Dave MacLean is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, to talk about curating the beer experience at Beer Lands. It is part of Outside Lands 2025, in Golden Gate Park, on August 8, 9 & 10th. He has been on BHH before, the last time was this episode a couple of years ago. Dave is also a co-founder of Admiral Maltings and is the former owner of Magnolia Brewing. Dave is also here to tell us about opening a new brewery called Hidden Splendor Beer. His discussion of the new brewery is on this other podcast episode. This allows each of today’s subjects, Outside Lands and Hidden Splendor, to have their own audio track and search traffic. 😉 This is the 12th year for Beer Lands. It will get a different look and feel this year. Dave describes […]

Dave MacLean is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, to talk about Hidden Splendor Beer and Outside Lands 2025. He has been on the show before, the last time was this episode a couple of years ago. Hidden Splendor Beer is Dave’s new brewery that will be opening soon. Dave likes to create good beer and then places to enjoy it in. That is what he did in his previous endeavor, Magnolia Brewing. He will be brewing a lot of traditional beers, bitter, mild, light mild, porter, stout, pilsners and lagers. Dave is also here to tell us about Beer Lands for Outside Lands 2025 on Aug. 8, 9 & 10 in San Francisco. His discussion of that is on this other podcast episode. This separation allows each of today’s subjects, Outside Lands and Hidden Splendor, to have their […]

Ned Lawson from Ethic Ciders is here with Dana Glei from the Gravenstein Apple Fair on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. We featured Ned Lawson and Ethic Ciders on this episode back on August 1, 2024, before last year’s Gravenstein Apple Fair. Herlinda calls the fair “the cutest little country fair” with old-fashioned attractions and lots of fun. The music lineup is on this page of the website. The Gravenstein Apple Fair takes place at Ragle Ranch Park in Sebastopol on August 9th & 10th. The craft cider tent started with just a few producers and this year there will be 18 different local producers there. The only rule at the fair is that the apples have to be grown locally, from within 100 miles. Ethic Ciders New Lawson started Ethic Ciders 10 years ago and opened the tasting room a […]

Dr. Ron is here with Docta-Ron beer, along with Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo on Brew Ha Ha with Herinda Heras and Steve Jaxon. Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company are in the studio with guests from New Zealand. Brent McGlashen is a fifth-generation New Zealand hop grower. He and Vinny spent today brewing the test batch of a special beer they will release later this year. Also in the studio is Dr. Ron Beatson who is the most famous New Zealand hops expert, and David Biondi, who represents New Zealand hops in the US. The beer Docta-Ron is named after Dr. Ron. Their special beer will use a new variety of hops called NZ-109. It has taken ten years in development. The special brew will use this new variety of hops that they nicknamed “Juicy.” The California Lake Cluster was imported […]

Ron Silberstein, a co-founder of Admiral Maltings in Alameda, joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. He used to run The Thirsty Bear Brewing Company for 27 years in downtown San Francisco. At Admiral Maltings they also have a pub called The Rake in the same building, overlooking the malting floor. It is located on a former Naval base. (Alameda Naval Air Station was one of the biggest Navy airports anywhere.) Admiral Maltings is reintroducing an old-fashioned way of making malt that makes a high quality product. Barley is the most commonly used grain for beer and whiskey. Grains have to be broken down before the yeast can do its job. So the grain is soaked which lets it start to germinate, then they stop the process and dry it. They grow all of their grain in California. Before WWII, […]

Fogbelt Brewing Company owner Paul Hawley is here along with Native American brewer Pedro Mancilla to tell about the return of Red Tail Ale. Hawley, co-founder of Fogbelt Brewing Company is here along with Native American brewer Pedro Mancilla to talk about bringing back Red Tail Ale. Fogbelt is making some of Mendocino Brewing’s classic Red Tail Ale. This was the most famous brew early in the craft brewing movement. In the 1980s it was one of the leading new beers. Fogbelt Paul tells how he and Remy Martin started the brewery in 2013 after home brewing for a time. Remy studied brewing at UC Davis. They opened their brewpub on Cleveland Ave in Santa Rosa in 2014, then outgrew that space. They moved production to an offsite warehouse. Then in 2022 they opened the Healdsburg Beer Garden in the red caboose. Pedro Mancilla […]

Drew Patterson joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha to talk about the Marin Irish Festival. It is coming back to Lagoon Park, Marin County Fairgrounds on May 3 and 4, 2025. It’s a celebration of Irish music, dance, and culture. They will have more than 40 artisan vendors and craft booths. Feast on traditional Irish food (corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips, shepherd’s pie). To drink, there will be pints of Guinness, Harp, and local hard ciders and ales. The Marin Irish Festival is a production of Red Barn Productions. They are famous for The Great Dickens Christmas Fair and the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. The festival takes its inspiration from Beltane, the ancient Celtic holiday that celebrates the arrival of summer—with Maypoles, music, dancing, and revelry. They will have live Performances on Four Stages and, new for this year, […]

All five of the original 420 Waldos are in the studio today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Waldo Dave and Waldo Steve were on Brew Ha Ha once before, on this episode of April 18, 2019. This time, all five of them are here. Steve, Dave, Jeff, Larry and Mark are here, they are the original Waldos from San Rafael High School in the early 1970s. There is ample documentation of their invention of the expression 420 on their website. It is the first time all five of them have been together for a radio interview. They used to hang out on the wall, every day between classes and after school. “We were all about comedy and having fun.” They also listened to a lot of music, including the great bands from the Bay Area at the time. Lagunitas […]

James Pardieu and Richard McChinak, co-chairmen of the Battle of the Brews 2025 join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Richard was in the studio last year on this episode to promote the same event. Battle of the Brews 2025 will be Saturday April 12 from 1-5 PM at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. This year marks the 25th annual event. It is sponsored by the Active 20-30 Club of Santa Rosa, a charity organization for persons between age 20 and 39. Members age out at 40, so there are always new people on the scene. More than half of the event is about BBQ now. There is also cider, Kombucha and mead. Herlinda is judging the beer competition in the morning, for the 11th or 12th year. The first time she remembers being the only female judge, but that’s not the […]

Hendrik Cuver and his wife Amber Cuver, from CuVer Brewery in Windsor, join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. They are here to talk about their Windsor, California brewery where they specialize in Belgian beer. Hendrik was on this episode of Brew Ha Ha back on September 16, 2021, when they were just opening the brewery. He was also on this episode on May 5, 2022, a year and a half later. Also today, Harry Duke will be calling in live from Russian River Brewing Co. in Windsor. The Pliny the Younger public event is in full swing there. His portion of this live radio show will be on this separate podcast episode page, to allow each guest to have their own audio and podcast indexing. Cuver’s Origin Hendrick and his father were used to drinking Belgian beers when they […]