teeling whiskey

Teeling Whiskey of Dublin, Ireland

Rob Caldwell from Teeling Whiskey in Dublin Ireland, is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter. Herlinda Heras has brought Rob in for a special Tuesday edition since Rob is in town just for today. “We’re the new generation of Dublin distillers” says their website. Frank Jacuba is also in, from the Bacardi company, which distributes Teeling. “Teeling Whiskey. We let the liquid do the talking.” Rob talks about the huge revival of Irish whiskey, which was once the biggest whiskey category in the world. 70% of global whiskey used to come from Ireland, from 200 distilleries, down to two by the 1970s. Innovations in distillation changed the way whiskey was made. Also, Prohibition hurt the Irish whiskey business. Rob has brought three whiskeys to taste, a single grain, a blend and a single malt. Herlinda asks Rob to […]

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hitachino nest beer

Hitachino Nest Beer

Today on Brew Ha Ha, we meet Uichi Kiuchi the founder and brewmaster of Hitachino Nest Beer. Naoko Kiuchi, his daughter, is also here to talk about her work in marketing Hitachino Nest Beer. Pete Foppiano is sitting in for Steve Jaxon today on this special Tuesday edition of Brew Ha Ha. Mark Carpenter introduces today’s guests by telling how Herlinda Heras invited him at the last minute to visit some breweries with today’s guests from Japan. It’s the kind of day that makes him glad he’s a brewer. Vinny Cilurzo at Russian River Brewing showed them the new Windsor facility. By the way, Vinny and Natalie Cilurzo will be in the studio on January 31 with the ONLY growler to leave the facility with the new Pliny the Younger. Uichi Kiuchi’s family has made sake for 200 years but 30 years ago he felt frustrated […]

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visit santa rosa

Brad Calkins from Visit Santa Rosa

Pete Foppiano is sitting in for Steve Jaxon this week, with Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras. Brad Calkins is here, from Visit Santa Rosa. He is the executive director, or “chief eating and drinking officer.” They are doing a Beer Passport in February as part of their FeBREWary celebration. The breweries, Moonlight, Plow, Cooperage and Fog Belt will be running a shuttle, picking up people at the Smart Train and then taking them around the breweries. This is their third year of the Beer Passport promotion. Brad has brought a commemorative medal that people can earn by visiting 9 of the 12 breweries on the list.  They are all Santa Rosa breweries. The Passport looks like a map and can be stamped at any of the participating breweries. There is a welcome center in Railroad Square. This is a tie-in with SF Beer Week, which […]

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sf beer week

SF Beer Week and Temescal Brewing

SF Beer Week is at the top of today’s Brew Ha Ha agenda. Gail Williams and Steve Shapiro are in from San Francisco. They were writers for Celebrator Beer magazine and Gail is now working on PR for SF Beer Week. Sam Gilbert from Temescal Brewing in Oakland is also in and has brought beer from Temescal, a Pilsner and a single-hop Citra Ale. Mark remembers SF Beer Week used to do events at Anchor Brewery. The first was in 2009. SF Beer Week is happening all around the region now. The opening gala is Friday, February 1. Feb. 2 through 10 there are events all over the Bay Area. Temescal Brewing also has some events. They are in North Oakland in the Temescal neighborhood. They do a live canning tour called “Fresh Cans” where you can drink a beer just plucked off the […]

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Sam Levy Fernbar

Sam Levy of Fern Bar plus Ron Lindenbusch

Sam Levy from Fern Bar Sam Levy from Fern Bar, a new locale in Sebastopol, is our first guest today. Ron Lindenbusch from Lagunitas is also in the studio today. This is Fern Bar’s third week of operation. Sam Levy is one of the partners there. He used to be bartender at the three-star restaurant Meadowood. Steve says it’s about time to bring back the fern bar. They were popular starting in the late 1960s in San Francisco. Sam Levy tells about how fern bars may have become a bit kitschy but they are ready for a comeback because of their strengths. Among many attractions, they have live music, but casually, not as a full-scale music venue. A young listener called to issue a “geek alert” to ask Steve what is a Fern Bar. Sam tells about how they were a popular style beginning […]

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Vinny Cilurzo

Vinny Cilurzo, Tara Nurin and Herlinda’s father

Brew Ha Ha this week features Vinny Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing, a guest appearance from Herlinda’s dad Eloy Heras and a phone call from Tara Nurin, Forbes correspondent covering the brewing and distilling businesses. Herlinda’s father is visiting her from Amarillo, Texas. He has stories about serving in the Navy for 23 years. He tells a story about being in the Navy. He had buddies who got drunk while on shore leave and he helped them get back to the ship. But they got him to drink too so he got in some trouble since he was underage. [6:20] Getting back to beer, they taste the Russian River version of Resilience IPA. It is a fundraiser beer that Sierra Nevada put together, similar to the one that RRBC did last year with their Sonoma Pride fire relief campaign, only on a larger scale. […]

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moonlight brewing

Moonlight Brewing and Comet Corn

Brian Hunt from Moonlight Brewing joins Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras today. Also with us are Sherry and Jeff Soleski makers of Comet Corn. Steve introduces Mark Carpenter who was for a long time the brewmaster for Anchor Brewing. He describes the history of Anchor Steam Beer, whose name comes from a nickname for the beer which was on draught and highly carbonated. Herlinda Heras introduces Sherry and Jeff Soleski, makers of Comet Corn including the famous Hippie Dust flavor that you see at all the taprooms and music festivals. Jeff tells about why and how they started back in 2002. They agree you could pair a porter or a stout with the Maple Syrup flavored popcorn. Mark Carpenter introduces Brian Hunt who worked for Schlitz in Milwaukee before starting Moonlight Brewing. Stroh’s then bought Schlitz. Steve remembers their label that said […]

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shady oak barrel house

Shady Oak Barrel House

Steve Doty from Shady Oak Barrel House is our main guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter. Their website proclaims “Sour and Wild Artisinal Ales.” Bob Brewer, the former Anchor Brewing sales guy, is also in.  Mark has known Bob for a long time, even before he worked at the brewery. Mark tells about how at Anchor, they were having trouble selling beer in New York. Fritz asked him and Bob to go to New York City and went from bar to bar making relationships. He says it is a huge accident that with a name like Brewer, he got into the beer business. Once when he worked for the Renaissance Faire, they asked him to put the beer concession booths together. He learned a lot about beer and met Fritz Maytag, who was personally delivering Anchor Steam beer. This […]

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sam holloway

Sam Holloway with Steve Waters plus Chinese Rice Wine

Herlinda Heras is in today with Sam Holloway, a Portland, Oregon based brewing business consultant, and Steve Waters, owner of Backwoods Brewery in Carson, Washington. Mark Carpenter is away this week. Herlinda is just back from China and she brought some rice wine back, which she says is not like Sake, the Japanese product. Sake is brewed like beer with Koji, their type of yeast. They talk about Wilibees in Santa Rosa and Petaluma that always has a great selection of beers. Herlinda mentions Revision Brewing, voted the #3 new brewery in the US and #1 in Nevada, and that Wilibees always has some of their product in stock. Sam Holloway & Steve Waters Herlinda Heras has brought Sam Holloway today. He is based in Portland, Oregon and has come for the California Craft Brewers Conference. His company is called Crafting A Strategy dot com. They […]

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herlinda heras china

Herlinda Heras Back from China

Herlinda Heras is back from China and will tell us about her recent trip to theCraft Beer China 2018 Exposition in Shanghai. Pete Foppiano is sitting in for Steve Jaxon today, who has the day off. Mark starts by telling about the fantastic success of the Sierra Nevada Brewing initiative that Ken Grossman started. Because of the fires, Sierra Nevada set up a program for other breweries to make a certain beer, and all its profits would go to supporting those affected by the fires. Over 1000 breweries worldwide have joined in and will contribute. Herlinda says it’s a good example of how beer can bring world peace. The China Brewers Association asked Herlinda to co-host the first Awards, last week. Snow Brewery, a Chinese state company, is the largest brewery in the world, it was a major sponsor. AB Inbev also sent their executive […]

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