There is no new Brew Ha Ha show today, Thursday July 4, since our home station 95.5 Wine Country Radio is taking the Independence Day holiday. So here is a chance to listen again to our interview with Tony Magee, the now-retired founder of Lagunitas. He may be elusive and seem to have gained mythical status, but Herlinda Heras has just finished interviewing him for the Sonoma County Museum’s ON TAP exhibit, along with Don Barkley and Mark Carpenter, and today he tells his story for us. This interview was recorded live on the radio on April 18, 2024. 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 […]

Legendary brewer Don Barkley is again our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. His last appearance on BHH was this episode of March 28, 2019. Don founded the Mendocino Brewing Company in 1983 as the Hopland Brewery. It was the very first brew pub in the United States. They had a big hit with Red Tail Ale and their brew pub was the model for all subsequent ones. They are brewing a revival of one of Jack McAuliffe’s original New Albion Brewing Company recipe. New Albion was the first craft brewery. Jack made all of their equipment himself. Michael Lovett and Don Barkley worked for New Albion and left to start Mendocino Brewing after New Albion closed. Don kept all of Jack’s notes and instructions, that is how they have the exact recipe for New Albion Pale Ale to […]

Dave McLean from Admiral Maltings in Alameda is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Admiral Dave has been on Brew Ha Ha before, including this interview recorded on June 28, 2018. Dave is also the Beer Lands coordinator for the Outside Lands music festival. On Saturday June 29 they are putting on It’s The Malt, which they hope will become an annual event. Admiral Maltings’ three partners all have backgrounds perfect for their roles in the company, in beer and agriculture. They wanted to have locally grown organic malt to use as brewers and now the company supplies many other brewers too. Dave explains the role of malt starting with the fact that beer is made mostly from barley but as it grows in the field it is not ready to use in brewing. The malting process involves steeping […]

Herlinda Heras calls into the studio from the Aro Rojo 2024 in Mexico, to speak to Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today fro Monterrey, the capital of the state of Nuevo León. She is a judge in a competition called the Aro Rojo 2024. Aro Rojo means “Red Ring” and their logo is a dragon in the shape of a ring. There are both professional and home brew competitions with a total of 715 beers in the competition. There are judges from all over the world, including Charlie Papazian, the godfather of home brew in the United States. Pete Schlossberg from Pete’s Wicked Ales is also there as a judge. About a quarter of the judges are women, this year. Getting Through Customs with Beer Herlinda brought a lot of beers to show at the presentation, two suitcases worth. She always brings beer […]

Freshtival 2024 is this weekend and Colin McDonnell from HenHouse Brewing is here to tell us all about it. It takes place on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at SOMO Village. There is no beer older than seven days. Colin explains that beer is a lot more perishable than a lot of people realize. Especially when craft beer is made with carefully chosen flavors, it need to be enjoyed while fresh. So they wanted to create a festival to celebrate freshness and to show people how tasty fresh beer can be. The festival is also a chance to taste new flavors, and to taste familiar beers but fresher than ever. Early access tickets open at 12:30 and general admission is at 1:30. There are bands performing until 5:00. There are also several food vendors there. This is their fourth edition. Humboldt Cider will also be […]

Gary Saperstein, organizer of BEER FEST – The Good One, joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today on Brew Ha Ha. Gary holds the title of Development Director for Face to Face, the organizers of Beer Fest – The Good One. It takes place Saturday, June 8, 2024 at the Luther Burbank Center. Visit Eventbrite for tickets. Face to Face has for 40 years been working to end HIV in Sonoma County, 1983-2023. This year is the 31st annual edition of Beer Fest, which makes it the oldest beer festival in Sonoma County. The event is held outdoors and there will be tents and shade as well lots of beer, food and music. Face to Face In 1983 Face to Face started, right at the beginning of the Aids crisis. A group of angels saw a need for help and set up the organization […]

Jessica Christensen, Mixologist and Beverage Manager, and Robb Stites, head of Communications and Community at Graton Resort and Casino join Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Jessica is a Sonoma County native. She is responsible for all of the drinks at nine different bars at the Graton Resort and Casino. She started as a bartender at Negri’s in Occidental when she was 21. After a few years she worked at Calistoga Inn and Brewery. After that, she was recruited to the Graton casino and soon got into management there. The first drink served today, after the soothing and inspiring sound of the cocktail shaker, is an Apricot Pisco cocktail. Pisco is a distilled spirit from Peru with a flavor that is close to rum. Robb Stites had a background in public relations before coming to the casino about two years […]

Jeffery House, founder of Ace Cider is here, so is Bryan Rengel from Old Caz Beer, on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Bryan’s last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode back in January 2024. Jeffery’s last BHH appearance was this episode in August of 2022. Jeffery House, founder of Ace Cider, has a new book. The Cider King is a story of how he came from England and ended up on the west coast. He got handcuffed for not having a green card but the judge gave him voluntary departure instead of deportation. A friend of his was importing cognacs and Armagnacs and various spirits, so he started working with him. He noticed an opportunity to import British and Belgian beer. Then, on his friend’s suggestion became the first to import Sonoma wine to the UK, beginning in […]

Taylor Lane is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. She is local chapter president of the Pink Boots Society. She is also a Lab Supervisor for Gallo Sonoma, and used to do the same job for Russian River Brewing. Also in the studio today is Simone Yingst from the Santa Rosa Central Library. We also have a special guest, Simone Yingst from the Sonoma County Library. She is an adult services librarian at the downtown Santa Rosa library. There is a talk series called The Future is Fermented, happening at the library on May 22. The Pink Boots Society The Pink Boots Society is a national organization founded in 2007 by a woman brewer who realized that she was often the only woman in the room at beer events. They work on education, offer scholarships and support networking […]

The brewer and co-founder of Pivovar Raven, or Raven Brewery in Pilsen, Czech Republic are our guests today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. They are Ladislav Vrtiš, co-founder, and Jiří Vašek, whose first name translates to George in English. Miroslov Puc is also in the studio but we won’t hear from him on the broadcast. They are friends of Lana Svitankova, Herlinda’s fellow international beer judge and a recent guest on BHH. The crew from Raven Brewing in Pilzen is on a beer tour of California. First they spent 5 days in San Diego, now it’s Sonoma County and environs, including Beer City, Santa Rosa. Sierra Nevada and Russian River Brewing Co. are on the itinerary too. They just came back from a driving tour through Yosemite National Park. Czech Pilsner and German Pilsner are different. For the Czech, […]