Soundscape Brewing Co. founder Ashley Harrell joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke in the studio on Brew Ha Ha today. The Freshtival is this Saturday, June 25. It is a production of Hen House Brewing and an updated list of breweries is on the Hen House Freshtival web page. There are breweries from as far away as Portland and San Diego and every beer will be no more than 7 days old. Ashley got to beer from other avenues. She studied music in college and as an art song and opera singer, her dream was to sing on Broadway. She worked behind a bar while living in New York City and pursuing a career in musical theater. Having developed an interest in craft beer, she then worked a brewery and started home brewing. Now she is looking for commercial space in Benicia. As an […]

Colin from HenHouse Brewing is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke today. HenHouse is one of the organizers of the June 25 Freshtival, which is a HenHouse production to showcase freshness. Tickets are going fast. They will be bringing in about 160 different fresh beers from 80 or more brewers. No beer served on June 25 will be more than a week old. There will be breweries from as far away as Portland and San Diego. Herlinda asks Colin to explain what makes a beer fresh. Colin talks about how people know instinctively that fresh food is better and that food that is left out will rot, smell bad and not be appetizing. The same is true of beer. The basic principle applies to beer as to any food. Colin explains that the big factor is oxygen, which […]

Kevin Lovett from Wolf House Brewing is our in-studio guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras. Kevin was master brewer for Cloverdale Ale Co when he bought Wolf House in October 2019. He was going to open two places at once. He is inspired by Jack London, who was a Glen Ellen resident. Some other beers are also named after Jack London stories. The beer they are drinking is called Burning Daylight, which is the title of a Jack London short story. Dutch Courage is another one. We hear about how they managed to open the brewery and restaurant and then finally the music venue. This achievement has fulfilled his original goals. Check out the Freshtival page at the Hen House site for all the info. Lots of food, beer and music, including some gluten free choices, something for everybody. […]

Moonlight Brewing co-owners Brian Hunt and Patrick Rue join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Brian is the founder of Moonlight Brewing and Patrick Rue is now a co-owner. Patrick is the former owner of “Bruery” in Orange County which he sold. After opening a Moonlight Czech Pils Reality Czech, we hear their stories. Patrick started brewing in 1992 and just kept at it. He started in a barn near the airport then to Graton 10 years later then to Coffey Lane and has been there since then. It’s walking distance for lucky residents of Santa Rosa. Lagunitas bought 50% of Moonlight, then Heineken bought Lagunitas. Now Moonlight is back local with Patrick Rue. Brian gets to tell the story of looking for just the right partner for a long time. Patrick has been a fan of Moonlight since drinking […]

Pond Farm Brewing Company co-owners and co-founders Trevor and Stephanie Martens join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. They own and operate Pond Farm Brewing in nearby San Rafael, California. The name Pond Farm Brewing has a fun history. Pond Farm was an artists’ residency and workshop that started in the 1940s, in Guerneville. It became known for pottery in the 1950s as the studio of Marguerite Wildenhain, a famous potter originally from Germany. Trevor’s father was there so he remembers how the community was focused on craft and disciplined work habits. They also have other professional careers. When they chose the name, they had not chosen the location yet. Trevor tells about the transition from aerospace engineering to brewing. He took an internship at Fogbelt, to see how the hobby could feel as a full time job. Among all […]

Freshtival 2022 is the subject today with Sayre Piotrkowski from HenHouse Brewing, who joins Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Freshtival is a HenHouse event, “a celebration of the art of freshness” that reflects their mission statement. Covid stopped the Freshtival for a couple of years but it is back now for 2022. The Freshtival takes place on June 25, 2022, 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, at SOMO Village in Rhonert Park. Tickets are available on Eventbrite dot com. Ticket prices are lower for advance purchase. HenHouse Brewing makes extra efforts to enforce their standards of “second half beer quality.” That means their beer is never warm stored, all of their trucks are refrigerated and the beer goes directly into cold storage at delivery. This is an important distinction for HenHouse in the craft beer competitive environment. “The rigors of time, […]

Golden State Cider’s new owner and Seismic Brewery founder Christopher Jackson is back on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras. He was last on Brew Ha Ha on this episode that aired back on July 2, 2019, the day before they opened the Sebastopol taproom. They are tasting some cider called Save the Gravenstein, which Chris calls an expression of Sonoma County Gravenstein apples. He has known the partners of Golden State for a long time. He would like to take Golden State Cider national, that is the goal. Some of their apples already come from the Pacific Northwest but they could source apples from places like Saratoga, NY too. Sustainability for the Long Term He explains that brands like Seismic and Golden State could be managed for exploitation but he has other ideas. We hear about their desire to run […]

We have two guest brewers from Seismic Brewing Co. on Brew Ha Ha today, Anthony Ayez aka Turbo and Christian Toran, brewing engineer. They are celebrating Seismic’s 5th anniversary this year. Tremor is their sister brewery, all organic and all locally sourced. They have won several important awards lately for their Tremor California Light Lager. It won 2021 Gold medal at Great American Beer fest and a silver the year before. It also just won at the World Beer Cup in Minneapolis. This international award only happens every other year and it is the biggest award in the business. Seismic grew up developing recipes in their owner’s garage, and now they run a sustainable brewery in Santa Rosa. They have world-class water re-use practices. They have been located in the Barlow in Sebastopol for the last three years. May 20-22 they are throwing a […]

Hendrick Verspecht joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke today on Brew Ha Ha. Hendrick is a co-founder of the first authentic Belgian-style brewery in Sonoma County, cuVer Brewery. The last time he was on Brew Ha Ha was this episode on September 16, 2021, when cuVer was just about to open their Windsor location to the public. Since then the brewery has won an important award and has seen an increase in orders for its award-winning brew. He learned brewing in his garage at home in Belgium and studied plant biology at university in Belgium. Now the family has this brewery in Windsor with a lot of others nearby. Tara Nurin will call in from Minneapolis, Minnesota to report on the Craft Brewers Conference. They had the most entries they have ever had at this year’s edition. Tara’s call is posted separately on this […]

On this episode of the Brew Ha Ha podcast, Tara Nurin calls in from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to report on the Craft Brewers Conference and Brew Expo America. She writes about the business of beverage and spirits for Forbes magazine. She has recently published a book, A Woman’s Place Is In The Brewhouse, which Herlinda reports has surpassed 10,000 sales on that big website that people buy stuff from, and she is also thee most frequent guest ever to appear on Brew Ha Ha. Tara Nurin tells the story starting with the great relief everyone felt, to be around friends and colleagues again. Natalie Cilurzo was the keynote speaker and people are coming away with a good feeling about it all. Herlinda mentions that Bart Watson, economist for the Brewer’s Association, has published some data that looks good even after the pandemic. Tara tells of […]