Bob Brewer visits Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter this week, plus Steve speaks with Herlinda Heras who is in Rimini, Italy, again this year, to judge the Italian “Beer of the Year” competition, called “Birra dell’anno” in Italian. Mark Carpenter worked with Bob Brewer at Anchor Brewing in San Francisco for many years. First, Steve Jaxon talks to Herlinda Heras who is in Rimini, Italy, for the second straight year, where she is a judge in this year’s national competition. There are 108 judges from 15 different countries. They are judging only Italian beers. Italy is known for wine, but also for flavor, and their craft beer scene is very well developed. Mark Carpenter tells how there were no breweries in California at the time of the Gold Rush, which attracted people from everywhere, including northern Europe. They wanted to […]

Today on Brew Ha Ha, Natalie Cilurzo is here from Russian River Brewing Co., with some bottles of this year’s Pliny the Younger, one day before the public release, which is tomorrow, Friday February 7, 2020. Brew Ha Ha and The Drive are pleased to host the Pliny the Younger unveiling again as we did last year at this time. This is the first year that this beer will be put in bottles. Pliny the Younger is their rarest and most sought-after beer. They decided that this was the year to put it in bottles, although they will only be sold in the brewpubs and none for distribution. There is only a certain amount every day. People came last year from 40 different states and 17 different countries, for the Pliny the Younger release. Customers can only get two bottles per person per day. Their […]

Our guests on Brew Ha Ha today are from Shaker and Spoon, a monthly cocktail subscription service based in Brooklyn, NY. Anna, Mike and Amy have just come from the airport after their flight from JFK. They will visit The Science of Cocktails, a show at the Exploratorium in San Francisco (which used to be held at the Palace of Fine Arts). Herlinda has brought some cocktail tools from home and they will make some cocktails today. Herlinda’s friend Erin from Petaluma, who produces Bitter Girl Bitters, told Herlinda about Shaker and Spoon. (Erin was on Brew Ha Ha back in May of 2018.) Bitter Girl Bitters is one of their ingredient suppliers. Shaker and Spoon is a monthly subscription box that comes with everything you need to make 12 cocktails, except for the alcohol. You can make four servings each from three different […]

Jim Woods, founder of Woods Brewing Company is our guest today. Michelle Marques is sitting in for Steve Jaxon, with Herlinda Heras and Mark Carpenter. They will talk about Woods Beer & Wine Co. and also about SF Beer Week. Jim is a friend of Mark’s daughter, they went to school together in San Diego. Years ago, Jim asked Mark about making beer with Yerba Mate and Mark admits he didn’t think it would have success. Woods Brewing makes several kinds of unusual beers which do not follow the traditional beer ingredients. Using processes and ingredients like grapefruit zest and bourbon barrel aging, brings people in to tasting craft beer. “We try to take a unique approach to everything we do,” says Jim Woods. Jim talks about making a mess at home when he first tried to make beer at home, while he was […]

Judy Ashworth joins Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras today on Brew Ha Ha. She was a legendary and influential Bay Area publican for many years and has known Mark Carpenter since the 1970s. A publican is a person who owns and operates a pub or bar. The term is more in use in Britain but it is also American. Mark tells about how Judy took over a little bar in Sinole, California, that served the major brewers but she also began bringing in beer from all the micro-brewers in the area. Unfortunately it burned down, which made the news because there were a lot of local reporters who drank beer there. Nevertheless she persisted! She rebuilt with plenty of help from friends and the rest is glorious history. Clever Promotions When people asked her what is her favorite beer, she has been […]

Zane Lamprey joins Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha this week. He is a writer and performer who has done shows about drinking culture around the world and in the US, as well as other subjects. He also runs a company that produces outdoor gear, called Adv3nture. Mark Carpenter is back this week. He has been traveling for two months, mainly in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. He went to the world’s oldest winery located in a cave in Armenia and has come back with lots of travel stories to tell. Zane Lamprey tells the story of how he was called to audition for the show that ended up becoming Three Sheets, a show where he talks about drinking customs with his guests. (The term Three Sheets is a reference to an old American expression for being drunk, “three sheets […]

Rob Lightner from East Brother Beer Co. joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today on Brew Ha Ha. Mark Carpenter is away this week. East Brother Brewing Co. is named after an island in San Francisco Bay called East Brother Island, near their home city of Richmond, California. They are located in the old shipyards where they built 747 ships during WWII. Rob Lightner and his friend Chris Coomber founded the brewery three years ago. They are also neighbors in Richmond. The brewery has a tap room in Richmond, near where the old Pixar offices were. They have food trucks that come to the tap room. For entertainment and competition they have darts, bocce and ping-pong. Rob is glad that people come there to play and talk with each other, not to stare at their own phones the whole time. Their beer styles are […]

Sean Paxton, The Home Brew Chef, is back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. Mark Carpenter is away on vacation. Sean has several turkey recipes on his website. Each recipe highlights a different set of flavors but they are all for beer brined turkeys. The alcohol in the beer helps tenderize the meat. You can use all kinds of beer. He also suggests tangerines or other types of citrus. Last year he used Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA and blood oranges in one recipe. Beers that have rich malts which have a little more sugars in them, work very well too. You can cook it in the oven, or other ways like sous vide, smoking, on the grill, or deep fried. Herlinda Heras mentions that you must follow precautions if you’re deep frying a turkey, and Sean has all […]

Due to holiday season travel schedules, there is no new Brew Ha Ha show today, so here is a repeat of a favorite show from last August featuring Ramon Tamayo, brewer at Russian River Brewing Co, and Mike Gilmore, Paris-based micro-brew shop owner.  Brew Ha Ha today welcomes Ramon Tamayo and Mike Gilmore. Ramon Tamayo is the brewer at Russian River Brewing, working for Vinny Cilurzo. He used to work for Mark Carpenter at Anchor Brewing. Mike Gilmore is a brewer in Paris, France. He runs Brew Unique Paris, a shop in Paris where customers come for home brew classes and learn to make beer.  He grew up in the American northeast but has lived in Paris for 20 years. Mike says that there are some good new breweries in and around Paris. He has friends who organize guided tours to Belgian and French breweries. He […]

The American Brewing History Initiative at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is the subjcet of this week’s Brew Ha Ha podcast. Steve Jaxon talks to Herlinda Heras, on the telephone from Washington DC. She is attending the Smithsonian’s grand opening of the exhibition. The exhibition is a celebration of the most recent generation of American brewers.  They are bestowing honors on Anchor Brewing, Sierra Nevada and New Albion. New Albion was the first brewery in America after Prohibition, located in Sonoma. The American History Museum is hosting this exhibit. Fritz Maytag is there and so is New Albion founder Jack McAuliffe, as well as Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada. Herlinda learned that Jack McAuliffe was stationed at Alameda with the Navy before founding New Albion. There are food events, tastings and talks to celebrate the exhibit. According to the exhibit’s website, “The […]