Fogbelt Brewing co-founders Paul Hawley and Remy Martin are our guests on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras.

Remy starts with the history of Fogbelt. They both grew up in Healdsburg and their fathers were winemakers. They worked a southern hemisphere harvest where they started home brewing on the side. He took the Master Brewer degree at UC Davis while Paul went to work at his family’s winery. 10 years later they opened in 2014.

Their taproom on Cleveland Avenue in Healdsburg is not in a part of town with a lot of foot traffic, so people who come there have made the trip to get good beer, they don’t wander in off the street. They have really grown in the kitchen with a new chef and new recipes. Having begun thinking that they should make lighter lagers but they have to make what is popular. They didn’t want to just make IPAs like everyone else. So they try to keep a wide variety of styles. Their first famous beer was a red ale that was hoppy and higher in alcohol. It’s called Hyperion Red Ale.

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 info.

Fogbelt was one of the first breweries to brew with locally grown and locally sourced hops and fresh-hopped beer. They taste a beer called Sapling, what they call a crushable ale, a single malt and single hop. It’s meant to be easy to drink, light and fresh. Most of their beers are named after famous redwood trees.

They also taste a golden stout aged in bourbon barrels with coffee added, called Bamboozle.