The first guest today is Cody Kay, the winner of the 2018 Sonoma County home brewers competition. As the winner, he gets to brew his winning “Durstlosher” beer by special arrangement with 101 North. Steve welcomes Mark Carpenter and wonders when he will ride his horse down from Petaluma for a Thursday afternoon show. After Herlinda tells about Wilibee’s and their special stock, Herlinda introduces Cody Kay, who is 28 and has just won the Sonoma County Home Brewers Competition, produced by the Petaluma Downtown Association, at the Petaluma Fairgrounds. This year they did it at 101 North, who is a sponsor. The winner will have his brew produced professionally and sold by 101 North. Helles is the name of a traditional German pale lager beer, typical of Bavaria, especially Munich. “Hell” in German means “bright, light, pale.” Cody is actually brewing at home, […]

Tara Nurin is today’s guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras. Tara Nurin covers the beer and spirits business for Forbes magazine. (Follow Tara on Twitter here.) Mark begins by tasting a German beer, then later they will taste beer from Louisville, Kentucky, which Herlinda was able to procure. Tara Nurin lives outside of Philadelphia and Steve remembers being in Philly for the Democratic convention in July of 2016. Tara says that the beer culture in Philly is in the top 5 in the country. Herlinda points out that Philly Beer Week was the first beer week in a city, even before San Francisco. In addition, Tara has been covering beer and spirits for Forbes for two years and she was their first on that beat. She gets to travel a lot and just came back from Germany. […]