Fogbelt Brewing founders Paul Hawley and Remy Martin are back on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Paul and Remy have been on Brew Ha Ha several times, including this episode last September and this other episode the previous August. This is a busy time for beer fans with the FeBrewary promotion and Beer City all taking place. For Beer Week, Fogbelt Brewing is making Bacon and Beer pairings. It’s as classic as pizza and beer. They serve what they call “Billionaire’s Bacon” and also Salmon belly, served with a flight of beers. Their annual Godwood Triple IPA has just been released. It is made with Simcoe, Mosaic, Aurora and Eldorado hops, all of them. They do three separate dry hops and a touch of caramel malt. Ten Years of Fogbelt and Brew Ha Ha Paul and Remy just celebrated their tenth […]

Jenny Ogston from Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter is here to talk about their Superb Owl party this Sunday. The Victory House Superb Owl party is this Sunday, Feb. 11. It is a ticketed event to Victory House and Chuck’s Bowling. Door open Sunday at 2:30 but the whole facility is open as usual at 9:00. As of air-time today there are some seats left at Chuck’s, although Victory House is sold out for Superb Owl. There are big screens all around and the environment of a big game is exciting. Victory House proudly pours non-alcoholic beers from Athletic Brewing. Sierra Nevada also makes a really good non-alcoholic beer called The Trail House. They have 24 beers on tap, at least 12 are local breweries, hard cider and kombucha too. They also have lots of appetizers and really well made fried food, cuz […]

Joanne Marino is calling in to Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, she is the executive director of SF Beer Week. Ed Gobbo from Harmonic Brewing Co. is also in the studio today. Ed Gobbo’s complete interview and podcast episode is over here on this page. (This way, both Harmonic and SF Beer Week get to have their own search traffic and shareable location.) Check out Ed’s interview, he has a lot to say. 🍻 SF Beer Week has a lot of North Bay events with Old Caz and Pond Farm, among many others. As the event has grown, more brewers than ever have a showcase. The Gala is back at Pier 35 in San Francisco, it’s a great party that people are eager to attend again. The late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was a great supporter of Beer Week. […]

Ed Gobbo, Harmonic Brewing Co. founder, is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. He was on Brew Ha Ha once before, on this episode of September 22, 2022. Joanne Marino, executive director of SF Beer Week, will call in to the show. You can listen to her phone call with Steve, Herlinda and Ed on this separate podcast episode. (Separating the podcast into two allows each one to have its own search traffic and shareable location.) Harmonic Brewing’s new location in Thrive City Harmonic Brewing’s new location is in Thrive Center at the Chase Center, where the Golden State Warriors of the NBA play. The original Harmonic Brewing location was in Dogpatch, a neighborhood in San Francisco where they began their business. Their theme is celebrating Craft, Culture and Community. The first beer they taste is Prague […]

Today Herlinda Heras’ Maui Report takes the stage on this special podcast episode of Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon. Herlinda Heras called in from Maui where she was travelling for her birthday. She extended her stay and she is finally back today. Herlinda had the opportunity to report on Lahaina when her friend who lives there invited her. She was hesitant to visit, not wanting to be a looky-loo. However as she was invited, she got to see, “many beautiful things to do” there. Whereas the Sonoma County fires were huge, covering a broad area, Lahaina is rather small. A lot of old buildings from the 1700s burned and cannot be rebuilt. But the people on Maui are still operating their business and still need tourist traffic. Thanks to her very wide circle of friends, Herlinda was able to attend some exciting social […]

Flagship Taproom and Old Possum Brewing are both in the house today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. The last time Sandro was on the show was this episode in April, 2023. Sandro Tamburin is back in the studio with a big announcement. Flagship BBQ and Old Possum Brewing are teaming up. Flagship BBQ will become the managing partner for retail operations at Old Possum, while Sandro will continue to manage the brewery operation. They will be in soft launch in February then Friday, February 16 they have a grand opening. They will also release their Triple Hopped beer, Tonic Immobility. As they are tasting a pilsner style from Old Possum called La Rosita, Sandro tells the story of Old Possum. He started as a wort producer supplying other brewers. But once he realized that he had also assembled all […]

Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Co. is on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras to talk about Pliny for President 2024. Herlinda is traveling today. We begin with Natalie telling the story of how RRBC got started, from when Korbel started the brand and hired Vinny. Later when Korbel decided to leave the beer business, Vinny and Natalie got the brand and recipes, organized a business plan with investors, and opened their brew pub in 2004 in Santa Rosa. That means that 2024 is also the 20th release of Pliny the Younger. When they had to postpone their retail release during Covid, it meant separating the wholesale distribution of Pliny the Younger from the on-site consumer retail release. The brewery is a lot bigger than it used to be and this reorganization has made the process more manageable. Pliny the […]

Co-founder of Old Caz Beer Bryan Rengel joins Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras in the studio on Brew Ha Ha today. Bryan was on Brew Ha Ha last August on this episode, and his partner Tom Edwards was a guest on this other episode from March 31, 2022. The first beer tasted today is called Chismosa Clara, their take on a Mexican Lager. There is an amber ale version. This is a lighter one, made to be like Modelo Especial. They are located in Rohnert Park which is growing and gaining popularity. A hazy IPA is the next tasting, called Early Sunset. It’s an example of a creative process of starting with a special recipe that they make in kegs only, to see if it becomes popular. If it does, they will make a label and produce it. This is how they select which […]

Herlinda Heras is calling from Maui, to talk about the Kokua Project with Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. Bryan Rengel of Old Caz Beer is also with us. Over here is the podcast episode of that entire show. Here is just the portion where Herlinda speaks to us from the Maui Brewing Company, looking at the ocean. She is there for her birthday and to see breweries that are participating in the Kokua relief beer project, which is raising money for Maui fire relief. The Kokua Project The Kokua project is a fund raiser for victims of the Lahaina fire last August. On the other side of the island from where the fires happened, it is still quite beautiful. Being from Sonoma County, we can relate to having fires and also doing brew projects to raise funds for fire relief. Please consider […]

Marc Meltonville, food historian, is our guest on today’s Brew Ha Ha podcast, in a replay of a May 21, 2020 show. There is no new show today due to bad weather upsetting people’s travel plans, so today’s podcast episode repeats one of Steve Jaxon’s favorite classic Brew Ha Ha shows. Enjoy! 🍻 Brew Ha Ha today is an interview with English food historian Marc Meltonville, on the telephone from England, talking with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Marc is the consulting food and drink historian for the historic royal palaces in the UK. So he knows a lot about what people were brewing and eating and drinking in different periods of history. Marc Meltonville jokes that being a Consulting Food Historian doesn’t feel like a real job. He entered the field when he was working in a museum and someone came to him […]