Our guests today are from 101 North Brewing Company, Joel, Jake and JB, one of the partners, all join Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter on Brew Ha Ha. Mark Carpenter begins with a taste of their Indigo Pale Ale, then they taste a Dirty Hoppy, a hazy IPA. Mark explains that when Anchor first started making Libery Ale, they had a hard time making it clear. Now, hazy beer has become a thing, breweries are actually courting this haziness. They sometimes add yeast and other grains to produce the haziness. They use pulverized oats and they use New England yeast.

Mark finds that among IPAs, the southern California “San Diego” IPAs tend to be one-dimensional, “…very very hoppy and very thin in the body.” These hazy beers have a little more body to go with the hoppiness. They are looking for a balance between malty and hoppy.

Steve asks his guests to tell the story of 101 North Brewing and they tell how they started in 2007 and moved into their warehouse in 2010. It took them two years to build out their brewery. The partners all had other jobs while they built the brewery on Scott Street in Petaluma, “…about a two iron from Lagunitas.” They are also near Henhouse and some wineries and distilleries.

Mark says that beer drinkers used to be loyal to a brand but not the younger generation of beer fans, because there are so many different beers now. Mark is impressed and considers it a golden age of brewing. “It’s a good time to be a beer drinker,” says JB.

They make four main beers now and some others in the tap room. They named the most popular “Heroine” and Steve asks if they ever had problems with the name, and they haven’t.

They have a promotion coming up at the brewery, called The American Dream Auto Show, a car show, last year they had more than 80 cars. There is also a raffle to win a 1954 Chevy Impala. The raffle includes a blind choice where you pick a bottle, which will have a price between $1 and $300.

They discuss cans versus bottles and now they, like many others, realize that it’s good for the beer and keeps oxygen out of the beer better than bottles. Mark says the hops last longer too.

Natalie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Company and Mary Anne McBride, CEO of the Council on Aging are our guests today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter. Natalie will give an update on Russian River Brewing’s Windsor construction project and she and Mary Anne McBride will describe their fire recovery relief project for the community.

Mark starts with a Little White Lie beer from Russian River, a Belgian white beer, about 5% alcohol.

Natalie Cilurzo begins with an update on their construction project in Windsor. They got their bottling line from Italy “…and it came with three Italians and one espresso machine to put it together.” They hope to open between September and October. There are lots of updates with artist renderings and pictures on the website with a live time lapse camera aimed at the site that takes a still picture every 10 minutes. She describes the new Windsor location, which will be a 85,000 square foot brewery with a brewpub, gift shop, production and bottling lines as well as space for the barrels for their sour barrel aged beer. “It’s going to be a wonderful destination for locals and out of town guests alike.” There will be two acres of free parking and bicycle parking too.

Mark asks if they will do bottles and cans, since brewers now consider cans to be better for the beer because they keep the oxygen off the beer better than bottles. Natalie Cilurzo says that they don’t use cans although they will look into that after Windsor opens.

Russian River Brewing and the King’s River Foundation are partnering to raise money for the victims of the Sonoma County wildfires last October. $1,103,537 raises so far, with more coming in. Mary Anne McBride, CEO of the Council on Aging describes their collaboration. In the days after the fire they got a call from King’s Ridge about their fund raising and offered to set up a fund for seniors and the relief money they were able to distribute to seniors who had needs like lost dentures and housing assistance.

Natalie Cilurzo describes the Little White Lie beer, a Belgian white beer with about 5% alcohol, nice and low. It’s a seasonal beer for Summer. It’s 65% barley with Belgian yeast and spiced with a little orange peel, coriander and cumin. Mark finds that it has, “…a wonderful yeasty aroma, almost bread-like.” It has very little hops in it, just in the boil, not dry hopped.

Steve asks Mary Anne to describe the Council on Aging which has been helping seniors maintain their independence since 1966. They provide over 20 programs in the county, such as legal services and Meals on Wheels. Now they are thrilled to be moving into housing and to provide a comprehensive set of services. They reach about 8000 seniors annually and the numbers of seniors in the county is growing. The Council on Aging is a local organization, there is a national organization. They also are active in pickleball, a kind of small scale adaptation of tennis.

Now Mark Carpenter is tasting a Happy Hops beer, a resurrected label from the old Grace Brothers brewery. It has about 12 different hops varieties in it. It’s about 6.5% alcohol, an IPA. Happy Hops was a brand, which was iconic. The trademark had lapsed but they still contacted the Grace family and told them of their plans.

Herlinda Heras is in the studio with Steve Jaxon today. Mark Carpenter is on vacation in Hawaii and will call in. Regan Long from Local Brewing in San Francisco was expected in the studio today but she remains stuck in traffic. So with a nice bottle of Aquafina water in front of her, Herlinda Heras tells the story of Local Brewing of San Francisco while they wait to see if their guest gets through traffic in time to be on the show. Regan Long is the founder and brew master of Local Brewing, which is about to celebrate its second anniversary. She is one of two women brew masters that Herlinda knows. She used to be a marine biologist who worked on preservation of the Arctic and the Great Barrier Reef.

Mark Carpenter calls in on the phone from Hawaii. He made a last-minute decision to go to Hawaii to visit the lava flow on the big island. Mark is tasting some Kona Beer and Maui Beer from Hawaii. Steve asks what styles are popular, Mark replies that lighter beers, IPAs and Blondes, are popular there due to the warm weather, and also some red ales. Maui Coconut Porter was one of the top rated beers this year, says Herlinda. The Hawaiian beers are not so hoppy as the other popular beers in California. There are small craft brewers all around. Herlinda wonders if hops are more expensive there and Mark says everything is more expensive, except gasoline. He pays $10 for a six pack of Hawaiian beer. He’s going to take a 7am helicopter ride over the lava flows, then he will fly home the next day.

Herlinda tells some news about Russian River Brewing which is now helping the Journey’s End Mobile Home Park, helping five seniors families who lost their homes to get new shelter. Natalie was in last week and they are still looking at an October opening for their new huge location in Windsor.

Visit this page at the Russian River Brewing website for news about their new Windsor location.

Herlinda Heras mentions that they also have a lot of pictures and information on their Instagram and Facebook pages.

It is located just outside of Windsor, near the golf course. It’s going to be “a beer Disneyland” for all their beers. They will be one of the only places in California with a beer cellar. They will also have a beer garden, a restaurant and a gift shop, on 10 acres.

Next week Herlinda Heras will be in Krakow, Poland, speaking about women in the beer business in California. Then she will visit France to take a beer tour in Provence and to do some cooking classes with beer. She will bring a bottle of Pastis back for Steve.

This week Adam De La Montanya and Tyler Laverty from Third Street Aleworks are in the studio for Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras.

Herlinda was in Nashville a few weeks ago for the Craft Brewers Convention and World Beer Cup. She was so excited to see Third Street Aleworks win a Gold Medal with their Annadel Pale Ale. Herlinda reports that, “…the place was going bananas for Santa Rosa for all kinds of reasons,” but especially for winning these awards.

Steve asks his guests to tell the story of the brewery. Their owner Todd Hendrick wanted to have an establishment where he could bring his friends. It’s located in downtown right on Third Street. It’s a great restaurant and Steve asks them to describe the brewery. Tyler tells how they make all their beer on site, many varieties. The Annadel Pale Ale has won many awards. Mark points out that it says a lot for them to win so many medals because there is so much competition.

Herlinda mentions that the World Beer Cup has judges who are 75% from outside the country. People from all over the world love their beer. Adam says it’s nice when someone from England compliments them on their beer.

They also taste their English style Pale Ale, true to form with English hops and a good alcohol content, according to Mark. He says that pale ales in England would be around 4% alcohol and this is about 5%.

Next they taste their Cucumber Gose brew, which is like eating a salted cucumber. They hand process all the fresh ingredients including the cucumbers and passion fruits. They peel and seed the cucumbers and puree them before adding them. Herlinda points out that it pairs very well with oysters.

Brandon Gunther from Rocker Oysterfellers is also in the studio today.

Adam tells about how he started as a bouncer, then washed kegs, then he took some classes and Tyler hired him as an assistant brewer. Now he is brewing beer and trying to, “…bring some new life into the beers.”

One beer he makes is a hazy beer and Mark remembers back in the day they couldn’t sell a hazy beer but today it’s a style.

Tyler tells his history, he was an analytic chemist in the wine industry and a home brewer. He took the UC Davis brewing course, won a competition and then was hired at Third Street. He studied under the great Charlie Bamforth at UC Davis. Mark says that having a background in chemistry is a great advantage for being in the brewing business.

Mark goes back to the Cucumber Gose beer and mentions the sour flavor. He asks Adam and Tyler how they soured the beer. They “kettle sour” the beer. They brew on Friday, boil it briefly to sterilize, then cool it, then they introduce a lactic acid culture on Friday, then by Monday they have a nice sour beer to finish with cucumbers.

Mark points out that souring in the kettle is smart, because you kill the bacteria when you boil it, which means you won’t have bacteria anywhere else in the brewery.

Brandon Gunther brought some oysters which go very well with the Cucumber Gose.

Erin Elizabeth Hines, maker of Bitter Girl Bitters and Lorraine Barber, organizer of Petaluma Drinks, are our guests with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras. Petaluma Drinks will take place June 2-3, 2018. Lorraine Barber gives an overview of the event. Her company Barber Cellars produces wine and they have a tasting room in Petaluma. They like all the local craft beer production that is flourishing there now and they wanted to think of a way to promote it all. There will be beer, cider, wine, port, anything that is fermented. Participants include 101 North Brewery, Henhouse Brewery and Lagunitas and also Wilibees will have some coordinated tastings too.

Erin Elizabeth Hines produces Bitter Girl Bitters, which she describes: “Bitters are a concentrated flavor additive that bartenders use. They began as a medicinal product and developed into something much more fun.” She has been producing these bitters for 5 years now. She also works at Spirit World.

Herlinda mentions that Lorraine had said, that even spirits like vodka start as a fermentation. Mark tells how distilling is an extension of beer. “You can’t make whiskey without beer.”

After the break they taste an Imperial Stout from 101 North, brewed in Petaluma, and a Henhouse Oyster Stout, before Herlinda Heras describes a series of upcoming events and special tastings at Wilibee’s.

Lorraine Barber describes Petaluma Drinks as a tasting event, rather than a big party, and the focus is on the quality and variety of all the fermented beverages produced locally.

 

 

 

Dr. Robert Eyler of Sonoma State and Anthony Lopez of Seismic Brewing are our guests on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras.

Dr. Robert Eyler is Professor of Economics and, Director of the Institute for Regional Economic Analysis, Dean of the School of Extended and International Education at Sonoma State University and he also oversees the Craft Brewing Program as part of their workforce development program, which is part of their Professional and Non-Credit Program.

Steve asks Prof. Eyler how the region is doing after the fires of last October. He replies that they have begun the rebuilding process, with some houses going back up. But they are not sure if all the insurance money necessary to rebuild will be available. He expects the labor market will be tightening later this year. Steve also mentions the continuing fire danger that they all live with, even outside of so-called fire season. Prof. Eyler mentions that Lake County has had a major fire each of the last three years and they need a break.

Herlinda Heras is Program Coordinator of the Sonoma State University Craft Beer Program which will be focusing more on the business of beer in the next class that they do. Herlinda invited Dr. Eyler onto the program to describe how beer contributes to tourism and ongoing economic development locally. He tells how the major industries are closely tied to the local residents. There may be some reallocation of people and businesses and that brewers may find the area to be fertile ground for development.

Herlinda is just back from Nashville and visited all the famous places, including Robert’s Western Wear in downtown.

Steve welcomes Anthony Lopez from Seismic Brewing, who says their mission is to produce world class brews in a sustainable fashion.

Their first anniversary is May 19 this year. They don’t have a brewpub, so they can focus on quality. They are about to open a brewpub in the Barlow in Sebastopol, he hopes in September of this year.

Anthony has brought some food, from their beer dinner series, where they are doing events in different locations around town. He took a beef kebeh recipe that he got from a friend, and he suggests pairing it with the Seismic Brewing Co. Liquefaction Kolsch beer, which they are drinking now.

Herlinda Heras was in Nashville last week for the Craft Brewers Conference and biannual World Beer Cup, where two local Santa Rosa breweries won big, including Third Street Ale Works which won a Gold Medal for their English style Pale Ale, and Cooperage which won Gold with an American Style Imperial Stout.

Mark Carpenter mentions that if you’re going to make beer in Santa Rosa, it had better be good, because you will have a lot of competition.

Now they taste a Namazu Oat Pale Ale, or OPA, from Seismic Brewing. It has a little bit of flaked oats in the mash, for body and texture. Mark says it doesn’t have the bitterness of IPAs and 4.8% alcohol.

Seismic Brewing is starting a Beer Dinner series, with the first event coming up tomorrow. One item is Fried Chicken and Waffles that they pair with a lager-fermented dry-hopped German lager with a light lemograss flavor. They are bringing in the chefs from KJ (Kendall Jackson).

The name of the series is Breakfast for Dinner and features some foods that are normally associated with breakfast. Mark jokes that it means beer is not just for breakfast anymore.

Then they are doing a beer dinner with John Ash with some very exotic flavor combination between the beers and the food.

Then they will be working with Cocina Latina in Healdsburg, with their friend Mateo. Anthony is tasting a Pan de Cazón Empanada paired with their Megathrust IPA, their draft-only IPA. There will be six or seven different Tapas.

On Brew Ha Ha today, Herlinda Heras will call in from the Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, to speak to Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter who are in the studio.

Steve mentions that Mark is retired after his long illustrious career at Anchor Brewing in San Francisco and now he has four horses in Petaluma.

Herlinda Heras calls in live from Nashville, where she is attending the Craft Brewers Conference. It’s her first time in Tennessee and she loves it. She says it’s so much better than Las Vegas. Steve loves Nashville Herlinda is impressed with the seemingly ubiquitous rooftop bars and the abundance of live music that she hears everywhere she goes.

She is at the World Beer Cup awards. Every two years at this annual conference they do the World Beer Cup. They will announce the winners soon.

Steve remembers that since the 1950s Nashville has been called Music City. The Country Music Hall of Fame is across the street from Herlinda. There is a conference hall and museum, another rooftop bar with a pool on the roof. Last night she went to Santa’s Trailer Park Pub with Jeremy Marshall, the head brewer of Lagunitas.

It’s literally in a trailer park about 8 miles outside of Nashville. They made a bunch of shipping containers into a bar and they did karaoke there. She says it is “thee diviest bar in Tennessee.” Steve says to go to Tootsie’s, it’s where every musician used to hang out. Steve was once a drummer on tour and knows Nashville. Herlinda says Nashville has doubled its population to 2 million in ten years. Steve compares it to Austin, Texas, which he also visited after 30 years and he found it remarkable that the place is completely new now.

Now Steve and Mark will talk about some beers that Mark has brought in.

The first one is called Combustible Pineapple from Pontoon Brewing Co. in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Mark got it from his son-in-law who visited Atlanta, otherwise this beer is not available in California.

Mark remembers “Beer flavored beer” on the label of the homebrew winner from a few weeks ago. He admires the creativity but he likes the regular flavors too. Mark points out that these creative labels are printed on paper and then applied to the cans, because that is much more cost-effective than printing on cans, which requires a larger run.

Steve and Mark also taste another beer from Pontoon, a good hoppy IPA. Steve remarks that their label art is fascinating.

Stroh’s Beer was the iconic brand of beer that Steve’s father would drink, back in Detroit. Then they sold to Pabst, which still makes Stroh’s. Mark’s first encounter with Stroh’s was in 1965 and he saw “fire brewed” on the label, which was truly unique. The Stroh family came from Germany in the 1800s, started a small brewery and grew slowly and steadily. The technique of boiling the hops usually uses steam but Stroh’s always had a direct fire on the kettle, which gives a different result. The flame of 600 or more degrees heats the brew a lot more than steam does, giving a bit more caramel and malty flavor.

Our guest today on Brew Ha Ha is John Gillouly head brewer at Drake’s Brewery in San Leandro. Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras will taste and talk about some of the very interesting brews that they serve there.

First they taste a New England style IPA, which is hazy or cloudy. John says that the west coast brewers have taken over the New England style. He thinks a New England style with the heavy mouth feel (not dry like a San Diego style IPA) but with some bitterness and dryness, for balance. Steve points out it’s 8.4% alcohol.

Mark Carpenter introduces John Gillouly. Hopocalypse is a high alcohol highly hopped beer. John says some New England brewers use trick ingredients to get hazy beer. The haze in this beer is from raw wheat, which has proteins in it that make the beer hazy, like a Hefeweissen. The level of hops is driving a polyphenol haze. Steve stops for a geek alert. Once you get your dry hop rate high enough, it just won’t clear out.

Mark says Hopocalypse has a nice balance, not the San Diego style that is so hop forward that that’s all you get. Then Mark opens another IPA, Hopweiss.

Drake's is in San Leandro, near Oakland. John Martin, one of Drake’s owners, also owns Triple Rock, the oldest continually owned brewpub in America. It opened in Berkley in 1985 and a former Triple Rock brewer who worked for John Martin opened Drake’s in 1989. He started Drake’s to make English style beers in the 1980s. In the early 2000s he sold it to another company but three years later John Martin bought it.

Mark remembers in the ‘80s it was the early days of the local brewing industry. For a while, some friends of his had access to lots of crawfish, which they were exporting to Europe.

Next week Herlinda will be at the World Beer Cup craft brewer’s conference in Nashville next week.

Hazy beer and Anchor Gin are the topics of the day, live from the new KSRO studio with Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras, who is just back from Europe.  Mark brought Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, what they call a “New England IPA” meaning it’s hazy. An Englishman would send it back. Mark explains that the first highly hopped beers were difficult to filter to make them clear. When they first tried to sell hazy beer, people wouldn’t buy it but now people like it. They’re even selling some in England. Steve says that you may as well call it foggy.

Steve asks Mark about the Anchor Gin, Mark says it is still happening and Herlinda tells about how she found it while travelling in Spain. Mark tells the story of how Anchor Gin got started. After they started making whiskey, they also started making gin. It was about 1997 when they first released the gin. They started the project in 1995 and they tried to keep it secret. When they were in the lab tasting gin, which looked like water, there would be some guests passing through and Fritz Maytag (Anchor’s owner) told the guides to tell the guests that they were merely tasting the water.

Herlinda is just back from a trip to Portugal and northern Spain, including Bilbao, Basque country, Rioja and Madrid. She brought a Portuguese gin in a blue bottle called Blue Magic Gin

Sharish, the brand, won the World Spirit Championship in their category, in gin, last year. It is about to become available here. It is flavored with Angelica, a floral bitter, lemon peel, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and a flower that gives it its blue color.

Tonic water has quinine in it. This gin does a trick, when you add the tonic, the gin turns pink or lavender color. It’s a botanical gin that does not have any juniper in it. Mark points out that usually, juniper is in any gin but he does not taste any in this. Mark says it reminds him a bit of Angostura bitters and Herlinda says the Angelica is what matches that flavor. It also has cardamom in it, which is the sharp note in Chai tea. Mark points out that it is also a major ingredient in Coca-Cola. Herlinda adds a lemon peel, which they serve with it in Europe. Herlinda also brought a Basque sheep's milk cheese.

Today’s guests on Brew Ha Ha are Alfie and Callie from Brewster’s Beer Garden in Petaluma.

They will be doing a collaboration beer with Bear Republic. Racer 5 is one of the brands that built the craft scene so he feels it’s prestigious to collaborate with them.

Mark says that when you see the roof with a garden on it, you’ve arrived at Brewster’s.

They taste a beer form Silver Moon Brewing. They also tasted a beer called Three Kittens. They noticed that playful whimsical names can help sell beer, so they made a Jasmine rice lager that is good for having with Sushi, called Three Kittens.

There is a lot of upheaval in the craft brew market. He wants Brewster’s to be a resource for people to keep track of the best craft beers. He selects for quality of process and quality of ingredients.

He discusses whether big companies can make large quantities of good craft beer, and have it still be craft beer.

Herlinda will be gone next week, to judge in a beer competition in Wroclaw, Poland.