By Harley Zipori. When I was at the beer festival at Zman Amiti last Friday, I spent some time talking to Patrick van Dam, the brewmaster of the Alexander Boutique Brewery (http://alexander-beer.co.il/). Patrick is young, cheerful and is a brewing professional. He invited me to visit him at the brewery when I got a chance.
Well that chance happened this week when I had some errands in Hadera and called Patrick up to arrange to meet him there. The Alexander Brewery is in the Emek Hefer industrial park, not far from Hadera. It was founded by Ori Sagi who was an accomplished home brewer before starting Alexander. Ori and the brewery were written up in Haaretz last September. Patrick is the brewmaster at Alexander and as such is responsible for the entire brewing process from grains to bottle.
I am also a home brewer and have seen a few small commercial breweries in Israel which are basically scaled up versions of the recognizable tools we home brewers use. Alexander is a whole different ball game. A large modern facility with new shiny stainless steel equipment and sophisticated control and transport systems that place them in a whole different league from anything I’ve seen (which is not a lot I admit). Patrick brews beer in 2000 liter batches. No I did not slip and add a zero. That’s two thousand liters. Most of it is bottled and sold to stores, restaurants and pubs. Some is put into small kegs.
Patrick’s knowledge of beer and brewing is astounding and he is more than willing to share it, giving clear explanations of the equipment and how the process differs than that done at home. But he is also able to translate some of this into concrete tips a home brewer can use at home to improve the quality and consistency of a home-brewed product.
Alexander makes 3 different beers that cover the entire spectrum. Each one is balanced and flavorful without being overpowering. They also, in my eyes, reflect Patrick’s Dutch origins with German training in that they have a distinct European flavor. I have no idea if Patrick developed these beers or was chosen because of his suitability in brewing these types of beer but whatever it is, it’s a successful combination in my eyes. All the beers are ales, meaning they are brewed at near room temperature with top fermenting yeasts. They are then aged a few degrees above freezing in a process called laagering, even though these are not lagers. Patrick could explain why this helps the beer develop their delicate flavors and smoothness and maybe I can blog about that another time.
Alexander Blond is a golden ale that looks like a lager at first glance but has richness and aroma that makes it a pleasure to drink. I like my beer strongly flavored at times but this is a beer I love and have ordered in restaurants.
The Ambree is an amber ale with a bit more of a hoppy taste and aroma. It is not overpowering and has more of a European flavor rather than that of an English bitter which it resembles at first glance.
The Alexander Black is a very dark ale that I could probably decide if it was a Porter or Stout if I were an expert. I find it smoother than a Stout and I love the rich taste and lovely chocolate finish.
In my opinion a boutique brewery can go one of two ways in developing their beers. They can brew a good flavorful session beer, i.e. one that is made for enjoying and sitting and knocking back a few or they can go for uniqueness and strong distinctive brews that make you sit up and notice. Alexander beers are definitely session beers and in my opinion, for the Israel of 2011, this is exactly the right way to do it. Except for a few beer mavens, home brewers and a small cadre of trained professional aficionados, Israel is not ready for the big, strong beers that American microbreweries sometimes brew.
I have to tip my hat to Ori and his partners for working hard to get Alexander beers into places where the Israeli public drinks beer. Only when people even know that there is an Israeli boutique beer industry, will they start to order these beers.
Since this is a blog, and by definition my personal viewpoint, I can make a direct appeal to the readers of this blog: when you are in a restaurant or pub, ask for an Israeli boutique beer. Some places will not have any but if enough people ask the owners might get the message.
And asking for an Israeli boutique beer isn’t always enough. I was at a large popular bar/restaurant with an excellent beer selection and asked for a boutique Israeli beer only to be told by the waiter that they didn’t have any. When it was too late I saw on the blackboard that they had written in Alexander. So ask twice and ask for Alexander by name.
To Contact Harley email him at: maof.beer@gmail.com
