exhibit. Grace Bros. was a local brand that started in 1897 in Santa Rosa and the brand continued until the late 1960s. John’s collection of bottles and cans starts in their first year. John has a lot of Grace Bros. pieces. A 1960s Grace Bros. Beer Commercial In the show, we hear a 30-second commercial for Grace Bros. beer, from John's collection. It was recorded probably in the 1960s in Hollywood, California. In the 1940s, Grace Bros. was the fourth-largest brewery in California. Here is the commercial: http://brewhaharadio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Grace_Bros_Beer_30_sec.mp3 Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. John Burton is a member of a beer memorabilia organization that organizes exhibits. Herlinda’s friend Ken Hartoonian also has a collection. He was a guest on Brew Ha Ha recently. John shares memories of the Grace family and how they decided to stay in Santa Rosa instead of Southern California. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. John is also the writer and publisher of some books about his collection. He has also written an instructional book about bartending, called Bartending Basics. Herlinda is organizing a reception for all of the ‘legends’ of the local brewing industry. She will invite the founding fathers and mothers of the business. She is looking forward to the On Tap exhibition being full of really interesting, beautiful and memorable material. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Russian River Brewing is a sponsor of the exhibit, so is Lagunitas and Oliver’s Market. The sculpture garden is beautiful and they will turn it into a beer garden for one evening. The grand opening is April 27.

Richard McChinak and Ben Kerstetter from Battle of the Brews are in-studio guests on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Richard McChinak, is the Battle of the Brews co-chair, and Ben Kerstetter is the newly elected incoming President of the 20/30 Club, Santa Rosa chapter n. 50. The 20/30 Club started doing this event 27 years ago. They only had about 20 breweries back then but now there are many more. Saturday April 6 from 1-5 pm at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. There are 20/30 chapters all over the country. They do a lot of fundraising events for under-privileged youth in Sonoma County. As musical attractions, Battle of the Brews has Painted Waves and Voodoo Vultures playing plus a local DJ Rob Cervantes, who is a Drive Hall of Famer. Herlinda Heras has been going to Battle of the Brews since its beginning. This is Herlinda’s eleventh time judging at this event. It’s a chance to meet all her friends in the business. The weather is supposed to be good. One year the band was Digital Underground but they had to scale it back after that year. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. There is a big Raffle Station in the middle of the show. All of the money raised goes to causes related to helping kids. The $95 admission ticket gets you all the food and drinks you can manage to enjoy, plus all the music and the whole scene. They also have cider, hard kombucha as well as non-alcoholic options. A Great Day for Barbeque This year the Barbeque section is different, they doubled the number of BBQs and brought in many other food vendors. There is an entire parking lot full of food vendors. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The judging is a BJCP-sanctioned event. There is also a People’s Choice award. Some brewers will bring exclusive beers brewed just for the event. There are even awards for Best Chicken and also a People’s Choice award for barbeque. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! There are so many beers and it is so much fun that it is easy to drink more than you thought you would. So plan you transportation with all the options available, except driving.

Today’s Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras is a Triple Header! We have three great guests. Cynthia Caughie from Homerun Pizza is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras and she brought some Knuckleballs, their specialty. Cynthia was also on Brew Ha Ha in November, on this episode. Ryan Frank, head brewer at Headlands Brewing is here. Ron Lindenbusch is also in today. He is a founding father of Lagunitas and a self-titled beer weasel, however emeritus. Ron Lindenbusch's complete interview is on his own dedicated podcast episode, right here. This episode is all about Homerun Pizza. Ryan Frank’s talk about Headlands Brewing is also on its own podcast episode. This way, each guest gets to have a unique online destination for their own search traffic. Also, it keeps the individual podcast episodes to a nicer, shorter length. Cynthia got to spend some time in Arizona for Spring Training, and the players loved the knuckleballs. Watch the Homerun Pizza website for evidence of how much the players like them. Homerun Pizza is open daily. Homerun Pizza is open Sunday Monday and Tuesday from 3:00 to 8:00; Wednesday & Thursday 11:30 to 8:00 pm and Friday & Saturday 11:30 to 9:00. Happy Hour is every night from 3-6 pm. Every Wednesday, 2 Knuckleballs for $5. It’s their signature dish, their pizza dough stuffed with mozzarella cheese and with bacon or peperoni. They are doing a special Knuckleball, with sausage, and also a vegetarian version with tomato and basil. 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. Right now this year they are doing one specialty Knuckleball per month. For Valentine’s Day they did Nutella and pretzel, with salted caramel. For March, it’s the Sausage Knuckleball. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. They have a dish called Homerun Fries, made with French Fries, bacon, jack and cheddar cheese and their Homerun Sauce, a spicy Ranch. Herlinda calls it Sonoma County Poutine which is hilarious! Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Ron Lindenbusch, Hopland Tap founder and owner, is back again on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. He has been on Brew Ha Ha several times, including this episode on July 5, 2018, again on May 28, 2020 along with Natalie Cilurzo, and again on May 6, 2021. These episodes chronicle Ron's career with Lagunitas up to and including the Heineken purchase. Today's live radio show is a triple-header. We have two other guests in the studio along with Ron today. The episode with Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here. Ryan Frank, brewmaster at Headlands Brewing, also has his own podcast episode on this page. Since he left Lagunitas at the end of a very successful run, Ron found the perfect location in Hopland to set up the tavern that he always dreamed of. Steve remembers when it was the Hopland Brewery, they had bands including some pretty famous ones. Hopland Tap also does live music. This Saturday the band is Left-Hand Monkey Wrench. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Herlinda Heras is helping the Museum of Sonoma County develop its upcoming exhibition ON TAP about the history of brewing in Sonoma County. Ron Lindenbush was with her at the museum today to record some video that will be used in the exhibition. He personally holds a lot of the stories of the history that is the subject of the exhibit. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. They are tasting a non-alcoholic beer that Ron makes. It actually tastes like beer. One is called Electro Lime. Ron explains that it is made just like beer, then the alcohol is removed. What remains is a beverage that actually tastes like beer. The non-alcoholic beer scene is completely different than it was ten years ago. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

A Headlands Brewing 4-pack with its paper collar. Ryan Frank, Headlands Brewing head brewer, joins Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, in studio today, with Cynthia Caughie and Ron Lindenbush. Each of the other guests have their own podcast page from today, Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here and Ron Lindenbush is here. In this episode, we hear mostly from Ryan Frank. Headlands Brewing started in Marin County but has recently put roots down in the East Bay. They have a taproom in Lafayette and they produce their beer in Pittsburg. They are dedicated to philanthropy and they pledge 1% for the Planet. Ryan describes Earth to Beer, a collaboration among 40 different breweries. “A better world is brewing,” is the slogan. They are tasting a Kolsch which is a beer from Koln, a light crisp soft and floral beer, an ancient German specialty. They source all of their own materials locally, including Admiral Malting in Oakland. He chose Pacific Northwest hops, to make it a California interpretation of a German Kolsch. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Headlands Brewing is located at 3420 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette. It’s kid friendly, dog friendly and has great food. Their beer is available at Homerun Pizza, Earth to Beer Kolsch is on draft. They are also at Barley and Bine, and Beer Baron. Bottle Barn has some cans and they are on promotion at northern California Whole Foods stores. 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. Bingo at Homerun Pizza Cynthia tells about Bingo at Homerun Pizza on the last Tuesday of the month. It’s free, kid friendly and a lot of fun. Ryan Frank gets to taste a sausage Knuckleball with the Earth to Beer Kolsch, just like they serve it at Homerun Pizza. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Headlands Brewing uses paper collars on their 4-packs. This fact starts Ryan into a description of all the choices they make in packaging to reduce their footprint, use less plastic and promote recycling. You can see the paper collars in the picture above. April 27 ON TAP opens at the Museum of Sonoma County. Herlinda describes a lot of her efforts looking for content. Make sure you don't miss this exhibition which will be a big hit.

The 2024 Pliny the Younger 3-pack. Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha for the 2024 Pliny the Younger release. This is an annual event on Brew Ha Ha, for example, here is last year's release show. Natalie has been getting ready for this year’s release. This morning they had their kickoff meetings for staff at Santa Rosa and Windsor. Everything is ready to begin this weekend. The Pliny the Younger will be available until April 4. The recipe is mostly his year Vinny says he has added more of a New Zealand hop called Nectaron. The 2024 Pliny the Younger is 10.25% alcohol, so the idea is to hide the alcohol with lots of other flavors. "It's still hard to believe." - Vinny Cilurzo It was back in early 2005 when the brewery was less than a year old, that they wanted to do a promotion during the otherwise slow season. Vinny decided to take the Pliny the Elder recipe and add more of everything, more hops, more malt and more alcohol. They released it without fanfare, for a few years. But in 2010, everything changed. Pliny the Younger had been rated the best beer in the world on some influential beer websites. That is when people started forming lines before opening hours. It's great to hear Vinny tell the story again. This has become a favorite annual event for beer lovers from around the world. Pliny the Younger has some new artwork this year, which is on the header of this web page, showing Vesuvius erupting with beer and hops. When and Where Both brewpubs will be open daily from 11AM to 10PM, from March 22nd through April 4th, 2024. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Russian River Brewing Co. will be a sponsor of the big beer history exhibition that is opening at the Museum of Sonoma County, called ON TAP: Sonoma County Hops and the Beer Revolution. We just had Eric Stanley from the museum on Brew Ha Ha. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! This year Russian River Brewing Co. has raised purchase limit from two bottles to three. A three bottle purchase comes in the convenient carrying case pictured above. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. RRBC has different menus at the Santa Rosa and Windsor locations. Vinny would have a Mamma Mia pizza (with halapeños) at the Santa Rosa 4th Street pub, to pair with a glass of Pliny the Younger. He remembers the time the first people met him four hours before opening time, in 2010.

Eric Stanley from the Museum of Sonoma County is our guest, here to discuss ON TAP Sonoma County Hops and the Craft Beer Revolution, an exhibition that will open on April 20, 2024. He joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, live in the Wine Country Radio studio. Herlinda Heras has been in England and Ireland, which we heard about about over the last few episodes. Now she will be staying in town to assist with the exhibition. There are two paths to this exhibition, as Eric describes it. One is about the history of hops as part of Sonoma County agriculture and the other is about the more recent craft beer revolution. Brew Ha Ha will be a sponsor of this exhibition. Herlinda is personally acquainted with many of the people who have made history in local brewing. She has been busy bringing several of them in to participate. For example, New Albion was the first licensed brewery after the repeal of Prohibition and it opened in the town of Sonoma. Tara Nurin will be appearing and reading from her book, since she interviewed a lot of the women who were part of the revolution, for the book. Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo will be participating as well as Ken Hartoonian, who was on this show recently and who has a big collection of brewing memorabilia. Famous brewers like Mark Carpenter, Ron Lindenbush and Don Barkley will be a part of it as well. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. About the Museum of Sonoma County The Museum of Sonoma County has a permanent Sonoma County history exhibition. called Sonoma County Stories. Gaye LeBaron had a lot to do with it, she is a local historian and friend of Steve. The museum is located in the old Sonoma County Post Office building, which was built in 1910. It is a beautiful building, which had to be moved from its original location, in order to save it. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. They are looking for sponsors for this exhibition, so if you are or work for a candidate for exhibition sponsorship, please contact Herlinda Heras. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Hops Have Made a Comeback Locally Hop growing used to be a huge local business and recently hops have been making a comeback, as a local crop. There are several reasons for that. Starting in the 1850s this area was a leading hop region in the country, up to Prohibition. But after Prohibition it wasn't until the 1980s that breweries came back. The exhibition will tell the story of what happened to the local hops industry, from the last crop in the early 1960s, up the re-emergence of hops in Sonoma County.

3.1415926535897932, or about 22/7. Herlinda Heras is judging at the 2024 British Pie Awards and calls in to Brew Ha Ha today, and with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Here is an episode of Brew Ha Ha from March 22, 2018, when Herlinda had just returned from that year's competition. The winners are listed at the 2024 British Pie Awards website. Today we hear all about her itinerary on her current trip to the England and Ireland. She began in London, judging the National Fish and Chips competition. Then, she visited Dublin, Ireland, where she saw Teeling Whiskey, the Guiness attraction "Beer Disneyland" and a museum exhibit. Her last stop was the British Pie Awards, an annual event in the town of Melton Mobray. This is Herlinda's 10 year as a judge in this competition. The pies at the 2024 British Pie Awards are very traditional and the judging takes into consideration all of the characteristic virtues of combining meat and crust. The categories of pies have evolved, so that today there is a category for Vegan pies, as well as vegetarian recipes and many others. Herlinda explains how there is a hole at the top of the pie, as in the picture here. This is part of the recipe, specifically the baking process. They place a bit of jelly into the hole which bakes into the pie. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. . See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. . Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

We get a phone call from Herlinda Heras in London, she is there to judge this year's UK National Fish & Chip Awards. The National Federation of Fish Fryers of the UK sponsor the annual event. There are contestants from all over the UK as well as other countries, including the US, which was represented by a British couple from Georgia who have a fish and chips shop. There is the usual panorama of awards, in many categories, even the potatoes. On the Tuesday night before the event, they had a reception in the Houses of Parliament. They were actually in session and voting while she was there. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Part of the awards was a recognition of extraordinary customer service, and Herlinda heard stories about how during Covid confinement, fish and chip deliveries were almost the only contact that some people had with others. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! There is also an award for best sit-down restaurant, and many other categories. See the National Fish & Chip Awards website for all the categories and winners. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The biggest award is to the “take away” which is British for “to go” service. That award went to a shop called Ship Deck, located in Caerphilly, Wales.

The team from Hiveworks Mead is in the studio for Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras to talk about their way of making mead. Alexander Mendoza, CEO and Head Mazer, Sean Duckworth, COO and Julian Frank, CFO, are taking turns on the two guest microphones in our small converted train car. They will be at Beer City this Saturday, Feb. 24, in Courthouse Square. The Hiveworks Mead team all grew up in Sebastopol together and now they are partners in the company. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. Skyborne First they taste Skyborne, a simple recipe of honey, water and yeast, plus carbonation. They just wanted to make a beverage that they could enjoy with any food. The more honey you add, the higher the ABV. A lot of traditional mead could be 2-3 pounds of honey per gallon of mead. Their mead is lower in alcohol so they can use less honey. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Kind of like wine, kind of like beer The partners started Hiveworks Mead in Sebastopol in a shed with one fermenter, and experimented until their product was a hit at some parties. That was when it was time to go pro. Even though it is classified and taxed as a wine, mead is actually made on equipment that is much more like that of a brewery. The aluminum cans use a lot less carbon dioxide, than glass bottles. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Alexander carries the title Head Mazer. Some meadmakers fancy the term. A mazer is a type of traditional medieval wooden cup, low and wide, with a rise in the middle. There happens to be a well-known annual mead competition called the Mazer Cup, based in Colorado, whose logo is shaped like a mazer. This may have suggested the idea for that term. * * ‘Mazer’ as a meadmaker has no root word history in English nor in any of its contributing languages. Given that mead can be drunk from a mazer, calling a meadmaker a ‘mazer’ could be compared to calling a vintner a ‘glass’ or a brewer a “mug” or a Kombuchist a “tightly capped bottle.” But if people like the term, they will use it, and if enough people adopt it for enough time, it will become documented.

Chris Keeton from CCBS 2024 calls in to Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras to talk about the California Craft Beer Summit. There will be a convention, the California Craft Beer Summit, March 12-14, in Sacramento. There is the website, ^ with all the info you need. The rest of today's Brew Ha Ha episode is a conversation with the folks from Hiveworks Mead, which is on its own page. Chris Keeton Chris Keeton is the President of the Sacramento Area Brewers Guild and is also the head brewer for the Alaro Craft Brewery, which is located very close to the convention center. Morgan Territory Brewing won at ccbs last year, as they win a lot of competitions. Beer City, Sat. Feb. 24 in Santa Rosa The general public can purchase tickets to the event. The awards ceremony is March 13 during the CCBA Summit. The Competition will be held in the Crest Theater. They will have 197 breweries and 1300 beer entries, which makes it the third largest one of these in the country. Judy Ashworth, the famous publican, was with Herlinda at the competition last year. Judy is a very famous figure in the craft brewing industry and she was on Brew Ha Ha on this episode back on December 19, 2019, along with former co-host Mark Carpenter. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. The CCBS 2024 winners will be announced on a website after the convention. There will also be a live stream on The Brewing Network YouTube channel. The results will be published at this site: https://brewerscupofca.com/ See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The Craft Beer Summit is a great networking opportunity for like-minded entrepreneurs to learn more about their business. The Guilds also provide an important service to their members. For example, the fact that we can taste beer and cider at our farmers markets is due to some lobbying done by the guilds. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!

Fogbelt Brewing founders Paul Hawley and Remy Martin are back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Paul and Remy have been on Brew Ha Ha several times, including this episode last September and this other episode the previous August. This is a busy time for beer fans with the FeBrewary promotion and Beer City all taking place. For Beer Week, Fogbelt Brewing is making Bacon and Beer pairings. It’s as classic as pizza and beer. They serve what they call “Billionaire’s Bacon” and also Salmon belly, served with a flight of beers. Their annual Godwood Triple IPA has just been released. It is made with Simcoe, Mosaic, Aurora and Eldorado hops, all of them. They do three separate dry hops and a touch of caramel malt. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! Ten Years of Fogbelt and Brew Ha Ha Paul and Remy just celebrated their tenth anniversary and so did the Brew Ha Ha. They went to school together and studied moviemaking, then moved to New Zealand and ended up working for a winery and making their own beer on the side. Continuing to Australia they “became passionate” about beer. Remy studied beer and Paul studied finance and the new team was ready. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The Fogbelt location in Healdsburg is a beer garden which is also in an old train, just like Wine Country Radio. Fogbelt Brewing Co. is located at 1305 Cleveland Ave. in Santa Rosa. The Beer City Festival in Santa Rosa Courthouse Square is on February 24. There are three races, half marathon, 10 K and 5 K, which are optional. Next week the organizers will be in the studio on Brew Ha Ha. Herlinda went to the SF Beer Week gala. It was advertised as a “space” theme, including Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. Herlinda was the only person in the gala in costume. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Fogbelt is proud to be making a lot of different beers, something for everybody. Their Redwood Lager won a Gold Medal at the Sacramento State Fair. Fogbelt also organized a Beer Camp, an adult summer camp with lots of beer. They hosted it at Wildhaven in Healdsburg, which is a glamping resort. They had a few classes in search and rescue, cooking demos, a falconry demo, and most of it was all about beer. Paul’s dad is a falconer and taught a class about it.

Jenny Ogston from Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter is here to talk about their Superb Owl party this Sunday. The Victory House Superb Owl party is this Sunday, Feb. 11. It is a ticketed event to Victory House and Chuck’s Bowling. Door open Sunday at 2:30 but the whole facility is open as usual at 9:00. As of air-time today there are some seats left at Chuck’s, although Victory House is sold out for Superb Owl. There are big screens all around and the environment of a big game is exciting. Victory House proudly pours non-alcoholic beers from Athletic Brewing. Sierra Nevada also makes a really good non-alcoholic beer called The Trail House. They have 24 beers on tap, at least 12 are local breweries, hard cider and kombucha too. They also have lots of appetizers and really well made fried food, cuz it’s a sports bar! There are always new items being prepared for future menu upgrades. Jenny has brought a selectin of beers including a non-alcoholic one, a Peach Sour from Cooperage, Inhume, their IPA, from a brewery in Oakland. Herlinda Heras, Fish and Chips Judge Herlinda’s next trip will be judging the British Fish and Chips Awards, with the reception in the Houses of Parliament. 🇬🇧 We will hear all about it from her on the Feb. 29 episode coming soon. Epicenter has lots of TV screens and shows a lot of sports, everything from ESPN and ESPN-U games to pickleball, corn hole and extreme tag. They are open on days when schools are closed, so there’s a place to bring kids. Poppy Bank Epicenter has soccer fields and runs adult and youth soccer leagues. There is an arcade with old-school arcade games. They also have laser tag and a giant play structure in the little kids area. Chucks has 12 regular lanes and a private VIP area with 4 lanes. Chuck’s Garage is styled like a garage where guys will hang out.

Joanne Marino is calling in to Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, she is the executive director of SF Beer Week. Ed Gobbo from Harmonic Brewing Co. is also in the studio today. Ed Gobbo's complete interview and podcast episode is over here on this page. (This way, both Harmonic and SF Beer Week get to have their own search traffic and shareable location.) Check out Ed's interview, he has a lot to say. 🍻 SF Beer Week has a lot of North Bay events with Old Caz and Pond Farm, among many others. As the event has grown, more brewers than ever have a showcase. The Gala is back at Pier 35 in San Francisco, it’s a great party that people are eager to attend again. Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa! The late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was a great supporter of Beer Week. Joanne talks about how the member breweries who run Beer Week face challenges all the time to survive. It has been proven that breweries contribute to revitalization. For example, it is sad for the Dogpatch community that Harmonic Brewing is no longer there. As brewers struggle to survive, it is important to promote the industry to try to give these business more exposure and more attention. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options. The Gala has a Star Wars theme, so wardrobe and costumes are a factor. Watch out for Herlinda on that red carpet! There are SF Beer Week collaboration brews, Russian River will be there with Pliny, and also lots of smaller breweries like Harmonic. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and in Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more. Let’s have some fun! There are still tickets available so get ‘em now! A VIP ticket gets you access to brewers like Vinny and Natalie and selfies galore. The gala ha a space theme, so all the space movies and tv shows are fair game, including star wars, star trek star search, no not that, but spaceballs definitely There are also non-alcoholic beverages. There is a Barrel Brothers non-alcoholic beer as a sponsor. The best part is getting back together with your community. Those are the moments we missed that we want to bring back.