Beer memorabilia collector Ken Hartoonian joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. At the Grange in Santa Rosa, Saturday Aug. 9, 9am-2pm, the Breweriana and Antique Advertising Show. It is a collection of brewery advertising apart from just cans but also lots of different kinds of promotional items. Grace Brothers brewers was a famous local brewery that was in operation from before Prohibition until 1962. Some of their cans are featured in the show. Ken has one of the most impressive collections of historic beer memorabilia and artefacts. He started when he was 12 years old, he loves sticker so he wrote to companies to ask for them. Then in 1975 the beer can collecting craze took hold. Before he knew it he had more than 100 cans. The closet grew into a storage unit and […]

Renée De Luca joins Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha to remember her father Jack McAuliffe, who recently passed away. Renée was on this show a year ago, talking about her father and some new activity around the brand he founded. Here is part one of that episode, and Part Two follows here. Renée De Luca joins us on the telephone, she is the daughter of Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion brewing company, who passed away just recently. He passed away on July 15 at the age of eighty. He founded a whole beer revolution, is no exaggeration. His passing has been covered widely in the mainstream press such as NPR and the Washington Post, as well as many beer publications. During his life he was already the subject of some articles, due to his influence, although that came near the end of […]

Brent Koen from Surfside Drinks is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Brent has brought a lot of Surfside drinks today. The brand started on the east coast. He brought the Green Tea pack, the Ice Tea pack and the Lemonade pack. All are lower alcohol beverages. The company started as a vodka distiller but their mission changed as they read the market. The founders geared up with makeshift equipment in the parents’ basement. It was about the time that Breaking Bad was on TV. When their father saw the brew lab, he thought it was a meth lab or he acted as if it were that, and he kicked them out. So they got investors and got serious. Stateside Urban Craft Vodka started doing well, before Covid. When they noticed that people […]

Eric and Pedro from the BBQ Team at Fogbelt Brewing join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Every year Stumptown Brewing puts on the Russian River Beer Revival and BBQ Cookout. This year is it on Saturday, August 16th. The Fogbelt team is competing with their ribs at the festival this summer. The Santa Rosa taproom is 1305 Cleveland, and the Healdsburg location is in a red caboose. They are tasting a beer called Eye of the Hawk, the second of their tribute brews to Mendocino Brewing Co. They started with a run of Red Tail Ale. Pedro started at Anchor brewing in San Francisco. He was the curator of the tour program, so he had access to the brewery operation as well as to the library and archives. He became a tour guide there and eventually moved to another brewery […]

Today is the first Krush Backyard Concert, so we have Mark Cohen from Moonlight Brewing, who are pouring at the concert. He joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke who is sitting in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. Mark has brought some Reality Czech Pils, which won a Gold Medal in the Pilsner category, out of 167 entries. Pilsners are not an easy beer to make. They are cold fermented and takes a lot longer to make. Moonlight’s Pilsner is not filtered, but to make it clear they use an enzyme which takes out the solids and the glutens in the beer. It is not registered as gluten free but it is very low in gluten. There was a time when Brian Hunt started making beer with spruce tips and redwood tips, when there was a threat of a hop shortage. In […]

Parliament Brewing Co. co-founder Adam Bosch joins Harry Duke, in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Adam’s last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode on December 28, 2023. Herlinda’s father Eloy and brother Anthony Heras are also in the studio today. Eloy devoted his career to the US Navy. He liked Olympia Beer and Herlinda got her first taste of beer from him. Adam Bosch talks about Parliament Brewing Co.’s plans to expand and their calendar of events. They had a cheesesteak invitational for National Cheesesteak Day last March. Their anniversary party September 20-21 this year, celebrating their sixth anniversary. They are located at 5865 West Labath Ave. Adam likes to think of it as just west of Costco and south of the casino in Rohnert Park. They are dog friendly as long as the dogs are. The […]

Bex Pezzullo, founder and cider maker of Sincere Cider, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Bex started Sincere Cider right at the time of the pandemic. The lockdown started six days after she canned her first batch of cider. She had a 20 year career in event promotion and marketing, and she had a lot of personal contacts whom she had hope would help her at her launch. Instead of that, she ended up employing some friends who were unemployed bartenders to deliver cider. After that, since business was slow enough, she bought a 1993 camper van, named it Farley after the Chris Farley “living in a camper by the river” and hit the road. In every new city up the road, she would look for the cool bottle shops, bars and restaurants and bring cider to […]

Trevor Zebulon, founder of Goat Rock Cider, is here on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon and with Herlinda Heras. Trevor Zebulon started Goat Rock Cider with his friend Paul Hawley, before the pandemic. It was a side hustle for both of them, but the pandemic wrecked his regular business, a transportation company. Then he decided to go “full bore” ever since in Petaluma. He used to have a jazz club called Zebulon’s Jazz Lounge. He has a tasting room upstairs from where he makes the cider that has some of that old vibe. Goat Rock Cider is the only fully organic cider maker around. Some people use organic apples, but they follow organic practices throughout the process. He is only one person, by himself, so you have to make an appointment. He is there just on Saturdays for […]

Dan Klasen of the Beverage Federation calls in to speak with Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha, about the impact of impending tarrifs and more. Dan Klasen is the founder and President of the Beverage Federation. He is calling from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is based. The Beverage Federation Herlinda asks Dan to explain the Beverage Federation’s work, and also for his opinion on the impending tariffs. They are a group purchasing organization to provide resources to craft brewers. Their goal is to gain purchasing power by buying in bluk on behalf of their members. They are a growing organization. Companies in the craft beer industry have been focused on lowering operating costs. Other industries have similar services. The Federation gets inquiries from operators across the country that have the same issues, for example, when the price of cans or other supplies increases suddenly. […]

Owner Michael Dunsford and Brewmaster Nick Bartlett from Napa Valley Brewing Co. join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on The Drive Brew Ha Ha. This is their first time on the program. The brewery was founded in 1987 and Michael’s family bought the brewery in 1989. It is on the grounds of the historic Calistoga Inn. Steve Jaxon used to live there in those years. Many great memories. Herlinda introduces Nick Bartlett. After Mad Fritz, this is the second Napa Valley brewery featured on Brew Ha Ha lately. Nick has been at Napa Valley Brewing a little over a year. He moved to Calistoga with his wife from Oakland for the job. It is quiet in his neighborhood, nothing like Oakland. In Oakland he was a brewer at Buck Wild Brewing, which is a gluten-free brewery. The Calistoga Inn The Calistoga Inn is a […]