Norman Greenbaum is our guest on Brew Ha Ha today, joining Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras. Norman wrote and performed the iconic 1969 song “Spirit in the Sky.” Herlinda Heras is back from her trip to Portugal and has brought three Portuguese beers to taste. Norman Greenbaum is a longtime Sonoma County resident. Steve asks Norman if he is still surprised at the success of his song. It has been in movies and commercials and continues to have its own life. Any band or singer wants to have a hit record, and he was lucky to have a hit on the charts. He says he may have been a one-hit wonder but it has been in over 60 movies and a couple dozen commercials. It was in an ad for Audi in the last Super Bowl. Spirit in the Sky was in […]

Today on Brew Ha Ha Steve Jaxon gets the whole story from Mark Carpenter about Anchor Brewing, its history and historical context, its production and its role in American brewing. (We were expecting guests from San Francisco’s Fort Point Beer Co. but they are stuck in traffic and will reschedule.) Mark Carpenter started working at Anchor Brewing in 1971 after he met its owner Fritz Maytag. Mark was looking for a more interesting and rewarding line of work and found that at Anchor. Mark retired a few years ago and Anchor’s new brewmaster is Ramon Tamayo, who was also on the show recently. Right now, Mark is tasting a Shadow of a Doubt Imperial Porter from Russian River Brewing Co. It’s warm but it’s fine, Mark says that if a beer is good it should be good at room temperature too. “In warm countries […]

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 […]