Brew Ha Ha

Stateline Road Smokehouse co-owner Jeremy Threat is visiting Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell today. This is his first time on the show. During the show, author Marty Nachel called in to talk about his new book. That portion of the live radio show with Marty Nachel is on this separate podcast episode, so that both guests can have their own separately indexed episode page. Darryl Bell, the chef at Stateline Road Smokehouse, comes from Kansas City. He is also Jeremy’s business partner. After college Jeremy worked in operations management in the restaurant industry. So he went from hotel restaurants to a management position. Working for Thomas Keller, the owner of French Laundry was demanding. In previous restaurant jobs, he learned about the business side of the restaurant business. But at French Laundry, he learned how to create a company culture that fostered excellence. Keller was always pushing to improve, along the lines of the Japanese concept of kaizen. How do you do the same thing time after time, while making it consistently as good as it can be? That is the question. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The Stateline Road Smokehouse is located in a 4000-square foot quonset hut that was a former auto body shop. He and his partner started out to do something unpretentious. In Napa that would make them stand out among all the white linen tablecloths. They are striving for what Daedalus calls an excellent experience without being “elevated” in style or pretense. What Darryl brings is Kansas City barbeque with the perspective of also having trained in France. The Ranch Gordo Greens and Beans salad is an example. Sink Drinks at the Door There is an old ceramic sink near the front door, full of ice and cans of a wide selection of beers. When people order cole slaw or potato salad, they realize that they take as much care with the sides as they do with the meats. Some recipes take the effort of several people and up to 17 hours to produce. 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. Kansas City is often called “wet” barbeque. Texans have a dryer approach to brisket, it is dryer and they cut it thicker. Darryl’s barbeque is a combination of influences, not exactly like one or another of the canonical styles. The butcher greets guests at the door. He is like a tour guide. “We are not just barbeque.” They also have a different secret fish recipe on the menu, every day. Herlinda thinks of cider as a great beverage for barbeque. Currently they have Shilling Imperial Apple on tap. In the summer they offer different choices. They are lucky that they got a liquor license without too much trouble and expense. The cocktail list includes one called “Hey You Guys” with a paper umbrella. The first boozie slushie tasted like a real creamsicle. He makes one called The Dude Abides which is a White Russian, inspired by The Big Lebowski. Beer, Wine and Boozie Slushies Stateline Road Smokehouse serves Hanabi Lager beer, which is also located in Napa. For wine, they wanted to focus on one varietal and do it as well as possible. So they have chosen to serve a Centium Sauvignon Blanc. He has it for $15 a glass, not the $25 or more that others will charge. He wanted to have a choice like this at a good price. For example, he has Rombauer Chardonnay for $10 a glass, instead of at least $18. When you get something excellent at a price that is low, his guests feel satisfied with the meal and also with the cost. This exceeds their expectations, which is Jeremy’s goal.

Marty Nachel, author of The Beer Story Project Author Marty Nachel is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell, to talk about his new book The Beer Story Project. He has been on BHH before, the last time was this episode last February. Marty also came on this show to talk about one of his other books, Beer for Dummies, on this episode in 2023. (Marty’s phone call came in during the Stateline Road Smokehouse episode, which has its own separate podcast page, right here. This way, both Marty Nachel’s book and Jeremy Threat’s restaurant each get their own online presence for their segment.) Marty Nachel is the founder of the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame and has just published a new book, The Beer Story Project. He started collecting stories in March of this year from as many people in craft brewing as he could find. Craft Brewers Tell Their Stories The stories are really across the spectrum from funny to sad, depending on where they are coming from. He simply asked them to tell their stories. Some people gave a few sentences, others wrote several pages. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 One of his stories that stands out came from a friend, Tom Bidell, who wrote a story about the late beer critic Michael Jackson not the pop singer of the same name). He did a series of videos called The Beer Hunter some of which are on YouTube. Tom went to London to interview his friend Michael Jackson, but soon after he arrived for the interview, he learned that his friend had just died. So the story is a powerful remembrance of a close friend who was very influential in the craft beer world. “Publishers can make things difficult for writers, so I decided to self-publish.” The Beer Story Project is available on amazon dot dom, in print and on Kindle.

Anderson Valley Brewing Company taproom. Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell host another edition of Brew Ha Ha, featuring guests from Anderson Valley Brewing Company. They are the official beer sponsor of the Great Dickens Fair, a Christmas celebration happening at the Cow Palace now through Dec. 21. (During this show, we also got a phone call from Kevin Patterson, manager of the Great Dickens Fair. His portion of this show can be heard over here, on this other podcast episode. This way both guests have their own podcast episode, for their own linking and listener traffic.) Jason O’Connell and Ben Padrone are here from Anderson Valley Brewing Company. Jason is the new owner and Ben is the Lab Manager. They begin by tasting their Salted Caramel Porter, which gets its flavors from the malts that are used, not from any actual caramelized sugars. It is aged for 6 months in bourbon barrels and comes in at 9.5% ABV. QA and QC Jason’s background is in the wine industry and he finds the beer world to be more fun. He says he bought the brewery because he was bored. Ben’s job is QA and QC, quality assurance and quality control. They do a lot of testing on the water and the product. They get their water from wells that are on their property. Anyone visiting Anderson Valley may want to visit their 18-hole championship Disc Golf course. Next year’s Booneville Beer Fest is on May 2 next year. The theme is Godzilla vs. Barkley and there is a Japanese sake connection. Stay tuned for more information before the date. They have already about a dozen breweries signed on. Among beer producers this is one of the favorite events. Fal Allen is Back at Anderson Valley BC Fal Allen is back. Fal Allen is back on the scene at Anderson Valley Brewing Company. He has been the brewer there and a key person in the company. He left the company for a while and was working in New Zealand. Now he is working with AVBC for the moment from Hawaii. Fal Allen has a great radio voice and has been on Brew Ha Ha before. Here is his last appearance on Brew Ha Ha. Next they taste their West Coast IPA, which uses Mosaic, Citra and Ekuanot hops. All seven of the beers they brought today are available at the Great Dickens Fair. SAKE They have a plan to start making sake and to use the best possible rice. Sake is gluten free, which is an advantage for some people. They are experimenting with Sato, a kind of rice for sake. They are also making a sake flavored beer. Herlinda remembers when her friends asked her to taste a large selection of sake to help them get an import company started. Watch out for this to develop over the next five years. 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. Ben went to Humboldt State then the Master Brewers program at UC Davis. Jason studied engineering at U of British Columbia and worked in construction before working in the wine industry. He has recently acquired AVBC. Jason describes the situation as “exciting.” The sake idea is getting attention. Sake falls under the TTB brewers license but the labeling falls under wine. It is actually brewed like beer despite that some people in English refer to it as ‘rice wine.’ Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 There are a lot of wineries in the vicinity of Booneville so there are a lot of places to visit. The area specializes in white wines and Pinot Noir. “You’ll never go thirsty up there,” says Herlinda. Ben describes how they use bourbon barrels to age the beer for 6 months. This gives a complex and unique flavor profile that you have to taste!

Kevin Patterson, from the Great Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace through December 21, joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Anderson Valley Brewing Company is also in the studio today. They are the official beer sponsor of the Great Dickens Fair. (The AVBC  portion of today’s radio show can be heard over here, at this other podcast page. This way, each guest gets to manage their own web traffic.) The Cow Palace in San Francisco has some great exhibition halls, that they turn into a miniature version of London, including shops, theaters, and six different pubs. Each one has its own style and identity. You enter the Great Dickens Fair through Victoria Station on a train that passes through a magical forest. Then you are “whisked into the 19th century” where the first stop is a pub called The Leather Bottle. This comes right out of Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers. 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. Twilight All Day The lighting in the Fair is twilight all the time, which makes everything theatrical. The miniature village feaures a thousand costumed people, plus many of the visitors come in costume. You can also purchase a costume there. Some people really go all out. There is a music shop with instruments and singers. They serve beverages of all kinds. Some people have been working at the fair every year for a long time. This is the Fair’s 41st year and their 25th at the Cow Palace. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Kevin suggests you arrive with a good appetite. There are so many options including fish and chips that rival the best in the world. Look for the meat pies and sausage rolls. There is also a Greek booth that makes Spanakopita and plenty of traditional English recipes. The artisan chocolatier at the Fair makes fresh chocolates every day.

Fieldwork Brewing Company co-founder Barry Braden joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha today. Barry Braden and Erin Callahan are here from Fieldwork Brewing Co. They are expanding into Santa Rosa and Erin will manage their restaurant in Montgomery Village. They will open soon, after one last regulatory step. There is a buzz in the neighborhood and people passing by are noticing that it looks like a restaurant already. They will have an extensive beer selection and a full menu including pizza, salad, wings, French fries, fried cauliflower and pickles and lots more. Barry tells about how they serve a rotation of beers, so that fans of different types of beer can keep coming back for their favorites. He also says this is one way to make the brewers’ jobs interesting. They are using a lot of new technologies with their hops, including hop distillates, extracts and experimental hops. Fieldwork Brewing also works with Berkeley Yeast. This company is engineering yeast to mimic certain flavors. This goes mostly into the hop-driven beers and their non-alcoholic or “N/A” beers. 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. Amidst the current downturn in the beer market, Fieldworks Brewing is actually growing. They are opening their tenth location in the Bay Area. The NHL’s San José Sharks have chosen Fieldwork as their official non-alcoholic beer. Some of their N/A drinks use compounds (with complex chemical names) which confer extra flavors as well as a mood lift, according to Erin. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 A beverage company, not just a brewer of beer Daedalus notices that Fieldwork produces an excellent product all across its product line including the N/A drinks, which elevates the quality level of the entire emerging market of N/A drinks. Barry explains that it took them some time to emerge in the N/A market. They waited for the brewing technology to evolve so that their N/A cocktails tastes like real ones, and their N/A beers tastes like real beer. So, if you want to go out with friends and not drink alcohol, for whatever reason, “…we have something for you,” says Barry. Fieldwork Brewing Co. products are available in many local retail stores as well as their locations.

Nick Gislason, co-founder and Head Brewer at Hanabi Lager Co. is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Herlinda Heras is just back from Belgium and brought back so much beer that she had to pay for overweight suitcases. Daedalus is also back from his own trip to Paris and London. He gets to reconnect with Herlinda for a few minutes before having to leave for an event later this evening. One of the beers that she brought back is from the Saint Sixtus Monastery in Westvleteren, that she visited, and Daedalus gets to taste it before he has to take off. Hanabi is Japanese for “Fireworks” The labels feature drawings of the patterns that different Japanese fireworks make, up in the air. Nick explains that “hanabi” means fireworks, in Japanese. “Hana” means flower and “bi” means fire, so literally their word for fireworks means “fire flowers.” The fireworks manufacturers used these drawings in the 1800s to describe their products, before photography was available to show the patterns that they make. Nick grew up on San Juan Island in Washington, and learned brewing from an uncle who was a home brewer. In college he brewed at Boundary Bay Brewing in Bellingham, where he met his wife. They both became winemakers and launched Hanabi Lager about six years ago. 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. Grain-Forward Lagers Nick says Hanabi makes grain-forward lagers. They are tasting the Hana Pilsner, which Herlinda says has a refined taste. Nick explains that beer is made from grain, and water, and hops are like a spice. Hops is like the barrels to wine, where the grapes are the main ingredient. So Nick focusses his energy in using the most delicious grains in the world. That fact that these plants are so important to human nutrition for thousands of years makes them sacred. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 They select grains mainly for the flavor they give to the beer. These flavors mostly come from old heirloom varieties of grains. Heirloom varieties of grain can be compared to heirloom tomatoes, for their superior flavor. To make beer, Nick explains, first you grow the grain, then sprout the seeds, then you have to arrest their growth before it goes too far. Then you dry them and lightly toast them. This process is called malting. Then you steep a barley tea, spice it with hops, and ferment it, basically. They do four different beers, one for each of the four seasons. Each one features a different heirloom grain. The Summer beer uses Eraclea, a grain from Italy. Nick is also a part-time pyrotechnician. He works with Lopez Community Fireworks back home in Washington. They practice the Japanese art of fireworks.

We open with Herlinda Heras calling from Belgium. Leah Scurto of PizzaLeah and Fairfax Brewing Co’s Dan McGarry talk to Daedalus Howell after that. Herlinda is on a barge on a canal in Belgium, on a beer voyage sponsored by Visit Flanders, the tourist bureau. Herlinda’s tour has taken her near the sites of some important battles of World War One. It included a visit to Flanders Fields. They visited the Saint Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, Belgium. The monks who live there and make beer were quite surprised when one of their beers came out Number One on RateBeer dot com. “The poor monks didn’t know what to do with themselves, but now it’s quite the destination.” They went to Rodenbach for a blending class and also to Chimay. Vinny and Natalie from Russian River Brewing Co. are also in Belgium for the Brussels Beer Challenge. However they and Herlinda are on different itineraries this time and won’t meet up over there. Herlinda has also visited some small local breweries in France and Belgium. She will have a lot to say about her trip on next week’s show. “It’s tough but somebody’s got to do it.” Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 After Herlinda’s call, Leah Scurto from PizzaLeah and Dan McGarry from Fairfax Brewing Company take up the conversation with Daedalus. Leah has brought a Detroit-style pizza, to go with the nice rice lager that Dan has poured, a true rice lager. Detroit style has a carmelized cheese crown, cooked in a tapered pan. The dough rises for four hours in the morning. Fairfax Brewing Company Fairfax Brewing Company is based in Marin County and they are now gaining distribution in Sonoma County. Dan and his partner have been in the restaurant industry for a long time. They begin by going out to the people they know. Daedalus is the editor of the Pacific Sun which did this story on Fairfax Brewing Co. Their distribution is mainly by kegs to restaurants. Later they hope to put some cans on shelves. They celebrate their one-year anniversary on September 9th. 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 hazy is their number one seller, and the hazy is also the top seller at PizzaLeah. But Leah also reports people coming in asking for something that is not hazy. Trends have life cycles and while IPAs are here to stay, other styles will continue to emerge. Older drinkers have observed the evolution of craft beers. Dan says it has been “real fun to watch. … A good time for beer.” The Pizza Business Leah Scurto has built PizzaLeah’s success with great pizzas and also by engaging with the community. She loves teaching how to make pizza at the Artisan Baking Center in Petaluma. She also has been in many international pizza competitions. Daedalus and Leah agree that he local pizza scene has reached new heights. Leah cites Psychic Pie in Sebastopol for their original takes on traditional styles, and a couple of others. Sonoma Pizza Co. and Slow Co Pizza are both stand out. Leah notices that the pizza community is supportive and friendly, not jealous of others or envious of their success. People gladly share recipes and advice.

Kenneth Di Alba from Songbird Parlour is our guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. This is his first time on the show. Herlinda says and Daedalus agrees that Songbird Parlour should be the next Michelin starred restaurant in Sonoma County. Daedalus reads from a review he wrote for the Bohemian along with Kary Hess. It sounds delicious. Songbird Parlour is located in the historic Jack London village in Glen Ellen. It was founded in maybe 1832, he thinks. The property has been many things, a creamery, a winery, wine storage, recording studios, even. Now, it is a restaurant for the second time. Upon entering the place, Daedalus says he feels immediately transported. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Kenneth has brought some appetizers to taste. They serve wine, beer and spritzer cocktails. Port and tonic is a Portuguese drink. They use a white Port made locally. 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. Songbird took over their lease in 2020 which turned out to be a good time prepare the project. The pandemic moved us to broaden our horizons and invest, says Kenneth. It’s always daunting to open a restaurant. If you have to make an effort to go there, the experience had better be rewarding. Everything they serve comes from nearby. Their neighbors raise the food they serve, including cheeses, greens, mushrooms and more. “…featuring everyone in the surrounding community.” The ice cream comes from Sweet Scoops.

Aaron Gore Aaron Gore, Vice President of the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame joins Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. He is His personal website and his nickname are The Ale Chaser. In addition to his role with the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame, Aaron is VP of Sales & Marketing for The 5th Ingredient. They make customizable brewery management software. Herlinda was at the Sonoma County Tourism annual meeting yesterday. She talked to Santa Rosa mayor Mark Stapp about coming on the Drive this Friday (tomorrow).  Herlinda is now a certified Health and Wellness coach. She will also be starting a Health and Wellness segment on the Drive, stay tuned for details. 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. Aaron Gore joins the conversation on the phone. The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame was founded about a year and a half ago. Its purpose is to memorialize and celebrate the people who made the craft beer revolution. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The 5th Ingredient From Aaron’s perspective, the people starting in the craft beer business now, are more aware of the business realities of starting a brewery, than were the original home brewers. The software company The 5th Ingredient refers to the four ingredients listed in the famous German Reinheitsgebot, of water, malted barley, hops and yeast. The further ingredient would be the technology that makes the operation run as smoothly as it can. That is where modern software comes into the picture in the brewery. The next list of inductees to the Hall of Fame will be announced in February 2026. Herlinda Heras is an elector.

Justin from Kohana Rum and Laura Sanfelipe from Lo & Behold are our guests on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell. Lo & Behold Bar and Kitchen in Healdsburg is open on Mondays, which Herlinda likes. She was there recently, saw a Kohana Rum bottle and asked about it. She discovered that  Kohana Rum and Lo & Behold are sponsoring the Daquiri Crush Campaign, with proceeds going to Corazón Healdsburg. Laura describes the Daquiri Crush Campaign, which Justin brought to Lo & Behold. They have organized a Tiki Night with original and classic rum cocktails. Proceeds from the event are entirely donated to Corazón Healdsburg. The campaign will run for two months. The Corazón Healdsburg website says, “Corazón Healdsburg works to create a more just and compassionate community for all. Corazón operates a bilingual family resource center and offers family-centered case management, as well as a cradle-to-career approach to education for all ages. We amplify the local Latin-American voice, and host community events, trainings and discussions to promote and celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion.” 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. Hawaii to California Justin was born and raised in Hawaii, then moved to the Bay Area, then to Sonoma County since 2017. Kohana Rum grows 34 varietals of Hawaiian heirloom sugar cane. From that, they make single varietal rums, like the varietals of grapes and wine. “The Daquiri Crush Campaign is my love letter back to Sonoma C0unty reaching out for our farm team, supporting all of the incredible farm workers up here in Sonoma County.” Through the months of harvests, they will offer some daquiris in various locations. Go out and buy a daquiri for a farmer or a farm worker! Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 They will also have a few events, starting with a Tiki Night. Herlinda remembers when they used to have them more often. It’s time to bring that back! “The nights you’ll never remember with the friends you’ll never forget,” says Justin

Nicole Rogers from the Sonoma chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier joins Herinda Heras and Daedalus Howell on Brew Ha Ha. Les Dames d’Escoffier is an international association of women in culinary professions, beverage, agriculture and the supporting industries. Nicole is the chair of the Grants committee. The Sonoma chapter was started in 2020. Their inaugural fund raising event last year was Birds & Bubbles, and this year’s edition is set for this Sunday, August 24. Herlinda is a brand new proud member. Julia Child was also a member. Nicole enjoys being a member which gives her a chance to meet other members when she travels. Ethic Cider and CuVer Belgian brewery will be at Birds & Bubbles, with cider and beer, so sparkling wine will not have the only bubbles at the event. 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. Dora Lee has brought a desert from Jimtown and Then Some, in Healdsburg. They look like little muffins made of mochi, the rice paste, with an apple filling and miso caramel drizzle. Jimtown is open again, owned by a a fellow Dame. She will be providing some of the desserts at the Birds & Bubbles event. For tickets, visit the Dames So. Co. So. Co. website. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 The Sonoma County chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier has begun a micro-grant program. They have awarded the first grants of $1000 to three deserving Dames. They also have a cookbook author, chefs, restaurant owners, somelliers, marketing people, writer, retailers, and all ages, too. Herlinda mentions that a big part of this is mentorship.

Sayre Piotrkowski is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell to talk about the Bay Area Brewers Guild and more. San Francisco Beer Week is coming, from February 20 to March 1, 2026. Sayre has been on Brew Ha Ha before, his last time was this episode on May 4, 2023. All the beers that Sayre has brought today are multiple award winners. Old Caz and Ghost Town were both very local. Ghost Town hired a world class brewer, and Old Caz just kept getting better and better. Now, these two communities can walk to some of the best beer in the world. Sayre is the executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild. The guild started as six brewpubs in San Francisco. At its height it represented over 100 breweries and SF Beer Week would have over 1000 events in one week. Now that beer is getting back to an equilibrium where it is more connected to its community, and no longer serving an investor class that is looking only for big profits. Sayre agrees and says it is good that the “smart money” has left craft brewing. Some investors would only expect to sell the company for multiples of their investment. There are cases where brands have disappeared, such as Pete’s Wicked Ale. Herlinda cites the two examples of Lagunitas and Anchor. Craft versus Corporate Sayre wants people to understand the difference between buying a beer that is produced and sourced locally, and buying one from one of the biggest corporations in the world. 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. Some people still feel loyal to old brands but increasingly, it is evident that the difference between craft and corporate beer is the entire brewing ecosystem behind the glass. Visit our sponsor PizzaLeah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu, great beers and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 They are tasting a beer called Ostuary, a robust porter. It has a little cacao bean or coffee flavors. “You want to chew on it a little bit… I’ll pick this over eating, on a hot day,” says Herlinda. The current iteration of the Guild is based on who survived Covid.

Jason Lindell from Shady Oak Brewing Company is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke. Shady Oak has been on the show before, most recently on this episode in 2022. Shady Oak has shifted its name to “Brewing Company, so it is now called Shady Oak Brewing Company, after being called “Barrel House” until now. Harry Duke knows Shady Oak founder Steve Doty from having competed in trivia contests on opposing teams.  When Steve started Shady Oak, they made a lot of sour beers, but as tastes have changed, they have begun making other styles, like hazy and pilsners. The company is also starting to focus on organizing events. It is in a big space that is a former carpet warehouse. It is located in downtown Santa Rosa, near the Santa Rosa Mall. They also have a nice outdoor space in the back. The Smash Bash: Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025 They have remodeled the back area for this event, increasing capacity. This Saturday they are holding their first event. It is the first annual Smash Bash, they have the four best smash burger restaurants coming in. They have four well-known local food trucks coming in: Thanks for the Invite, Bayou on the Bay, Bennie’s Smash Burgers and The Spot. All four of them will be on the scene for the contest. They will have DJs and live bands. Some illustrious judges will pick a winner. 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. A smash burger has the pattie smashed all the way down to a thin patty. Sometimes people lay 2 or three thick, plus condiments at will. Bayou on the Bay comes in regularly for their bingo nights. They wanted to do a contest and boom, this was the idea. They also do vinyl record sales and the next one is September 7th. Shady Oak is a beautiful space and they do a lot of private event. Now they would like to gain more awareness for the venue. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Usually the buns are brioche buns, which are soft and do a better job of supporting the burger. Shady Oak is kid friendly and dog friendly. They have free pinball and lots of games that people can play at the tables. Admission to the Smash Bash is free.

John Burton is back on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. He has been on the show once before, on this episode of April 11, 2024 and he was also the subject of this recent article in the Press Democrat. For long-time Sonoma County residents, John Burton is well-known, because one of his business was a bartending school that he ran for 47 years and recently closed for retirement. Herlinda was just a kid when John’s late wife Nancy was the mayor of Santa Rosa. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 John tells his story, starting at restaurants and the Flamingo. He met Virginia Grace when the Sonoma County Fair was the centerpiece of the social season. She didn’t know much about her family history in brewing and they started talking about it. Soon after, he wrote a book about Grace Brothers 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. Breweriana Breweriana encompases everything related to beer, be it foam scrapers, bottles and cans and especially advertising. On Saturday Aug. 9 at 8:00 the Bennet Valley Grange on Grange Rd. there will be free a show of about 50 tables of breweriana wares. John does it almost like an antiques road show. He describes it as a combination of local history and collecting. If you have something you might be interested in selling to a collector, these are the people to meet. Grace Bros. was the fourth largest brewery in California during its heyday. They had other brands and produced beer in southern California too, in Los Angeles under the name of Southern. They had 140 different paper labels and 90 different can labels.

Beer memorabilia collector Ken Hartoonian joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. At the Grange in Santa Rosa, Saturday Aug. 9, 9am-2pm, the Breweriana and Antique Advertising Show. It is a collection of brewery advertising apart from just cans but also lots of different kinds of promotional items. Grace Brothers brewers was a famous local brewery that was in operation from before Prohibition until 1962. Some of their cans are featured in the show. Ken has one of the most impressive collections of historic beer memorabilia and artefacts. He started when he was 12 years old, he loves sticker so he wrote to companies to ask for them. Then in 1975 the beer can collecting craze took hold. Before he knew it he had more than 100 cans. The closet grew into a storage unit and now he has a large metal barn. Here is a 30-second radio commercial from Grace Bros., with a swing band that was popular in those years. http://brewhaharadio.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Grace_Bros_Beer_30_sec.mp3 Harry asks what is the Holy Grail of the items, or what is most significant to him? The Holy Grail would be a 7-11 beer can but the most significant was one that he traded for at about age 16. It was called Pride of Newark, or PON. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Their toast is with Happy Hops, which was one of the Grace Brothers’ brands. Russian River still uses the name and the label with a cartoon of a happy hop. Grace Brothers made it through Prohibition by making ice and near-beer, which was weak enough to be legal. 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. 

Renée De Luca joins Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha to remember her father Jack McAuliffe, who recently passed away. Renée was on this show a year ago, talking about her father and some new activity around the brand he founded. Here is part one of that episode, and Part Two follows here. Renée De Luca joins us on the telephone, she is the daughter of Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion brewing company, who passed away just recently. He passed away on July 15 at the age of eighty. He founded a whole beer revolution, is no exaggeration. His passing has been covered widely in the mainstream press such as NPR and the Washington Post, as well as many beer publications. During his life he was already the subject of some articles, due to his influence, although that came near the end of New Albion. Over the last few years Renée and brought him to some craft brewers conferences and she is confident he knew that he would be remembered. 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. The First Post-Prohibition Micro-Brewery: New Albion Jack McAuliffe was in the US Navy in the 1960s where he enjoyed the local porters, ales and stouts. Back in the US, all there was to drink was crappy American commercial beer that he didn’t like. So he learned how to brew his own. His operation was the first post-Prohibition micro-brewery to be founded in the United States, in 1976. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Brewing was so new that all of the forms referred to wine and Jack had to handwrite the word beer onto them. They asked him why he used Cascade hops and he replied, that’s what the farmer had. He put a lot of equipment together himself by adapting different parts. Farmers make wine and scientists make beer, he said. Renée’s dog Porter is in the background.

Brent Koen from Surfside Drinks is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Herlinda Heras and Daedalus Howell sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Brent has brought a lot of Surfside drinks today. The brand started on the east coast. He brought the Green Tea pack, the Ice Tea pack and the Lemonade pack. All are lower alcohol beverages. The company started as a vodka distiller but their mission changed as they read the market. The founders geared up with makeshift equipment in the parents’ basement. It was about the time that Breaking Bad was on TV. When their father saw the brew lab, he thought it was a meth lab or he acted as if it were that, and he kicked them out. So they got investors and got serious. Stateside Urban Craft Vodka started doing well, before Covid. When they noticed that people were pouring their vodka into different concoctions and cocktails, they thought of doing the same thing. That’s when they started making the light beverages. Surfside grew from 1.3 million cases in 2023 to to almost 5 million cases last year and projected growth to 12-15 million cases this year. Partners with the SF Giants Surfside Drinks are partners with the San Francisco Giants and they have branded locations inside the stadium.  The beverages have only 2 grams of sugar, 100 calories and only 4.5% alcohol. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Herlinda has seen the huge growth in the non-alcoholic category. Until now, judges at beer competitions did not want to judge that category, but not anymore. 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 are 12 different flavors, four lemonades, four green teas and four iced teas. They have three variety packs, different combinations and also large cans. They are now in all 50 states and are seeking to gain a foothold in markets like wine country. Even if these drinks are not super cold, they still go down smoothly. They only use 2 grams of sucralose for sweetening. There is also no carbonization in any of these drinks.

The Fogbelt caboose in Healdsburg. Eric and Pedro from the BBQ Team at Fogbelt Brewing join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha today. Every year Stumptown Brewing puts on the Russian River Beer Revival and BBQ Cookout. This year is it on Saturday, August 16th. The Fogbelt team is competing with their ribs at the festival this summer. The Santa Rosa taproom is 1305 Cleveland, and the Healdsburg location is in a red caboose. They are tasting a beer called Eye of the Hawk, the second of their tribute brews to Mendocino Brewing Co. They started with a run of Red Tail Ale. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Pedro started at Anchor brewing in San Francisco. He was the curator of the tour program, so he had access to the brewery operation as well as to the library and archives. He became a tour guide there and eventually moved to another brewery before coming to Santa Rosa. 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. Pedro likes the Stumptown Beer Revival and BBQ Cookout because it is a chance to meet a lot of the key players in the local craft brew industry.

Today is the first Krush Backyard Concert, so we have Mark Cohen from Moonlight Brewing, who are pouring at the concert. He joins Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke who is sitting in for Steve Jaxon on Brew Ha Ha today. Mark has brought some Reality Czech Pils, which won a Gold Medal in the Pilsner category, out of 167 entries. Pilsners are not an easy beer to make. They are cold fermented and takes a lot longer to make. Moonlight’s Pilsner is not filtered, but to make it clear they use an enzyme which takes out the solids and the glutens in the beer. It is not registered as gluten free but it is very low in gluten. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 There was a time when Brian Hunt started making beer with spruce tips and redwood tips, when there was a threat of a hop shortage. In the early years, the brewers like Brian Hunt were just learning how to brew. He wanted to get serious, so he moved to Milwaukee to work for Schlitz. He called his brewery Moonlight Brewing because at first, it was his moonlight gig, that he did outside of his other work. 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. Ron Lindenbusch tells about Best Day Brewing Ron Lindenbusch joins the conversation about five minutes in. He is a retired co-founder of Lagunitas and a veteran beer guru. He started at the beginning doing distribution, when he saw that Tony Magee made the best beer.  that spark became Lagunitas. They sold to Heineken in two stages, half in 2015 and the rest in 2018. Lagunitas is now the number one IPA in the world. Ron had some on tap in Belgium and France. Moonlight is pouring three beers at the Backyard Concert, they are Death and Taxes, the black lager, Reality Czech Pils, the gold medal winner, and the Bombay by Boat IPA. Best Day Brewing is Ron’s project to make only non-alcoholic beer. They make a full-strength beer then they remove the alcohol with a cold filtration. This way, it still tastes like beer.

Parliament Brewing Co. co-founder Adam Bosch joins Harry Duke, in for Steve Jaxon, and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Adam’s last time on Brew Ha Ha was this episode on December 28, 2023. Herlinda’s father Eloy and brother Anthony Heras are also in the studio today. Eloy devoted his career to the US Navy. He liked Olympia Beer and Herlinda got her first taste of beer from him. Adam Bosch talks about Parliament Brewing Co.’s plans to expand and their calendar of events. They had a cheesesteak invitational for National Cheesesteak Day last March. Their anniversary party September 20-21 this year, celebrating their sixth anniversary. They are located at 5865 West Labath Ave. Adam likes to think of it as just west of Costco and south of the casino in Rohnert Park. They are dog friendly as long as the dogs are. The beer they are currently tasting is Prism Hazy IPA, 6.6% ABV, which won Best Hazy at Battle of the Brews last April. It also won Best in Show. Their focus has been mainly local but they will now be looking for more distribution into the East Bay and Sacramento. Herlinda’s brother Anthony is a rattlesnake handler on the side. He knew someone who had a snake and when they needed a new handler, he got the job. Visit our sponsor Pizzaleah in Windsor for the finest pizza menu and the most authentic flavors around! 🍕🍻 Kaleidoscope and River Raft A group of owls is called a Parliament, where people meet to take care of their community. Parliament Brewing’s “mainstay” beer Kaleidoscope is the collective noun for a group of butterflies. There are butterflies on the can. A new beer is River Raft, a hazy pale ale at 5.9% featuring Peacherene hops, a new kind. A raft is a group of otters. River Raft is on tap only, for now. It finishes “super dry” says Herlinda. They are also tasting the Brown Chicken Brown Cow. 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. Adam also brought a pilsner, called Pils that says “beer flavored beer” on the label. Pizzaleah has it on tap. It is an American brown ale. Justin, his brother, is the brewer and a UC Davis graduate. His dad does the books. Adam does everything else for Parliament. He is attracted to the business and the service side of the industry. But also, they are selling the culture, the service, comfort and experience. They have about 50 fruit trees around the building at Parliament.