Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon & Mark Carpenter is a weekly one-hour radio show and podcast where we interview the leading craft brewers and we taste and describe the beers we talk about. The conversation is always lively, entertaining and informative. Beer expert Mark Carpenter was for decades the brewmaster of Anchor Brewing in San Francisco and brings a unique perspective with his vast experience.
Anderson Valley Brewing Co. CEO Kevin McGee joins Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras. The last time Kevin was on Brew Ha Ha was this episode from last November. Also, AVBC brewmaster Fal Allen has been on Brew Ha Ha many times. His last appearance was this episode in September 2023. Tara Nurin is also in the studio today for the live Brew Ha Ha radio show, and her part of the conversation is on this podcast episode.
Wellness and mental health is an important topic in the brewing industry, especially after the uncertainty and stress of the last few years. Listen to Tara Nurin speaking about that today, on this podcast episode. Under the new owners of AVBC, the company expanded its suite of mental health benefits for employees. They also have opened pathways for people to have access to therapy.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Their first tasting is the Black Light, 95 calories, and it is black like a stout even if it is a light. It won the European Beer Star Award, another silver medal two years ago and it won the Brussels Beer Challenge last year. They love this beer. It’s great to have a new beer that is so successful. There weren’t a lot of good light craft beers. They started with the intention of making a good tasting beer and it happened to be light, at 3.8% ABV. It gets its black color from black rice, not from blackened malt as usual with dark beers. This was Fal Allen’s invention.
He also wanted to make a Pilsner, which is The Pilsner under ABVC’s label. Summer Solstice is another periodic beer that has some devoted fans.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
Anderson Valley Brewing Co has been practicing sustainable brewing for long before Kevin became CEO. They use only water drawn from wells on their property and they return all their used water to the ground. It is a zero-effluent operation.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
They expect about 3000 people at the Booneville Beer Fest on Sat. May 4, May the fourth be with you, Star Wars fans. It is a benefit for local charities all within about 10 miles of the brewery. It is their 26th edition.
Tara Nurin
Beverage industry mental health is the subject with Tara Nurin today on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras. Tara has been on Brew Ha Ha many times, the last time was this episode just last week.
The day before yesterday, Lana Svitankova, Herlinda and Tara were at UC Davis speaking about the brewing industry. Tara was there to discuss her book and to read a part of it. The students at UC Davis in the brewing program come from all over the world. Lana and Herlinda talked about international judging and they took questions from the students. The members of the panel at UC Davis were an all-star lineup of the craft brewing world.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
Last night they attended Lo and Behold’s event called A Beautiful Mind, a fund raiser for NAMI, the National Association for Mental Illness. They held a cocktail competition and a raffle and it was sold out. May is National Mental Health Awareness month. You can order the Beautiful Mind cocktail at a roster of local restaurants and the proceeds go to NAMI.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
People in the beverage and hospitality industry can suffer physical and mental ailments due to work stress. She has been developing ways to teach resilience to managers, owners on how to create holistically healthy workspaces. In addition, Tara teaches workers to understand their own needs and to be able to maintain a stable state of mental health for the long term.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Tara practices Transcendental Meditation and she also applies it to her efforts to reduce stress in the hospitality workspace.
Smith Street Taps 10th Anniversary commemorative glass.
Meng and Kim Chow, owners of Smith Street Taps in Singapore, join Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. It is their first time on Brew Ha Ha. Lana Svitankova is also in the studio today. Her full conversation with Herlinda can be heard over here on its own podcast episode.
Meng and Kim have brought a Smith Street Taps glass like the one pictured here, as a gift for Steve. They have just celebrated their tenth anniversary. They also have another stall now, called by a similar name, Smith Street Taproom.
Herlinda met Meng and Kim in Singapore when she was judging in the Asia Beer Cup. The city is obviously very clean and well organized, and Herlinda remembers feeling safe in the city, even when she got lost at night.
Smith Street Taps is located among the hawker stalls in Singapore. These are large food courts with many restaurants serving a wide variety of styles of food. It is Singapore’s way of organizing what would otherwise be street food.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
Kim explains that Smith Street Taps is the first and only hawker stall dedicated to craft beer, among all the many hawker stalls in Singapore. They have craft beer on tap from all over the world.
Hawker culture in Singapore is heritage, so it is protected, promoted and highly appreciated.” -Kim Chow
Rumble in the Jungle (photo by Lana Svitankova).
Meng has opened a beer called Rumble in the Jungle, a Stout which he produced in a collaboration with Brewlander, a local brewery, and Jungle Beer, formerly of Singapore and now based in India. It is a stout flavored with chickory from India, with an 8% ABV. “Works for me!” says Steve Jaxon.
Herlinda remembers a 16 hour flight from California to Singapore, which Meng and Kim also just did. Thinking out loud, next time, she might fly 9 hours to Japan first, then fly the next leg from Japan to Singapore, another 9 hours.
The Singapore Sling is the number one local cocktail. It is a gin-based cocktail believed to have been created by a bartender at Raffles Hotel in Singapore. They still serve them there, so go get one if you’re visiting Singapore, it can’t be missed. Spoiler Alert! –> In a shaker with ice, add gin, cherry liqueur, Cointreau, Benedictine, pineapple juice, lime juice, Grenadine syrup and a dash of Angostura bitters. Serve strained into a hurricane glass.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Meng had the first craft beer bottle shop in Singapore, before Smith Street Taps. He is on his way to Boston for his son’s graduation from Northeastern University. Meng’s great wish is to find out how he can get to drive a hop picking machine like the one at the museum.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
The Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP is about the history of hops and beer in Sonoma County. It will remain open until September 1. Click on the green the On Tap logo (or that link) to visit the museum’s website:
Photo credits: featured image, C.Y. Shing, Flicker/PD/CC. Beer glass, Smith Street IG. Rumble bottle, Lana Svitankova.
Tara Nurin, historian of brewing, at UC Davis
Tara Nurin, historian of women’s role in brewing history, is our guest again on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. She was on the show on this episode on February 23, 2023, with her book A Woman’s Place Is In the Brewhouse.
Lana Svitankova is also here, she is a beer judge from Ukraine and a judging colleague of Herlinda. She is visiting for some events associated with the opening of the Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP on Saturday April 27 at 4pm.
On Tuesday, April 30, at 1 pm, Tara Nurin, Lana Svitankova and Herlinda Heras will be appearing at a conference at UC Davis as part of the Professional Brewing Program.
On Saturday, April 27, Tara will be reading the chapter about Sonoma County, at the exhibit. That is the story that starts with the opening of New Albion, the first new brewery post-Prohibition, which opened in 1976. Tara tells the story of the man and two women who founded New Albion. Tara’s book tells about the women have been involved in brewing throughout history.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
Lana has translated some books about brewing into the Ukrainian language. She is also a promoter of the Ukrainian style of beer, a golden ale. She describes it as a cousin of British and Belgian golden ale, the difference is that the Belgian is stronger and the British is lower in ABV and not that sweet. Ukrainians like it sweet and not very bitter.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Until recently, a Ukrainian golden ale has been available in markets in Los Angeles. The one that Lana has brought has a name that is hard to pronounce. Lana used to work for a Ukrainian brewery called Barbar, who made golden ale and stout, mostly. Herlinda met Lana when they were judging in Finland and Poland.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
The Museum of Sonoma County exhibit ON TAP is about the history of hops and beer in Sonoma County. Don Barkley did a video interview with Herlinda, that will be playing in the exhibit. It opened with a big crowd on April 20 and will remain open until September 1. Click on the green the On Tap logo (or that link) to visit the museum’s website:
Tony Magee returns to BHH with Herlinda Heras.
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 retired horses and also some cattle.
Herlinda Heras has been working with the Museum of Sonoma County to organize On Tap, the exhibit about craft beer history that is opening this weekend. Tony sat for a video interview for the exhibition and he is pleased to be part of it. He started Lagunitas in 1993 and grew it into one of the largest breweries in the country. In 2017 Heineken acquired the company. Tony tells the interesting back story to the acquisition. Lagunitas was beginning to sell beer outside the US, which is not easy to do. He also had grown Lagunitas to a point where the US market was starting to feel saturated with new beer brands as the popularity of craft beer grew. He started to think about a longer term plan for the company, rather than endure infinite domestic competition. Heineken was (and is) the last family-owned global brewer.
Click to visit the Museum of Sonoma County website.
All the other big companies are multinationals. Tony says Lagunitas never really discussed the acquisition with other companies because none of them had Heineken’s character. Hearing him tell the story, he sounds really pleased with how it all happened. He says he thought of the brewery as an art project, with an artist will eventually sell and once that happens, that’s it. He gives credit to Heineken for updating the structure of the business operation but for not changing the beer or the recipes and the brew master is still there.
This is the best time in the last thousand years to be a beer lover. -Tony Magee
Herlinda asks what the inspiration was for the brewery. For Tony, he was doing a completely different job. He was in commercial printing sales and he was a home brewer. His brother got him a home brew kit for Christmas of 1992, in January of ’93 he brewed it, and by December of 1993 the brewery was open. He recognized things in brewing that reminded him of music. As musician that helped him understand brewing.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
A lot of Lagunitas beer is IPA style and hop focused. His friend Grant Johnston who was a brewer at Marin Brewing would also homebrew. He was experimenting by adding his hops late in the boil, which boosted the flavors and didn’t let bitterness develop by boiling too long. This was how they created a hop-forward style that became the central thesis of the brewery.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
22:50, they mention Cappuccino Stout, which Tony says may be one of the earliest coffee beers in the US. (In a Kurt Vonnegut story written long before the craft beer era, there is a mention of an award-winning beer in a fictional Indiana state fair, and coffee was the secret ingredient.)
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
They also mention the 420 Waldos and the Lagunitas beer that celebrates the story. The Waldos were guests on Brew Ha Ha on this episode back in 2019. They remember the Beer Circus, which sounds like you had to have seen it.
John Burton, beer memorabilia collector, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras today. He is working with Herlinda Heras who is assisting the Museum of Sonoma County with its upcoming exhibition ON TAP, about Sonoma County hops and the history or craft brewing.
John Burton made a great collection of beer memorabilia while he worked as a bartender in Santa Rosa for a long time. He also operates a well-known bartending school called Santa Rosa Bartending.
Herlinda has organized interviews with some of the biggest names in local beer history, like Tony McGee and Mark Carpenter, for the museum. She connected them to John Burton and he will be providing some choice items for the exhibit.
Grace Bros. was a local brand that started in 1897 in Santa Rosa and the brand continued until the late 1960s. John’s collection of bottles and cans starts in their first year. John has a lot of Grace Bros. pieces.
In the show, we hear a 30-second commercial for Grace Bros. beer, from John’s collection. It was recorded probably in the 1960s in Hollywood, California. In the 1940s, Grace Bros. was the fourth-largest brewery in California. Here is the commercial:
http://brewhaharadio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Grace_Bros_Beer_30_sec.mp3Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
John Burton is a member of a beer memorabilia organization that organizes exhibits. Herlinda’s friend Ken Hartoonian also has a collection. He was a guest on Brew Ha Ha recently. John shares memories of the Grace family and how they decided to stay in Santa Rosa instead of Southern California.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
John is also the writer and publisher of some books about his collection. He has also written an instructional book about bartending, called Bartending Basics.
Herlinda is organizing a reception for all of the ‘legends’ of the local brewing industry. She will invite the founding fathers and mothers of the business. She is looking forward to the On Tap exhibition being full of really interesting, beautiful and memorable material.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
Russian River Brewing is a sponsor of the exhibit, so is Lagunitas and Oliver’s Market. The sculpture garden is beautiful and they will turn it into a beer garden for one evening. The grand opening is April 27.
Richard McChinak and Ben Kerstetter from Battle of the Brews are in-studio guests on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. Richard McChinak, is the Battle of the Brews co-chair, and Ben Kerstetter is the newly elected incoming President of the 20/30 Club, Santa Rosa chapter n. 50.
The 20/30 Club started doing this event 27 years ago. They only had about 20 breweries back then but now there are many more. Saturday April 6 from 1-5 pm at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. There are 20/30 chapters all over the country. They do a lot of fundraising events for under-privileged youth in Sonoma County.
As musical attractions, Battle of the Brews has Painted Waves and Voodoo Vultures playing plus a local DJ Rob Cervantes, who is a Drive Hall of Famer.
Herlinda Heras has been going to Battle of the Brews since its beginning. This is Herlinda’s eleventh time judging at this event. It’s a chance to meet all her friends in the business. The weather is supposed to be good. One year the band was Digital Underground but they had to scale it back after that year.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
There is a big Raffle Station in the middle of the show. All of the money raised goes to causes related to helping kids. The $95 admission ticket gets you all the food and drinks you can manage to enjoy, plus all the music and the whole scene. They also have cider, hard kombucha as well as non-alcoholic options.
This year the Barbeque section is different, they doubled the number of BBQs and brought in many other food vendors. There is an entire parking lot full of food vendors.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
The judging is a BJCP-sanctioned event. There is also a People’s Choice award. Some brewers will bring exclusive beers brewed just for the event. There are even awards for Best Chicken and also a People’s Choice award for barbeque.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
There are so many beers and it is so much fun that it is easy to drink more than you thought you would. So plan you transportation with all the options available, except driving.
Today’s Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras is a Triple Header! We have three great guests. Cynthia Caughie from Homerun Pizza is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras and she brought some Knuckleballs, their specialty. Cynthia was also on Brew Ha Ha in November, on this episode. Ryan Frank, head brewer at Headlands Brewing is here. Ron Lindenbusch is also in today. He is a founding father of Lagunitas and a self-titled beer weasel, however emeritus.
Ron Lindenbusch’s complete interview is on his own dedicated podcast episode, right here. This episode is all about Homerun Pizza. Ryan Frank’s talk about Headlands Brewing is also on its own podcast episode. This way, each guest gets to have a unique online destination for their own search traffic. Also, it keeps the individual podcast episodes to a nicer, shorter length.
Cynthia got to spend some time in Arizona for Spring Training, and the players loved the knuckleballs. Watch the Homerun Pizza website for evidence of how much the players like them.
Homerun Pizza is open Sunday Monday and Tuesday from 3:00 to 8:00; Wednesday & Thursday 11:30 to 8:00 pm and Friday & Saturday 11:30 to 9:00. Happy Hour is every night from 3-6 pm. Every Wednesday, 2 Knuckleballs for $5. It’s their signature dish, their pizza dough stuffed with mozzarella cheese and with bacon or peperoni. They are doing a special Knuckleball, with sausage, and also a vegetarian version with tomato and basil.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Right now this year they are doing one specialty Knuckleball per month. For Valentine’s Day they did Nutella and pretzel, with salted caramel. For March, it’s the Sausage Knuckleball.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
They have a dish called Homerun Fries, made with French Fries, bacon, jack and cheddar cheese and their Homerun Sauce, a spicy Ranch. Herlinda calls it Sonoma County Poutine which is hilarious!
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
Ron Lindenbusch, Hopland Tap founder and owner, is back again on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras. He has been on Brew Ha Ha several times, including this episode on July 5, 2018, again on May 28, 2020 along with Natalie Cilurzo, and again on May 6, 2021. These episodes chronicle Ron’s career with Lagunitas up to and including the Heineken purchase.
Today’s live radio show is a triple-header. We have two other guests in the studio along with Ron today. The episode with Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here. Ryan Frank, brewmaster at Headlands Brewing, also has his own podcast episode on this page.
Since he left Lagunitas at the end of a very successful run, Ron found the perfect location in Hopland to set up the tavern that he always dreamed of. Steve remembers when it was the Hopland Brewery, they had bands including some pretty famous ones. Hopland Tap also does live music. This Saturday the band is Left-Hand Monkey Wrench.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Herlinda Heras is helping the Museum of Sonoma County develop its upcoming exhibition ON TAP about the history of brewing in Sonoma County. Ron Lindenbush was with her at the museum today to record some video that will be used in the exhibition. He personally holds a lot of the stories of the history that is the subject of the exhibit.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
They are tasting a non-alcoholic beer that Ron makes. It actually tastes like beer. One is called Electro Lime. Ron explains that it is made just like beer, then the alcohol is removed. What remains is a beverage that actually tastes like beer. The non-alcoholic beer scene is completely different than it was ten years ago.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
A Headlands Brewing 4-pack with its paper collar.
Ryan Frank, Headlands Brewing head brewer, joins Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras, in studio today, with Cynthia Caughie and Ron Lindenbush. Each of the other guests have their own podcast page from today, Cynthia from Homerun Pizza is here and Ron Lindenbush is here. In this episode, we hear mostly from Ryan Frank.
Headlands Brewing started in Marin County but has recently put roots down in the East Bay. They have a taproom in Lafayette and they produce their beer in Pittsburg. They are dedicated to philanthropy and they pledge 1% for the Planet. Ryan describes Earth to Beer, a collaboration among 40 different breweries. “A better world is brewing,” is the slogan.
They are tasting a Kolsch which is a beer from Koln, a light crisp soft and floral beer, an ancient German specialty. They source all of their own materials locally, including Admiral Malting in Oakland. He chose Pacific Northwest hops, to make it a California interpretation of a German Kolsch.
See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
Headlands Brewing is located at 3420 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette. It’s kid friendly, dog friendly and has great food. Their beer is available at Homerun Pizza, Earth to Beer Kolsch is on draft. They are also at Barley and Bine, and Beer Baron. Bottle Barn has some cans and they are on promotion at northern California Whole Foods stores.
Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
Cynthia tells about Bingo at Homerun Pizza on the last Tuesday of the month. It’s free, kid friendly and a lot of fun. Ryan Frank gets to taste a sausage Knuckleball with the Earth to Beer Kolsch, just like they serve it at Homerun Pizza.
Visit Homerun Pizza, home of the Knuckleball! Fresh pizza dough made from scratch daily, la pizza è deliziosa!
Headlands Brewing uses paper collars on their 4-packs. This fact starts Ryan into a description of all the choices they make in packaging to reduce their footprint, use less plastic and promote recycling. You can see the paper collars in the picture above.
April 27 ON TAP opens at the Museum of Sonoma County. Herlinda describes a lot of her efforts looking for content. Make sure you don’t miss this exhibition which will be a big hit.
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