Jan and Marsh from Gray Whale Gin join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. This show was recorded live on May 7 of this year. The regularly scheduled live Brew Ha Ha is preempted today for ongoing coverage of the Lightning Complex fires in Sonoma and Napa counties. Gray Whale Gin is made with ingredients that are foraged and harvested all along the west coast of Mexico and California, the range of the Pacific Gray Whale. There is lime harvested in Baja California, juniper and mint from the central California coast, and more. He invites bartenders to submit recipes for cocktails that highlight their flavors and in return for the promotion they will send a bottle of their gin. Jan explains how she and Marsh thought there was a need for more craft spirits from California that used local ingredients and […]

Palooza Brewery & Gastropub co-founder Jeff Tyler visits with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on this edition of the Brew Ha Ha podcast. Palooza is located on Sonoma Highway in Kenwood. Jeff Tyler has brought food and beer from Palooza, to show some beer and food pairings. Jeff Tyler was working in construction in 2008 when the economy went bust. He started a hot dog stand, that grew into a catering business, then he opened this restaurant that has been open for six years. They have a lot of space on six patios and the scenery around there is beautiful. They actually do also ferment beer on site. Palooza also does pick-up up to about 8 or 9 o’clock. They are drinking what Jeff Tyler calls the Porch Pounder, a 4.5% alcohol pilsner. They also have “The Mask Dropper” which is an IPA much stronger. It’s […]

Taylor Lane, Russian River Brewing Company‘s head lab tech, joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on the Brew Ha Ha podcast today. She was in graduate school in Microbiology at Cal Poly Pomona, working as a lab technician and manager and researching her thesis subject of probiotic bacteria, when she found that they had a culinary program. She thought there could be good professional opportunities for her in the brewing field. She worked for Ritual Brewing company while in school and then for Innovation Brew Works, where she set up their entire lab operation. Three years ago she joined Russian River Brewing Company as head lab tech. The lab is at the center of the production process, as Taylor Lane describes it. Day to day, they test the tanks that are in process and perform various analytics. They look for sugar, color, turbidity or […]

Michelle Marquez is filling in for Steve Jaxon today on the Brew Ha Ha podcast, Herlinda Heras has brought guests from Wolf House Brewing in Cloverdale, Kevin Lovett and Dwayne Moran. Kevin Lovett grew up around craft beer. His father was one of the founders of Mendocino Brewing Co. He and Don Barkley took the equipment from New Albion and started Hopland which became Mendocino.  When Barkley founded Napa Smith, Kevin asked for a job and started on the bottling line. Then Brian Hunt, who also worked at New Albion, gave him a job at Moonlight Brewing Co. After that he was head brewer at Stumptown, and then master brewer at Cloverdale Ale. Now he is running Wolf House with his partner Dwayne. He describes the challenges of opening a brewery and brewpub in these times. They were open for about three weeks before precautions. They […]

Sipsong Spirits founder Tara Jasper joins Michelle Marquez (sitting in for Steve Jaxon) and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Sipsong Spirits has recently won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World’s Fair for its Indira Gin. Tara Jasper says she never thought she would be distilling gin. She began her career working for other people and then heard the wisdom that people should do what they love. So she enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College in the culinary program. She experimented with making flavored liqueurs. In order to make liqueurs better, she had to become a distiller. Indira Gin also supports a good cause. Tara is a breast cancer survivor and she supports “Fight like a Girl” which is a breast cancer support community. Herlinda has made a cocktail with Sipsong Spirits’ Indira Gin (using a shaker that we hear […]

Fal Allen from Anderson Valley Brewing Co. and Gabe Jackson from The Beverage People are both on Brew Ha Ha to talk to Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Fal Allen was on this show two years ago, in August of 2018, talking about his Gose beer. The Beverage People sells kits for brewing specific types of beer, including one that uses Anderson Valley Brewing’s recipe for Gose style beer. This is a German style that AVB has been making and now its recipe is available to home brewers. The Beverage People has been supplying Sonoma County home brewers since 1980 with equipment, ingredients and expertise, for making beer and wine at home but also mead, kombucha, cheese, olives, and more. During the pandemic a lot of people have started baking bread, and they all agree that these folks should also try brewing beer. Gose […]

Spirit Works Distillery’s co-owners Ashby and Timo Marshall are our guests today on the Brew Ha Ha podcast with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. They have just been named the 2020 American Distillery of the Year. Gabe from the Beverage People and Fal Allen from Anderson Valley Brewing are also in. Herlinda has just fixed up a cocktail with some of their Bourbon and Sloe Gin, Campari and orange bitters from Bitter Girl. They founded the distillery in 2013. His family has made Sloe Gin for a long time, in England. They wanted to bring their traditional recipe to California. They have a retail location in The Barlow, they are open Wednesday through Sunday 10-4. They can also ship within California. They have been awarded Best Distillery in the USA by the American Distillers Institute, which they are very proud of, Timo says it’s the biggest […]

Black is Beautiful is the cooperative fund raising recipe from Marcus Baskerville of Weathered Soul Brewing in Austin, Texas. Natalie Cilurzo calls in to talk to Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today on Brew Ha Ha. Black is Beautiful now has over 1000 participants and they will taste and describe Russian River Brewing Co.‘s version of it today. Natalie describes how the city of Santa Rosa has closed five blocks of 4th Street downtown, from now until October 15, so that restaurants, including the Russian River Brewing Co. downtown Santa Rosa location, can provide additional outdoor seating with social distancing. There is a little parklet in front of their place. Bayside Church donated their time and materials to build parklets for the restaurants that wanted them. Natalie really appreciates that effort. In Windsor, Russian River Brewing Co. is closed for dining and open for beer […]

Ace Cider’s brand ambassador Ed McGrath and founder Jeffery House join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today on the Brew Ha Ha podcast. Ed McGrath says he became a cider ambassador by loving cider. He started drinking cider when there was a beer strike in Canada, many years ago. His family had a little vineyard in St. Helena and he felt more comfortable working with cider than in the wine business. Jeffery House is on his way to the studio and will join the show soon. In England, cider is a drink for every social class. It is also very popular in Normandy, France, the north-west region. Cider is the number one drink in that region of France and there are many brands and small local productions. This one they are drinking comes from Isigney-sur-Mer, which is reputed to be the town that Walt Disney’s family […]

Today’s beer market is the subject of today’s Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon. He and Herlinda Heras talk with Tara Nurin, Forbes magazine correspondent who writes about the beverage and spirits markets. Her June 30 article in Forbes magazine is called “Alcohol Sales Are Not Spiking or Even Stabilizing, Here’s Why the Misconception Matters. She says she has heard reports in the media saying that alcohol sales are supposedly booming during the Coronavirus crisis, but she knows well, that is not the case, which her article explains in great detail. People have been buying more from liquor stores, but overall sales are down. So much revenue comes from public sales in restaurants and lots of other public locations, which have been closed. The retail sales increase does not make up for the losses. Alcohol sales have only spiked in to-go sales, like everything […]