Herlinda Heras opens the show with a live phone call from Aveiro, Portugal, where she is a judge in the Ibeerian Beer Awards (Ibeerian spelled with two EEs). Portugal and Spain have a great emerging craft beer market. Portugal in the past didn’t attract so many American tourists but Herlinda saw many fellow Americans in Lisbon on this trip. Aveiro is a beautiful old town with canals and is known as the Venice of Portugal. The Ibeerian Beer Awards have judges from 13 countries. Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter welcome Kevin Verstrepen, a yeast expert from Belgium, and Vinny Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Co. Vinny Cilurzo has brought Kevin to the show because there is a big convention in Rhonert Park, right here in Sonoma County, this week, all about the yeast in beer and wine. The American Society of Brewing Chemists and The […]

Today we meet the 420 Waldos, the guys who started the term “420” back when they were in high school in Marin County in the 1970s. They tell the story of how they invented the name Waldos at San Rafael High School in 1971. They go by “Waldo Dave” and “Waldo Steve” and Herlinda has also invited Sam from Lagunitas. Herlinda met them at a Lagunitas limited-release party a few years ago. Steve and Dave tell about being high school students who hung out and kept themselves amused with interesting things they discovered. They took trips looking for inspiration. They heard about some hologram inventors in Palo Alto. He brought his friends the next week and Dave named these trips a “Safari” which meant it was like a scouts trip, but they were high. They called themselves the Waldos because they would hang out […]

Adam Spiegel from Sonoma Distilling Company is back with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras today. Adam tells how they started with a 700 square foot distillery, then into a 6000 square foot facility for the last five years, and now they have a new 12,000 square foot facility with a 9000 square foot barrel room. Now he can make more whiskey and better whiskey. He started making beer and wine, then grappa, then whiskey. He explains what grappa is, which is a distilled product made from the pumice, the leftover crushed grapes and other material that is left over after wine is made. They “rehydrate” the material then distill it. The pots distillation method will produce a lower alcohol, more full bodied whiskey, with more viscosity and esters and mouth feel. This is what he wants in a premium product and he […]

Vinnie and Natalie Cilurzo are here to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Russian River Brewing Company in their Santa Rosa location. Steve and Vinny tell the story how Vinny was running the brewery at Korbel, as a consultant. Then they opened another brewery at Lake Sonoma Winery which is now Sbragia. But in 2002 Korbel decided to get out of the beer business and Vinny wanted to keep the brewery going so he traded his severance for the Russian River name and raised $750k. That is how they started. The rest of the show is the rest of the story. (34 min)

Craft brewing legend Don Barkley is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras today. Don tells the story of how his career began with Red Tail Ale, which he came up with in the early ‘80s. He founded Mendocino Brewing Co. in 1981 after he had worked at New Albion, the first craft brewery. They were operating in the Hopland Brewery. Now Don Barkley and Ron Lindenbusch are producing Red Tail Ale and Eye of the Hawk again, and they are both on tap at the newly reopened Hopland Tap House. For now, Red Tail Ale is on draft. They might produce it in cans later on. Right now they are making the beer at the Napa Smith Brewery. Don operated that brewery for about 10 years so he knows the equipment and the people, as well as the […]

Pete Foppiano is sitting in for Steve Jaxon this week as Herlinda Heras and Mark Carpentner review some beers, rum and cocktail recipes that Herlinda has brought back from her trip to Puerto Rico. Herlinda has brought beer and rum back from Puerto Rico. They start tasting with a beer from Ocean Lab Brewery in Puerto Rico, one of the coolest breweries Herlinda has ever seen. They took an old convention center that had been vacant for ten years. They have a private beach. This beer has a passion fruit flavor. To help the smaller breweries in Puerto Rico, this bigger brewers Herlinda was in Puerto Rico for Tales of the Cocktail, an event that was started after Hurricane Maria. This organization is similar to efforts in New Orleans to bring tourists back after Katrina. All of the attendees did some service for the […]

Ramon Tamayo from Anchor Brewing joins Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter this week on Brew Ha Ha. Herlinda Heras will call in from Puerto Rico too. Ramon grew up in Petaluma and worked at McNear’s Saloon & Dining House in Petaluma. Ken O’Donnell ran it and recommended Ramon so Mark hired him. Ramon started on the packaging line in 2011 and worked his way up into different departments. He was a home brewer before but really learned the craft by studying and working at the brewery. The beer community is tight-knit the those with experience have shared advice with him. He had the idea for a beer called Los Gigantes, made for the SF Giants, with a Mexican-themed label. It was his first project where he did the recipe and the design idea. Anchor started as a brand in 1896, which is when the […]

Rio Nido Roadhouse and Crooked Goat Brewing are our guests on this “Flood Recovery Edition” of Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter. Herlinda Heras has invited guests from these two establishments to describe the challenges they are facing since the recent rains and floods. Herlinda Heras is back from her travels but she’s getting ready to leave again. She was just in Italy to judge the Italian national Beer of the Year competition. Then she went to Malta to visit some friends in their vacation home there. The entire nation of Malta is a Unesco World Heritage site. While she was in Malta they had the strongest storm in a century, so strong that there were fish washing up on shore. Herlinda brought back a special bottle of beer from Italy, from Birrificio Italiano, and also a Maltese beer. Today’s guests […]

Today on Brew Ha Ha our guests from Barrel Brothers brewing Company. are Wesley Deal, a founder and brewmaster of Barrel Brothers. We also have Barrel Brothers account rep Tom and JJ from Becoming Independent, who will describe their new collaboration. Wesley Deal is a founder and brewmaster of Barrel Brothers Brewing Company. Tony is an account rep. Wes tells how his brother Daniel and father-in-law Tom got started with a home brew kit and formed a brewing partnership. He also did the UC Davis brewing program. Barrel Brothers Brewing Company was founded in 2015. They are located in Windsor with a taproom, but they are mostly production focussed. They do live music and food trucks every Friday. Becoming Independent, a local organization that helps people with any kind of developmental disabilities. JJ explains their connection to Barrel Brothers is that they are the […]

Herlinda Heras calls in live from the island of Malta, which is in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily and east of Tunisia, where the local time is 2:30 am. Her friends in the beer business have a home there and they are importing American and European beers. In the rest of the world, including places which have not been known for beer, beer is hot, especially American and Californian beer. Malta has an interesting history, a small island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean. It is “stunningly beautiful.” In Malta there are temples from 5000 BC. It is well known as a scuba diving destination. They brew traditional lagers, the most famous of which is CISK. Herlinda finds a lot of Californian beers at Wilibees to bring as gifts for her friends in the beer business, when she travels. She is staying […]