By Harley Zipori: This blog isn’t about what I did but about what you can do. Its not about a festival that I went to but about one that you can go to. I’m actually giving you plenty of warning. This Thursday and Friday, June 9th and 10th, at Beit Hayayin at Kibbutz Maabarot is the semi-annual Maabarot Beer Festival (6pm to midnight Thursday and noon to 6 pm Friday).
Beit HaYayin, The Winehouse (site in Hebrew only) is a restaurant on Kibbutz Maabarot in the Sharon region, between Netanya and Hadera.
This is the festival for serious beer fans. If you like beer and want to learn more about imported world class beers imported to Israel and especially about Blue and White Israeli boutique beers, this is the festival for you.
More information, in Hebrew, is available on the Beermaster website
I first discovered this festival in 2008. Beermaster, an Israeli website dedicated to beer in Israel organizes this particular festival twice a year, in the late spring and during Sukkot. Beit Hayayin has a large grassy open area where the booths are set up and there is a stage for music. The restaurant is open and there is usually a booth selling hot dogs and other sausages. I mean really, what else would you sell at a beer festival?
The festival is not free but I always feel i get my money’s worth. They take 30 NIS to get in which gives you a glass and access to the food, music, talking with the local brewers and most important, the rest rooms. For another 30 NIS you can buy a card with 6 coupons for tasting beer. A single coupon will get you a 100 ml tasting or for 3 coupons, you get a whole ? liter. This is about the price you would pay in a store, not a restaurant and is very standard for these festivals. The people running the booth get the money so in the case of the local boutique beers, this helps them subsidize their appearance at the festival and encourages them to continue to produce great beer.
Beermaster promised to post a list of the beers participating in this festival. I will try to keep track of their updates and post a new blog with this information if they actually do it. I already got an affirmative from Patrick from the Alexander Brewery that they will be there.
One thing that is special about Maabarot, is that it is not only licensed breweries that are allowed to participate so that some home brewers will also set up booths. At my first Maabarot festival I met Denny Neilson from the Winemaker in Mevaseret Zion who got me started on my own home brewing efforts. Denny also makes some fantastic beers and this year has promised a hard cider.
I usually go there as soon as it opens on Friday but depending on circumstances may show up Thursday night. If you want to meet up, just let me know at my mail maof.beer@gmail.com.
There is plenty more happening during the summer to keep checking the blog.
