Tara Nurin, historian of women’s role in brewing history, is our guest again on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. She was on the show on this episode on February 23, 2023, with her book A Woman’s Place Is In the Brewhouse. Lana Svitankova is also here, she is a beer judge from Ukraine and a judging colleague of Herlinda. She is visiting for some events associated with the opening of the Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP on Saturday April 27 at 4pm. On Tuesday, April 30, at 1 pm, Tara Nurin, Lana Svitankova and Herlinda Heras will be appearing at a conference at UC Davis as part of the Professional Brewing Program. On Saturday, April 27, Tara will be reading the chapter about Sonoma County, at the exhibit. That is the story that starts with the opening of […]

Tony Magee, the now-retired founder of Lagunitas, is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. The last time Tony Magee was on Brew Ha Ha was this episode in 2014. Today he and his wife have a ranch where they host retired horses and also some cattle. Herlinda Heras has been working with the Museum of Sonoma County to organize On Tap, the exhibit about craft beer history that is opening this weekend. Tony sat for a video interview for the exhibition and he is pleased to be part of it. He started Lagunitas in 1993 and grew it into one of the largest breweries in the country. In 2017 Heineken acquired the company. Tony tells the interesting back story to the acquisition. Lagunitas was beginning to sell beer outside the US, which is not easy to do. He also […]

John Burton, beer memorabilia collector, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. He is working with Herlinda Heras who is assisting the Museum of Sonoma County with its upcoming exhibition ON TAP, about Sonoma County hops and the history or craft brewing. John Burton made a great collection of beer memorabilia while he worked as a bartender in Santa Rosa for a long time. He also operates a well-known bartending school called Santa Rosa Bartending. Herlinda has organized interviews with some of the biggest names in local beer history, like Tony McGee and Mark Carpenter, for the museum. She connected them to John Burton and he will be providing some choice items for the exhibit. Grace Bros. was a local brand that started in 1897 in Santa Rosa and the brand continued until the late 1960s. John’s […]

Richard McChinak and Ben Kerstetter from Battle of the Brews are in-studio guests on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Richard McChinak, is the Battle of the Brews co-chair, and Ben Kerstetter is the newly elected incoming President of the 20/30 Club, Santa Rosa chapter n. 50. The 20/30 Club started doing this event 27 years ago. They only had about 20 breweries back then but now there are many more. Saturday April 6 from 1-5 pm at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. There are 20/30 chapters all over the country. They do a lot of fundraising events for under-privileged youth in Sonoma County. As musical attractions, Battle of the Brews has Painted Waves and Voodoo Vultures playing plus a local DJ Rob Cervantes, who is a Drive Hall of Famer. Herlinda Heras has been going to Battle of the Brews since […]

Today’s Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras is a Triple Header! We have three great guests. Cynthia Caughie from Homerun Pizza is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras and she brought some Knuckleballs, their specialty. Cynthia was also on Brew Ha Ha in November, on this episode. Ryan Frank, head brewer at Headlands Brewing is here. Ron Lindenbusch is also in today. He is a founding father of Lagunitas and a self-titled beer weasel, however emeritus. Ron Lindenbusch’s complete interview is on his own dedicated podcast episode, right here. This episode is all about Homerun Pizza. Ryan Frank’s talk about Headlands Brewing is also on its own podcast episode. This way, each guest gets to have a unique online destination for their own search traffic. Also, it keeps the individual podcast episodes to a nicer, […]

Ron Lindenbusch, Hopland Tap founder and owner, is back again on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. He has been on Brew Ha Ha several times, including this episode on July 5, 2018, again on May 28, 2020 along with Natalie Cilurzo, and again on May 6, 2021. These episodes chronicle Ron’s career with Lagunitas up to and including the Heineken purchase. Today’s live radio show is a triple-header. We have two other guests in the studio along with Ron today. The episode with Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here. Ryan Frank, brewmaster at Headlands Brewing, also has his own podcast episode on this page. Since he left Lagunitas at the end of a very successful run, Ron found the perfect location in Hopland to set up the tavern that he always dreamed of. Steve remembers when it was the Hopland Brewery, […]

Ryan Frank, Headlands Brewing head brewer, joins Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, in studio today, with Cynthia Caughie and Ron Lindenbush. Each of the other guests have their own podcast page from today, Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here and Ron Lindenbush is here. In this episode, we hear mostly from Ryan Frank. Headlands Brewing started in Marin County but has recently put roots down in the East Bay. They have a taproom in Lafayette and they produce their beer in Pittsburg. They are dedicated to philanthropy and they pledge 1% for the Planet. Ryan describes Earth to Beer, a collaboration among 40 different breweries. “A better world is brewing,” is the slogan. They are tasting a Kolsch which is a beer from Koln, a light crisp soft and floral beer, an ancient German specialty. They source all of their […]

Natalie and Vinny Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha for the 2024 Pliny the Younger release. This is an annual event on Brew Ha Ha, for example, here is last year’s release show. Natalie has been getting ready for this year’s release. This morning they had their kickoff meetings for staff at Santa Rosa and Windsor. Everything is ready to begin this weekend. The Pliny the Younger will be available until April 4. The recipe is mostly his year Vinny says he has added more of a New Zealand hop called Nectaron. The 2024 Pliny the Younger is 10.25% alcohol, so the idea is to hide the alcohol with lots of other flavors. “It’s still hard to believe.” – Vinny Cilurzo It was back in early 2005 when the brewery was less than a […]

Eric Stanley from the Museum of Sonoma County is our guest, here to discuss ON TAP Sonoma County Hops and the Craft Beer Revolution, an exhibition that will open on April 20, 2024. He joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, live in the Wine Country Radio studio. Herlinda Heras has been in England and Ireland, which we heard about about over the last few episodes. Now she will be staying in town to assist with the exhibition. There are two paths to this exhibition, as Eric describes it. One is about the history of hops as part of Sonoma County agriculture and the other is about the more recent craft beer revolution. Brew Ha Ha will be a sponsor of this exhibition. Herlinda is personally acquainted with many of the people who have made history in local brewing. She has been busy bringing several […]

Herlinda Heras is judging at the 2024 British Pie Awards and calls in to Brew Ha Ha today, and with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Here is an episode of Brew Ha Ha from March 22, 2018, when Herlinda had just returned from that year’s  competition. The winners are listed at the 2024 British Pie Awards website. Today we hear all about her itinerary on her current trip to the England and Ireland. She began in London, judging the National Fish and Chips competition. Then, she visited Dublin, Ireland, where she saw Teeling Whiskey, the Guiness attraction “Beer Disneyland” and a museum exhibit. Her last stop was the British Pie Awards, an annual event in the town of Melton Mobray. This is Herlinda’s 10 year as a judge in this competition. The pies at the 2024 British Pie Awards are very traditional […]