Brew Ha Ha Podcast Harry Duke & Herlinda Heras

Tom Hart, co-founder of Humboldt Cider is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras, with special guest Peter Lopez. Peter is the founder of NorCal Beer Geeks and he also runs the Juncture Taproom in Santa Rosa.



Tom Hart started Humboldt Cider in 2014 with his partner. They saw an opportunity for cider and started learning how to make it for local events in small batches. For a location , they renovated an old milking barn. Most recently, they started canning during the pandemic. This was an initially forced transformation of their business but it has worked well.



First to be tasted is their Drysdale Cider, made with 4 different culinary apples, golden delicious, granny smith, fuji and gala. It classifies as a dry cider on the dryness scale.

Juncture Taproom

Juncture Taproom is celebrating its 6th anniversary. He has been planning this celebration for a long time. NorCal Beer Geeks and Humboldt Cider have made a collaboration called Sally’s Jamaica. It is flavored with Jamaica flower like the refreshing Mexican beverage which is made from Hibiscus flowers. It makes a light and dry apple cider. They are bringing in all the musicians and food vendors who are with them all year too, for the celebration. Juncture Taproom is located at 4357 Montgomery Drive, at the corner of Mission.



Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info.



They are also tasting the Cherry cider, flavored with two kinds of cherries, Montmorency for tartness and Morello for color. This won gold at GLINTCAP, the Great Lakes International Cider Competition, which is the biggest cider competition in the country. It won despite their fear of heat damage before the tasting.



Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.



NorCal Beer Geeks collaborates with VetConnect, to help veterans with all kinds of personal services, including helping them navigate available services, because sometimes some veterans are not even aware that they are eligible for certain services.



The last Humboldt Cider product tasted today is the Gravenstein Cider, made with fruit from old trees in northern California, which used to be more abundant, and which produce the best cider out there.



Visit Humboldt Cider online at their website, their Faecbook or Intsagram.

Author Marty Nachel, author of Beer for Dummies, joins Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha, on the phone from Chicago. Marty has also written How to Judge Beer Like a Pro.



In order begin to judge beer like a pro, the first prerequisite is practice. However that’s not all. You have to know beer styles and be familiar with different off aromas and flavors as well. Herlinda agrees and adds that the scientific names of things are important to know, to understand beer at this level. For example, Brett, or Brettanomyces. (The term Brettanomyces comes from the Greek for “British fungus.”)



Marty has been in the craft brewing industry in many roles for more than thirty years. He first got interested in beer on a long weekend vacation to Toronto where he took a tour of the Molson brewing company. He had never tasted beer so fresh, and in so many styles in one sitting. The most interesting place he has judged beer is in South Africa. He was lucky to be working with a literary agent who knew the publishers of the for Dummies series. They had just done one on wine so they wanted one on beer too and Marty got the gig. There doesn’t seem to be one for Cider yet. Actually he self-published How to Judge Beer Like a Pro, on Amazon.



Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.



Marty is in Chicago which is home to some great lager style breweries. Goose Island is the local brewery with a brew pub on Clark St. Lagunitas has also opened a location in Chicago, which just reopened a few weeks ago. They made a big impression there when they opened, but since being acquired by Heineken, the novelty seems to have worn thin there.



Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info.

Herlinda and Fridge



Nickolas Garson, AKA Fridge, sales rep from Cooperage Brewing joins Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha. Cooperage is just about to celebrate 8 years as one of the premiere locations to get a beer in Santa Rosa. They are located on Airway Court between Piner and Hopper.



Their family-friendly location is open seven days a week, Monday through Thursday from 2 to 8 pm, Friday and Saturday from noon to 11 pm and Sunday from noon to 8 pm. Their website and socials have the updated daily food truck schedule. They went out of their way to make the location comfortable and beautiful. The bar is a long redwood tree trunk.



Cooperage’s founder Tyler helped Nickolas get to know and to enjoy craft beer and that led to him working in the craft beer industry. Nicholas was inspired by his first taste of good craft beer back in the day. It may be hard to remember today, but at one time, average beer in America was not very good at all, with little or no attention to freshness or flavor. Well, we took care of that, didn’t we?



Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Cooperage Brewing 8th Anniversary

As part of their 8th anniversary, they have a band performing on June 10, Painted Waves, a local pop-rock band. The Coop Co-op is on the 11th with vendors and DJs.

The anniversary party itself is Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th with a rock climbing wall, face painters and mechanical bull riding. The vendors include vintage clothes and shoes and they are adding more and more to the list. It is a nice opportunity to help small local businesses. They have beer and yoga sessions. The price includes a beer after yoga.



Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info.



They have been tasting Lazy Cat lager, which was originally a staff collaboration. The name is based on their brewery cat named Beyonce. It is made with Luminosa hops, which has no pine or resin character. It has a tiny citrus undertone. They are also tasting the Mexican lager.



Nicholas brought Trimcoe, a new West Coast IPA. Cooperage Brewing beers are available in grocery stores as well as restaurants and bars all around Sonoma County.

Lo & Behold Crispy Pork Spareribs



Laura Sanfilippo & Sean Raymond Kelley from Lo & Behold Bar Restaurant join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha.



Lo and Behold has three partner owners, who met while working for others. They thought Healdsburg had space for a casual place, large and spacious, with a great bar. Almost a year and a half ago, they opened Lo and Behold.



Sean Kelley grew up with his grandmother’s Sunday dinners. He ran kitchens in some prominent restaurants and then went to culinary school at Tante Marie’s in San Francisco. He wants his flavors to appear familiar and comfortable, but with extraordinary flavors.



The Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience includes spirits for the first time. Tickets are still available for the event.



It’s all Healdsburg bartenders, pairing “farm to glass.” Her partner Tara has a farm where they grow the herbs and flowers that they use, a nice long list of flavors. Sean has also brought a bunch of appetizers.



Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info.



They thought Healdsburg had space for a casual place, large and spacious, with a great bar. Lo and Behold has a nice selection of Italian Amaros, or Amari, either way, which are dark herbal liqueurs that vary between bitter and sweet. Every one of the bartenders has a special, original concoction for their Healdsburg event.

Global Comfort Food

Sean describes the restaurant as Global Comfort Food. For example, fried chicken is a winner all over the world. Harry asks what it was like opening a restaurant at the end of a pandemic. Laura thinks it may have been an ideal time. Also, they have been in Healdsburg for a long time and they had a lot of customer loyalty. They also have a nice patio. When people were ready to come back out, there they were. It was hard, but they had already worked through the entire pandemic. This is the first restaurant that the partners have ever owned themselves, after running restaurants for others for a long time.



Tomorrow, Friday May 18, from 4-7 PM at Lo and Behold, there is a Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience event. It is a stand-up meet and greet with Healdsburg’s best bartenders. The bartenders will be all at their own stations on the big patio.

Herlinda, Krzysztof and Marcin.



Marcin Ostajewski from Browar Fortuna and Krzysztof Panek from Browar Grodzisk in Poland join Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras on Brew Ha Ha.



Krzsyztof and Marcin have just arrived from Nashville, where they attended the World Beer Cup. Both of their breweries are located in western Poland, not far from Posnan. Browar Grodzisk is based in Grodzisk Wielkopolski and Browar Fortuna is in Miłosław.



The Grodziskie style is Poland’s own, originating in the town of Grodzisk. It is a unique beer, the only one in the world brewed with 100 % wheat malt, smoked with oak wood. The brewing process is difficult and long and it has to take its time. Grodziskie is light and refreshing, with a unique flavor among beers on the lighter side.



Marcin tells about early 20th Century advertisements for this beer that refer to it as "Polish Champagne." There are samples of old Grodziskie ads here on Browar Grodzisk website. (This reminds me of Miller High Life, The Champagne of Bottled Beers, their old slogan. -cd)



Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.

Grodziskie

Krzsyztof is quite serious about making Grodziskie as well as possible. He did extensive research in order to replicate the old equipment and he collected information from many people. The brewery fell into disuse after communism. Beginning in the 1990s, investors came in and closed breweries that were not cost-effective. Since lagers were in demand, beer consumers demanded that. Only later they were able to bring Grodziskie back when they re-founded the brewery.



Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info.



Marcin talks about their home brew competition. The only rule is that beers in competition can’t use wild yeast, which would interfere with their brewing operation. The brewery will produce the winning recipe at the next year’s festival.



Krzsyztof describes how hard it was to find the right malt for Grodziskie. They found a malter just over the border in Czech Republic.



The home brewing community developed in Poland during communism when there was not enough good beer available commercially. When they brought Grodziskie beer back into production, the home brewers society was an important source of recipes, yeast and information.



Next they taste Komes, an idea that came from Krzysztof wondering what would happen if he took their award-winning Baltic Porter, and froze it. He kept it for 2 weeks in the deep freezer. Below the ice there was a condensed liquid, made of alcohol and all the flavor elements. They tasted it and decided it was extraordinary. Then they put it in whiskey barrels. After 4 or 5 years of the project, they have several hundred bottles. There isn't much of it, but now they do batches of about 1000 bottles.

Herlinda, Sayre & Mercedes



Mercedes Hernandez founder of the SOCO Market and Sayre Piotrkowski from HenHouse, are our guests on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras.



The Freshtival is this Saturday, May 6 at Somo Village in Rohnert Park. Get tickets here, they are going fast!



As the show begins they open a Moonlight Death and Taxes that is only a few days old. Brian Hunt from Moonlight and Vinny Cilurzo from Russian River were the pioneers of quality and freshness. Today the billboard outside Santa Rosa says Welcome to Fresh Beer Country.

The Importance of Freshness

Sayre talks about what they call second-half beer quality. The HenHouse company mission is to improve beer quality for the end consumer and to create wealth for our community. Freshness is the one quality metric that the consumer has access to. You can see if a beer is kept cold and you can see its date of production. These two factors are vital.



Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info.



The best place to get the freshest beer is this Saturday May 6 at Somo Village in Rohnert Park. The event is sponsored by the Bay Area Brewers Guild.

Brian Hunt says, "Fresh beer is like live music. Stale beer is like listening from the parking lot."

THE SOCO MARKET

Mercedes Hernandez describes how the SOCO Market started during the pandemic. Many Sonoma County businesses didn’t have a physical location so she invited eleven local makers to exhibit and sell together. It grew to over 60 vendors and then the city of Santa Rosa invited them to a market space in Old Courthouse Square that can have as many as 90. They have a market every month from April to August.



Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.



The SOCO Market with its panorama of jewelry, plants and clothing vendors lends a fun and colorful atmosphere for the Freshtival. The Art of Freshness Gallery will be showing artists who have created label art for local brewers.



The first beer tasted was The Art of Freshness, which is the name of a beer and the theme of the festival. They also taste Matiné Idol. For the rest, go to the Freshtival!



Today's tastings on BHH.