st. florian's brewery

Amy Levin of St. Florian’s Brewery

Our guests on Brew Ha Ha this week talk about how the people of Sonoma County have rallied to help each other through the fires and their aftermath. Please consider making a donation to the Red Cross which has done so much to help Sonoma County again this year. Amy Levin of St. Florian’s Brewery is our guest on Brew Ha Ha this week with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, while Mark Carpenter is still traveling. St. Florian is the patron saint of firefighters. Amy’s husband Aron is a firefighter and they are the owners of St. Florian’s Brewery. Also in the studio today is Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Co. St. Florian’s Brewery and Russian River Brewing Co. are neighbors in Windsor. The Levins founded the brewery about seven years ago and they have always donated 5% of their profits to fire-related and […]

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brian hunt

Brian Hunt founder of Moonlight Brewing Co.

Due to the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, there is no live Brew Ha Ha show on KSRO today. For this podcast episode, here is a repeat of our July, 2018 visit with Brian Hunt, founder of Moonlight Brewing Co. Please consider making a donation to the Red Cross which has done so much to help Sonoma County again during the fires this year.) Brian Hunt, Moonlight Brewing founder and brewmaster and Shannon Thomas, tasting room and social media manager, are in today with Herlinda Heras and Steve Jaxon. Mark Carpenter is away this week. Brian Hunt started Moonlight Brewing in 1992. He jokes that he needed to support his beer habit and he actually stared home brewing in his bedroom when he was in high school. He had some German friends who helped him too. He graduated from UC Davis brew school in […]

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Kevin Lovett

Don Barkley and Kevin Lovett

Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon today features Don Barkley and Kevin Lovett. Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras are both traveling. Don was last on Brew Ha Ha back in March of this year. Don Barkley tells the story of how he was there the day that Kevin was born, on the 4th of July. Kevin’s dad Michael and Don Barkley have been friends for a long time. They worked together at the New Albion Brewery then they moved to Hopland at the same time to start the Mendocino Brewing Co. and the Hopland Brewery and Kevin Lovett was born soon after that. Kevin was one of Don’s first employees at the Napa Smith Brewery, where he worked for about five years. Then he got an offer from Brian Hunt who owns and operates Moonlight Brewing Co., which also happens to be where Don’s […]

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Home Brew Expert Panel

Today we have a home brew expert panel on Brew Ha Ha with Pete Foppiano sitting in for Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras. They have several guests, all are experts in home brewing. They are tasting some home brews which Mark says are delicious. There is a dark and a light, they are very dry, nice and thirst quenching. Scott Cradde is a co-producer of the Mendocino Home Brewers’ Festival in Ukaiah in November. (The power is out in the studio today, due to fire danger, so there is no air conditioning and no wi-fi.) There are other things to do around the event, with a farmers’ market before it in the morning and an outdoor fashion show with local boutiques, afterwards. They have a top prize “The Brewer’s Pick” gets to spend a day at Anderson Valley Brewing and brew the […]

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scott bice

Scott Bice from Redwood Hill Farms

Scott Bice from Redwood Hill Farms joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today.  Redwood Hill Farms is known for its fine goat cheese and yogurt and now they are also growing hops, under the name Capracopia. Adriana Basurto works at Lagunitas and is also the Secretary for the NorCal Hop Growers Alliance. There are 15 hop growers in Sonoma County with over 10 acres planted to hops. Shone Farms (at Santa Rosa Junior College) is also planting hops. Adriana was a student in the brewing program at Santa Rosa Junior College where the faculty sponsored the opening of the Shone Farms hop field. They are putting on an event on Oct. 20 to teach about growing hops, at the 4th annual Hop Education Seminar. It is a great place to connect to brewers and learn about growing hops, including zoning […]

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Tara Nurin

Tara Nurin discusses tariffs

[The Brew Ha Ha live show of Sept. 26 is not available due to technical difficulties. This podcast episode was recorded on Oct. 3.] Tara Nurin calls in on today’s Brew Ha Ha. Tara Nurin is the Forbes magazine beer and spirits contributor, a friend and colleague of Herlinda Heras and a frequent guest on Brew Ha Ha. She speaks with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda about threatened tariffs on imported European products like beer, wine, spirits and other consumer goods. European leaders and merchants today (10-3) slammed the Trump administration’s threats to levy import tariffs on European goods. This includes French wines, cheese, whiskey, Scotch whiskey, and more. It seems that the administration is targeting unique specialty foods from Europe for 25% tarrifs. Tara and Herlinda explain that when products are unique to their place of origin, there is no substitute product for it. […]

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wet hop beer

Wet Hop Beer and Old Possum Brewery

Wet hop beer is the subject and our guests are from Old Possum Brewery, Scott Weiss from Redwood Hill Farm (where they produce great local goat cheese) and now Redwood Hill Hop Farm, and Sandro from Old Possum Brewery. Herlinda Heras and Mark Carpenter are also in today. Old Possum Tap Room and Kitchen is located in Santa Rosa (off Standish at Sutton) and have been open for a year and a half. The got started by transporting wort to local breweries. Later they decided to start producing too. They try to up-cycle whatever they can, their tasting room was built with all used equipment. Sandro is from Trieste in northeastern Italy. He worked in wine, with D’Argenzio in Sonoma County and other places. He still makes wine but he has moved into beer too. There are fresh hops in the studio, see the pictures […]

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Kim Lentjes

Kim Lentjes & Dutch Beer Academy

This episode was originally recorded on August 3, 2017. There is no new BHH episode this week due to other programming on home station KSRO. Kim Lentjes & Jeroen Hobert are our guests on Brew Ha Ha today. Kim Lentjes founded the Dutch Beer Academy in 2015 and it is still going strong. She organizes training courses for restaurant staff, tastings and Kim is also active as a judge in beer competitions. Steve first mentions that Sapporo of Japan has just bought Anchor Brewing, which was news back then in 2017, when this show was recorded live. Mark’s opinion is that it is great because today, a successful brewery will have to have its own bars, like Gordon Biersch. If Anchor wants to continue to sell in New York and Chicago, they need bars there and Sapporo can do that. There are no changes […]

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jardesca

Jardesca low-alcohol spirits

Marshall Dawson is our guest on Brew Ha Ha today, with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras all in studio. Marshall Dawson is one of the founders and owners of Jardesca low-alcohol spirits, which is located in Sonoma. With Jardesca, Marshall Dawson’s company had started a trend with lower alcohol drinks, which have nice flavor “…but you don’t have to get schnookered,” says Marshall. Jardesca makes Californian alternatives to European aperitifs. Both their white and red blends have a blend of three kinds of Californian wine with eau de vie (which is French for Grappa) some botanicals. Marshall and his business partner have both lived in England, where there is an aperitif culture, which begins daily at around 5pm. When he moved to wine country in 2006 he wanted to create something from California that was appropriate for aperitifs. He thought that if it’s […]

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brew unique

Ramon Tamayo & Mike Gilmore of Brew Unique

Brew Ha Ha today welcomes Ramon Tamayo and Mike Gilmore. Ramon Tamayo is the brewer at Russian River Brewing, working for Vinny Cilurzo. He used to work for Mark Carpenter at Anchor Brewing. Mike Gilmore is a brewer in Paris, France. He runs Brew Unique Paris, a shop in Paris where customers come for home brew classes and learn to make beer.  He grew up in the American northeast but has lived in Paris for 20 years. Mike says that there are some good new breweries in and around Paris. He has friends who organize guided tours to Belgian and French breweries. He worked for Boulder Brewery in Boulder, Colorado, starting in 1991. Two professors from CU Boulder started it in 1979. Mark Carpenter remembers that Boulder had a hazy beer, back then, called “The Ugly Beer” that they used to serve as a joke in […]

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