Lost Coast Brewery and Oysterpalooza are both featured on Brew Ha Ha today. Brandon from Rocker Oysterfeller's is here to promote Oysterpalooza and Jack Van Stone from Lost Coast Brewery has brought several of their beers.
Lost Coast Brewery
Lost Coast Brewery is located in downtown Eureka, California, on the northern California coast before you reach Oregon. The brewery started in 1989 so this is their 30th anniversary. People call the area the Lost Coast since it is not served by the 1 or the 101. The 1 joins the 101 at Leggett, 80 miles south of Eureka, leaving about 85 miles of the coast not served by a major highway. That makes it hard to reach but has kept it uncrowded.  It is also pristine and gorgeous.

Lost Coast Brewery's owners Barbara Groom and Wendy Pound were a Pharmacist and Family Therapist, respectively. They travelled northern Europe and learned brewing, then built this great enormous brewery. They also make cider now.

Mark has known Lost Coast as one of the early independent craft brewers, since they started in 1989. Lost Coast Brewery makes a beer called Great White, which is their number one product. It’s very crisp, clean and drinkable, says Mark.Today, Lost Coast has added some IPAs to their production, because of their popularity.

Mark knows a lot of the old brewers because a lot of them came by Anchor to visit Mark and see what they were doing there, back when there were only a few other brewers around.

They taste a beer called Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout. Herlinda says it’s not super sweet, Mark says because the sugars get fermented away. Steve finds it delicious but can only have a few sips. It’s genius but “not something I want to pound down,” says Mark. They did beer flavored like cupcakes, brownies and someone wants to do cheesecake. Steve asks, what’s the point? It’s definitely more of a niche. Herlinda remembers that “Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout” was one of the original beers off this type.

Jack says that the Summer is a great time to visit Eureka, the weather and the coast are spectacular. Lost Coast is available at Bottle Barn.
Rocker Oysterfeller’s and Oysterpalooza
Rocker Oysterfeller’s is located at 14415 Hwy One, Valley Ford, CA. They are putting on the annual Oysterpalooza, a music and food festival on Memorial Day weekend, in a few days. There will be music from The Texas II (who sound like Willie Nelson or Hank Williams), Black Sheep Brass Band and Arann Harris coming out of retirement just for Oysterpalooza. They also have a band called Van Goat that plays Swing Punk.It’s very energetic swing music with a lot of horns.

Oysters of course are the primary focus. Herlinda describes it as being “...like an old fashioned fair, you can sit on hay bales, there is great music, there is space to roam around and meet people, the food is great and the scenery is beautiful."

Speaking of big concert festivals, Bottlerock is also this weekend, in Napa. In addition to Rocker Oysterfeller's, they also have a Mexican restaurant called Tortilla Flats, named after the John Steinbeck book. They will make all the carnitas and salsa. They’ll also be doing deep fried oysters, which can be done in sandwiches or lettuce wraps.

They taste an Oyster Stout, an old style. Mark explains that in England, before they really knew about the chemistry of beer, they tried putting oysters in the beer, which probably added nutrition for the yeast and would affect the taste too. Henhouse still makes an oyster stout. They had a beer called Indica Pale Ale before the TTB so the name is grandfathered in.

Rocker Oysterfeller's has been open for 13 years. It is an antique hotel and the rooms are comfortable and homey. The restaurant is southern influenced and since they are in Valley Ford they are surrounded by oyster farms and dairy farms,