Old Caz Beer co-founder Bryan Rengel is our guest with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on the Brew Ha Ha today. He has been on Brew Ha Ha before, most recently this episode in January of 2024.

Bryan explains that Old Caz was founded on what he calls the Free Craigslist Model of business development. They were able to build the whole brewery from equipment and furnishings that they got for free on Craigslist. They fixed all their own office furniture, and the whole taproom with a walk-in fridge, and more. It’s an ethos that he has never stopped applying to the business.

The Old Caz Cavalcade

When they opened their location in Somo Village, they conducted a trek to the new place that attracted 300 people for a 3.5 mile walk. Now for the new Petaluma location, they are organizing the Old Caz Cavalcade. This time walkers will leave on the trail then take the train down. Or, bicyclists will have a route that leads to the Smart Train Bike Path, which itself leads right to the Old Caz Backyard. You have a choice of routes.

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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The bike route is almost totally flat. Old Cazadero Road is the origin of the Old Caz Beer name. That was their favorite difficult ride among all the local hills.

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Visit our sponsor Pro Chiller online for all the info about their new CO2-based Pro Green Solutions.
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Bryan is the father of two young boys and a lot of other people at the brewery have young families. So it was important for them to make the location family friendly with an area that is safe for children. 

Comet Corn owners Sherry and Jeff Soleski are back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras, six years after their first time on the show. That was this episode on December 20, 2018, along with co-host (at the time) Mark Carpenter and Brian Hunt from Moonlight Brewing Co.

Comet Corn is well known around Sonoma County as it’s sold in all the breweries and taprooms as well as all the concerts. Jeff describes himself as the Summertime Santa with lots of popcorn to share.

Herlinda gives Jeff and Sherry credit for their resilience. They lost their home in the Glass fire and yet they are “walking sunshine” says Herlinda. The Hale-Bopp comet was in the sky in 1997. Jeff and Sherry were so impressed with that comet that it led to the name of their business.

Named after Comet Hale-Bopp

Jeff is a builder, a carpenter and makes stained glass. He was musing on what his next chapter would be. They were out camping, and Hale-Bopp was in the sky. He was making popcorn, dressing it and giving it out. He wondered out loud what his next move would be and someone said, it’s the popcorn. It was hard to sell stained glass but he saw that people wanted snacks. Then he decided that if he was going to create something, is should be food.

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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Jeff can’t play music but he found that by feeding hungry musicians, he could get in to music events. So he built a customized popcorn cart and went into the business of making people happy.

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Visit our sponsor Pro Chiller online for all the info about their new CO2-based Pro Green Solutions.
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Hippie Dust is the name of the flavor now, but Hippie Dust was what they used to call nutritional yeast. The name of the salt flavor is Celestial. The others are Bloody Mary, Coconut Curry and Maple Syrup. They get their corn and safflower oil from organic growers. Herlinda notices that it is perfectly popped, light and crispy. They make fresh popcorn daily. Sherry calls all of their suppliers the Popcorn Tribe because it is a big family.  

Theresa, Jesse and Johanna from Squeakywheel Beverages join Herlinda Heras in the studio today on the Brew Ha Ha. Theresa Scripps is a co-founder, Johanna Pino does communication strategy and social media for Squeakywheel and Jesse Giambrone is a co-founder and creative director. This is their first time on the show.

Squeakywheel Beverages are to be featured at the Petaluma Music Festival, which takes place two days after the live show. We talked about it on last week’s show, right here. Our guests have brought all three Squeakywheel cocktails, Squeakyrita, Squeakytiki and Squeakyspritz. Squeakytiki is a tropical fruit punch. Squeakyrita is Baja Lime with salt, and Squeakyspritz is “kind of like an Aperol spritz” flavor. They are wine cocktails and 6% Abv. People find that the flavor is surprisingly light and refreshing. 

Sqeakywheel at the Petaluma Music Festival

Herlinda will be at the Petaluma Music Festival, with a tasting tent featuring all kinds of refreshing beverages. Especially at these brew fests, when people are drinking a lot of beer, these drinks can really hit the spot. Also, they are gluten-free. They work with Paul Scotto, a winemaker from Lodi. Yet this is very different and not like wine at all. They start with a blend of a light white wine, unbaked, then they add some water to regulate the alcohol. All of the flavors are lightly effervescent, with a clean finish and no sugar aftertaste.

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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Music and arts belong in the schools and schools without the arts are no schools at all. It’s a cheapening of our entire culture. So these fund raisers are sometimes our only chance to make a positive contribution.

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Visit our sponsor Pro Chiller online for all the info about their new CO2-based Pro Green Solutions.
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Jesse mentions that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and Theresa mentions the slogan, and that the brand and the consumers have a voice. The slogan is, “start something, say something, be squeaky.”  It’s “an energetic, stylish brand with an attitude and a voice.” Visit the Squeakywheel Beverages website for all the locations where the brand is distributed.  

Cliff Eveland from the Petaluma Music Festival and Alex Mendoza from Hiveworks Mead join Herlinda and Daedalus on Brew Ha Ha. Alex has been on Brew Ha Ha before, the last time was this episode on January 3, 2025, when he was here with his colleague Sean Duckworth. Herlinda’s father is also in the studio today.

ProChiller is a new sponsor of Brew Ha Ha. It is a refrigeration system that uses Co2 instead of other refrigerants. They were on Brew Ha Ha on this recent show. They are making a presentation on July 22 at Hanabi Lager. Check out ProChiller.com for all the info. 

Alex Mendoza tells how he discovered mead and Cliff Eveland tells about the Petaluma Music Festival. Alex grew up on a ranch in Sonoma County with a lot of fruit trees which means there were bees around. He knew about mead and since Sonoma County is the hub for craft brewing and winemaking, he experimented with fermentation and liked the results.

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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The Petaluma Music Festival

The Petaluma Music Festival is a fund raiser for music in schools. Cliff Eveland is also a band teacher. He organizes the concert with a lineup of great musicians. Find the list of artists right here at the Petaluma Music Festival website.

Herlinda will be organizing a Craft Beverage Tasting, to include brews other than beer, such as mead. Father’s Brewing will be there along with a full Tiki bar from Squeaky Little Beverages, another wine bar, and more. The booth will be decorated Tiki style. Lagunitas and Old Caz Beer are big sponsors too. Fathers Brewing was on Brew Ha Ha on this episode last February. Old Caz Beer has been featured many times as well, their last time was this episode, also last February.

Mead is one of the oldest forms of alcohol that people have made. Mead is made primarily from honey. There are different styles of mead. Some are thick and sweet. Hiveworks Mead style is light, dry and refreshing. The only ingredients are honey and water. It is lightly carbonated. 

John Burton is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell to present the 2nd Annual Grace Bros. Breweriana show. He has been on the show before, the last time was this episode one year ago. John Burton is an eminent beer historian who has a vast personal collection of beer memorabilia.

Russian River Brewing Co. has a slate of fun events this summer. Visit Russian River Brewing for all the events and dates. Come see a real NHRA drag racer, on Wednesday July 15, from 4-7 PM at the Russian River Brewing Co in Windsor. And visit Russian River Brewing on Instagram

This Saturday July 11, from 9am to 2pm, there will be the 2nd Annual Grace Bros. Beer Can, Breweriana & Antique Advertising Show at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building (1351 Maple Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95404). Get all the event information from the organizers at this page.

There will be exhibits from all over the country of antique beer branding, labels, cans, bottles, signs and other kinds of memorabilia, all for sale.

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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Grace Bros. and John Burton

John Burton worked as a bartender for many years in many of the finest establishments in and around Santa Rosa. He also ran the Burton’s Bartending School for 47 years.

There will be a beer can and bottle show, with lots of antiques and collectable memorabilia. Exhibitors are coming from all over the country. The Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial building has free parking and spacious facilities.  Admission is free and to be a vendor the fee is only $20.

Grace Bros. was in operation from 1897 to 1966. John Burton became friends with Virginia Grace more than thirty years ago. It was the largest local employer for a long time. They also had breweries in Los Angeles and Fresno, at their height. 

Mark Legree with the Stumptown Russian River Beer & Rib Revival joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha today. The event is a fund raiser for the Russian River Senior Center. Stumptown Brewery is located near the Russian River. The Russian River Beer and Rib Revival is a large event with many tents hosting beers, cider, mead and about twenty barbeque teams. Herlinda was in the competition for nine years.

The basics are, there are 30 plus breweries and 20 plus barbeque teams. There is a great music lineup too. They have barbeque oysters and sometimes pit barbeque. They allocate over two pounds of meat per person.

Herlinda’s team actually came in second one year for their wings. Some of the professional barbeque people are on the scene in the middle of the night before, getting ready.

Herlindas suggests not to wear white. They normally sell out every year and as of today’s show, June 25, tickets are going fast, so check it if you are interested. Get tickets at Eventbrite here.

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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Russian River Brewing Company will be there. It is one of their favorite events. All of the breweries love coming to the Revival. It is also an opportunity for local brewers to meet each other. There are awards for people’s choice there are also judges. 

Carmen Snyder from the Gravenstein Apple Fair 2026 joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. She has brought lots of goodies including an organic Gravenstein apple pie from Cameron at the Gentle Hearth. He is a local who uses his grandmother’s apple pie recipe. He will be at the 53rd annual Gravenstein Apple Fair this August 8th and 9th, selling pie by the slice. He also makes mustard and barbeque sauce. Get tickets at Eventbrite dot com at this page. 

(Speaking of barbeque, part two of today’s show features Stumptown Brewery and their Russian River Beer and Rib Revival.)

The Gentle Hearth promotes Gravenstein apples by supporting local growers and maintaining pride in Sonoma County’s orchard heritage.

The Gravenstein Apple Fair is the annual fund raiser for Farm Trails which promotes Sonoma County farmers, ranchers and producers. Get tickets at this page on Eventbrite dot com.

The Gravenstein Apple Fair had 16,000 people in attendance last year and they only generated two cubic yards of landfill trash. This year they will have another strong roster of chefs and bakers. There will be a craft cider tent at the Fair as well as sausages and cheese from Valley Ford Cheese.

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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Gravenstein Apple Fair Attractions

Farm Trails organizes many promotions for local farmers. They hold an Apple Blossom Festival in March, then “Blossoms, Bees and Barn Babies” are seasonal tours where people can get out and meet farmers and producers on their own turf. “We want to be megaphones and cheerleaders to elevate our farmers and to promote them so that they can have greater economic viability.”  Clark Wolf will also be chairing a panel about women farmers. There is a pie contest too, and perhaps Herlinda will be a judge. They have adult and youth competitions. “It’s an old-fashioned fair with a modern ethos.”

The Fair is full of attractions. They have lots of arts and crafts and the music lineup is excellent. The event is August 8-9. Locals can take advantage of a deeply discounted ticket. If you buy your ticket from a local partner, the price is only $20.

The piglet races are hilarious. They put four piglets into four lanes with differently colored vests. They are released onto the track and run to the food at the finish line, but sometimes they take the long way around. The audience gets split up into groups to cheer for one racer. It ends with photo ops for the winning piglet. And if that’s not enough, there are also very cute sheep and lambs. Get tickets at Eventbrite dot com at this page. 

Rob Loverde is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell for another round of Beatles and Beer. The first Beatles and Beer show was this episode last April. Rob is an audio engineer and a Beatles expert.

Today is Paul McCartney’s 84th birthday. Herlinda made her original list of Beatles tunes and beers together with Rob, six years ago and he joins Herlinda today for the second Beatles and Beer show.

Rob is a mastering engineer for Mobile Fidelity, aka MoFi. That is the last phase of audio manipulation or editing. It is also the first step in production by producing a master recording for duplication into different media.

Today Rob and Herlinda will pair beers with Beatles and Wings songs. Herlinda and Rob have seen him perform in concert. When I’m 64 was the first song recorded for Sgt. Pepper. Meanwhile, the Scots are drinking Boston dry during the World Cup.  

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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Since 1966 Paul has owned a farm in Scotland, where he lived with his wife Linda. The Wings song Mull of Kintyre was for a while the highest selling single in UK history, (since then only three songs have sold more). The song is unknown to American audiences, where it was released to modest sales and was soon forgotten. That’s understandable, since the song has a strong Scottish character that appealed to UK audiences. US audiences did not pick up on any of that local joy. They toast to Paul with a Scotch Ale.

Paul practices yoga and according to Herlinda, “…still stands on his head every day.” In April of 1973 Pablo Picasso passed away. Paul and Linda were visiting Dustin Hoffman then, talking about their craft. They discussed Picasso and his last words, “Drink to me, drink to my health. You know I can’t drink anymore.” Paul started strumming the guitar and started writing the song Picasso’s Last Words at Dustin’s suggestion.

Herlinda brought a Paulaner Pils, a Bavarian style pilsner beer. The Beatles connection to Germany dates back to when they went to Hamburg, to play steady gigs. They met Klaus Voorman who was an art director and artist. He drew the cover of Revolver. Also, he later became the bass player of the Plastic Ono Band. The Liverpool Beatles Museum that Pete Best and his brother Roag own, has an exhibition of Stu Sutcliffe’s art, through this September.

He heard a song from Wings called Old Siam Sir, from the last Wings album. So, Herlinda opens a Chang lager from Thailand. Unfortunately it has been in storage too long. Lagers do expire, especially in green glass. Also, to celebrate Apple Records, Herlinda has brought a cider called WildCide. The Beatles’ last public concert was in San Francisco in 1966. In honor of that location she has an Anchor Steam Beer. Herlinda believes it is possible that the Beatles drank that beer while they were in San Francisco. 

Jim Vander Giessen with Prochiller PROGreen and Nick Gislason from Hanabi Lager join us on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Nick has been on the show before, the last time was this episode last January. Jim Vander Giessen is a co-founder and CEO of Prochiller. He is in California for the ProGreen50 Showcase in Napa. Jim Weatherwax from ProChiller is also in the studio today. 

ProChiller manufactures a wide range of refrigerant systems. They have a new product line called PROGreen Solutions which uses refrigerants that have a negligible global warming potential.

Herlinda discovered this company at the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia. ProChiller was showing their PROGreen systems at the conference. Herlinda was there with a friend who introduced her to them.

They mentioned that they were coming to California soon to present their products in Napa and they have just arrived.

ProChiller and Hanabi Lager

Nick Gislason is the owner of Hanabi Lager. He is also a professional winemaker and he knows the ProChiller company from using their systems in the winery. Refrigeration is important to both industries. Nick is doing a six-month experiment with a ProChiller system.
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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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In brewing or winemaking, you need chilling for different steps in the process and up to the finished goods. In both cases, there is fermentation which produces heat. If you let the fermentation run away, it ruins the product. You have to pull the heat out and move it from the tank to a radiator outside.

The ProChiller PROGreen system is a CO2 based chiller that does not use traditional chemical refrigerants. Those chemicals have a high global warming potential if they are ever accidentally released. But the CO2 has a negligible index, about 1, compared too 500 or more. Nick explains his reasons for chosing to work with this new system. CO2 chillers actually produce boiling water as a “waste product” which is very useful around the brewery. ProChiller will be demonstrating the PROGreen chiller on Thursday, June 11, at Hanabi Lager in Napa. Soon they will hold other demos in the Sonoma County area. 

Jeremy Marshall from Lagunitas has brought their Trooper West Coast IPA to Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Jeremy was on Brew Ha Ha on this episode of November 22, 2018.

Lagunitas is putting on an air guitar contest to celebrate the release of their Trooper West Coast IPA. Jeremy will pour from a growler of the Trooper West Coast IPA, drawn straight from the tank.

The  air guitar championship is set for 6/6/26. That’s Saturday, June 6, 2026, the same day as the beer release. Herlinda will be one of the judges. It’s a collaboration with Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickerson. He is a beer guy, an entrepreneur, and a motivational speaker too.

To register as a contestant, you will need to provide your stage name. Sign up at Eventbrite right here under Lagunitas Trooper, or look on Instagram, Facebook. If you’re interested, act fast, since they will cap the number of contestants. The prize is an actual real guitar, a 50th anniversary edition Fender. Contestants must choose the song they will perform when they register. These are the three songs to choose from:
– Hallowed Be Thy Name, 5 to 5½ minutes
– Two Minutes to Midnight, 3 minutes
– Phantom of the Opera, 6 minutes

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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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A US Partner for Trooper Ale

Robinsons Brewery in England was the first to give the name Trooper to their signature premium ale. There is also a Brazilian Trooper ale. So when Iron Maiden was searching for a US partner, Bruce’s son’s wife told Bruce that Lagunitas was the perfect fit. Eventually Jeremy went to meet them backstage after a concert. He brought a cooler full of samples to share with a who’s who of metal bands. He found that Bruce was quite articulate about what flavors he liked.

The Lagunitas Trooper West Coast IPA uses a new hop called Krush. Jeremy likes its flavor profile. He tastes “weed, passion fruit, guava…”  It was HBC586 in development and now it's Krush. Watch out for a 100% Krush Beer for the radio station The Krush KRSH 95.9!

Jeremy confirms that Heineken is letting Lagunitas be Lagunitas. Heineken is the only worldwide beer company that is still majority owned by the family.

Jeremy went to UC Davis and studied brewing science. Michael Lewis and Charlie Bamforth were his teachers. They taught English ale styles, whereas Seibel in Germany is where to learn about lager beers. Lagers are a colder, longer stored style, like Coors Banquet or Budweiser. He describes the students at Davis as Beards versus Vests. Wine guys wore vests and beer guys had beards.

Lager and Ale

Compared to Lager, Ale is a little fruitier, and louder. If you hop it even more, you get to IPA. They are produced quicker and are more expressive and more popular in America. Wisconsin’s German-American community drove that city’s brewing history, so they made more German Lager styles.

After UC Davis, Jeremy’s first beer gig was Lagunitas. Tony asked where else he sent the letter. He wrote to all the breweries that made the beer he drank at Davis. Most were Ales, like Arrogant Bastard from Stone.

Jeremy has seen it all at Lagunitas. He knows that in the future, the successful breweries will have great focus and discipline. Other than Lagunitas, Russian River Brewing Co. is an example of that. 

The 8-Ball Tavern‘s new owners Julie, Jen and Audrey, join Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha today. This is their first time on the show.

They have taken over the 8-Ball, which has been through quite a few incarnations. Julie has been running it for the last 8 years. Cotati is a college town, SSU is nearby. Herlinda has known the bar since university days, and has known Julie for a while too.

Yesterday we celebrated the 55th anniversary of the 1971 California Supreme Court decision that finally allowed women to bartend. Before that, the only women who could bartend legally in California were those whose male family members owned the bar, or those who owned the bar’s license themselves. There were various reasons given for the prohibition, which included some chauvinistic attitudes. Herlinda describes the legal twist. When a bar owner petitioned to open a topless bar, the judgement struck down the previous law as discriminatory. Because of this decision, the state had to allow women bartenders.
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Visit Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Check out their website and socials for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more.
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Griffo Espresso Martinis

There is a new vibe and new umbrellas, and it’s a lot cleaner than it was, but without significant changes to the dive bar look. “We just want to make a happy place for people to come and vibe and just be themselves.” There are food trucks that come. Mondays and Tuesdays there are great tacos. Sunday is Fun Day, with all kinds of games.

They are open from 7am to 2am every day. They are at 8 Charles Street in Cotati.

Some of the old bartenders from back in the day are back, such as Jim and Cassie. This has brought some of the old patrons back too. They have restored the place and positioned it for the future to provide a safe place for people in the community to meet. There is a new coffee machine and they still have three pool tables with a pool league on Friday nights starting June 21.

Customer Safety is Paramount

The 8-Ball Tavern new owners are committed to making it a safe place for women. There are plenty of security guards and the bar staff are trained to look for signs of bad behavior.

They have HenHouse Hazy, Old Caz One-Way IPA, PVA on tap, many beers from Morris distributing, like Bear Republic Racer 5 and Farmer’s Light. There are also have lots of bottles of beers from outside the area. They have seven or eight taps, which are the fresher, local beers. Every Bloody Mary is made by hand and every bartender has a style.

Follow the 8-Ball Tavern Instagram page for all the latest info. They have three shifts at their bar, 7 to 12, 12 to 6, then 6 to 2am. Any time is good, and “…the daytime crowd is so cool.” And they would be amenable to a remote broadcast on the back patio, so stay tuned for that!