Downtown Santa Rosa comedy club opens with stand-up, music, beer

Over the years, Mendocino Avenue in downtown Santa Rosa has had its periods of empty storefronts and business closures. But this weekend it celebrates new life with the sound of laughter and the grand opening of the Barrel Proof Lounge comedy club.

“The response to this project has been motivational for me,” said Casey Williams, a longtime local comedy show producer and owner of the new club. “Everybody has been so supportive of the idea. It seems like Santa Rosa wants this.“

The venue at 501 Mendocino Ave., the former site of the 3 Disciples taproom, stages its grand opening Friday, following a quiet opening last weekend. And that’s just the beginning.

“We’ll start with comedy every Wednesday and Friday. Then we’ll do Thursday music nights and music all day Sundays,” Williams said.

This is not Williams’ first foray into the entertainment business. He is the founder and owner of Barrel Proof Comedy, which has produced comedy shows all over Sonoma County for the past decade.

Monthly for the past 10 years, Barrel Proof has brought nationally known comedians to Sally Tomatoes in Rohnert Park and continues to do so.

Williams also has a long history of promoting fundraising events for community nonprofit organizations.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from community organizations that want to put on fundraisers here, and that’s part of what I want to do,” he said.

The new Mendocino Avenue venue, which includes a performance space that will seat 150 people, has an overall capacity of 299. The club will serve local wine and beer, and the comedy room features a new sound booth to be manned by longtime local DJ Rob Cervantes.

Williams has tapped Herlinda Heras — who judges beer competitions internationally and has hosted the weekly “Brew Ha Ha” segment on KRSO radio’s “The Drive With Steve Jaxon” for the past decade — to act as curator for the new club’s 16 taps.

“We’ll have one tap for wine and one for cider. We’ll have some regular beers like Coors Light and Pabst Blue Ribbon, but we’ll also feature craft beers, both regional and international, some new breweries, some cult favorites and some nonalcoholic brews,” Heras said.

The new club won’t have a kitchen, but Williams anticipates that patrons will order food for delivery from downtown restaurants, including the Tipsy Taco next door and the Golden Bun across the street.

The name Barrel Proof comes from a whiskey-making term that means bourbon in the bottle has the same alcohol content it had when it was put into the barrel for aging.

“To me, it means being true to your authentic self,” Williams explained recently.

The Barrel Proof Lounge has been heralded as part of a reawakening in downtown Santa Rosa, as the new venue stands between two spots that have brought momentum to the live entertainment scene: the Lost Church music club on Ross Street and The California, a new theater, comedy and music space on Seventh Street that opened in September.

“I often hear from locals about how strange it is that Santa Rosa is the largest city in the county but often seems to have the least going on,” said Bryce Dow-Williamson, general manager of the Lost Church, in January when the Barrel Proof project was announced.

“I’m glad to see other creatives and organizers working on addressing the lack of venues in an area with so much talent and creativity,” Dow-Williamson said.

Meanwhile, 3 Disciples has moved out of its former taproom in the Mendocino Avenue spot and into the former Two Tread space in Santa Rosa Plaza. The new space is expected to open in the spring.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.