Michael Young, Kat Prescott and Mike Griffo, Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras enjoying the Thursday Drive Brew Ha Ha.

Mike Griffo and Kat Prescott are in from Griffo Distillery in Petaluma on this edition of Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Herlinda Heras.

Jenny Griffo was on the schedule but is not available. Jenny has been on the show before, on this episode of April 18, 2023. Kat is the Griffo Distillery events coordinator. Every weekend they do put on music performances which are kid friendly and dog friendly. They had a sound engineer come in to help them design the room and the acoustics are great. The bands and audiences always appreciate it.

Griffo Distillery Gin won “White Spirit of the Year” at the ASCoT Awards.  They serve cocktails that use their spirits and a year-round rotation of seasonal ingredients. You can also purchase a cocktail kit to bring home. Plus, there are cocktails in cans. Their version of a Tom Collins uses a little blood orange juice and cardamom clove syrup from Phaedra Achor’s Flora Luna Apothecary.

Visit Russian River Brewing Co. on 4th St. and at their Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for hours, menus and beers on tap.

“We are driven to lift and defy expectations of flavor through ingenuity and precision and to enliven moments of togetherness.” – The Griffo Distillery website

Mike has a doctorate in physics and he explains that doing experiments in quantum mechanics is less interesting than operating a high-tech custom-designed distillery. Griffo Distillery also makes cocktails with cold brew coffee, such as the espresso martini in a bottle that Steve is going to taste. Their Espresso Corretto is aged in grappa barrels and uses cold brew because it is less acidic.

“Corretto” literally means “corrected” in Italian, and “caffé corretto” is a shot of anything into some coffee, usually grappa, whiskey or an Amaro like Ramazzotti, Amaro Lucano or Averna. The common Italian term is “caffé corretto” because in Italian we don’t say “espresso” most of the time, we just say “caffé” and assume that all of it is espresso of one kind or another (stovetop or pressure machine). I’ll have a shot of Amaro in mine, grazie. -cd 

“I told them we shake cocktails in studio.” – Herlinda Heras

Espresso Martinis may be the most popular cocktail in America right now, says Herlinda. The Old Fashioneds, Espresso Martinis and the Gin Gimlets are their three most popular cocktails. They are located close to Lagunitas, five doors down. Kat has worked with the Mystic Theater. She has a lot of experience with live music show production which she applies to organizing concerts and community events. They have local partners like COTS which assists the homeless in Sonoma County who use the concerts to get attention to their work assisting people in need.