Harley brings to this new blog his passion and love of beer. From its inception to the first taste he will share his expertise on beer and its developing industry in Israel. Enjoy. By Harley Zipori. Israel is the land of milk and honey. And, of course, wine. But 2011 may just turn out to be the year when Israel becomes the land of beer: Israeli boutique beer.
The past few years have seen the sprouting of a native Israel craft brewing culture. People started brewing beer at home as the necessary equipment and raw materials became available locally. Some of these brewers are now producing commercial quantities of beer in licensed breweries.
There is a whole world of blue and white craft beer out there to discover. This blog will be a window on that world. Here you can learn about coming beer events, hear about local microbreweries and the people behind them, discover where you can enjoy craft beers and find out how you can make your own beer.
I first discovered quality beer when I was a university student. Growing up in the US I was exposed to the usual selection of Budweiser and Coors. For those fortunate enough to be uninitiated in the true nature of American beer, to say these beers have very mild flavors is an understatement. At some point in my college career a friend of a friend arranged a beer tasting evening where my friends and I were exposed to a wide variety of quality beers. This is before the micro-brewery revolution in the US so except for one brewery in San Francisco, they were all imported to America. That evening opened my eyes to the world of beer and the whole gamut of flavor sensations that beer offers. Since then I have been actively exploring this world, either those available here in Israel or whenever I travel. I have particularly fond memories of a restaurant bar in California with around 30 taps of microbrewery beers and a brew pub in Prague that made outstanding fresh and flavorful Czech style beers.
I made my first beer before making aliyah in 1980 together with a friend and dreamed of returning to beer making some day. That day came during Sukkot in 2008 at the Maabarot beer festival.where I met Denny Neilson, who runs a shop called “The Winemaker” in Mevaseret Zion. Together with Denny I launched myself into the wonderful world of craft brewing at home. Now, over 2 years later, I still have fun brewing and sharing the fruits of my labors with those interested.
Spring is here and it’s the start of the festival season: food festivals, wine festivals and more relevant to this blog, beer festivals.
I didn’t manage to start the blog early enough to give warning about the Harei Yoav Yehuda Food Festival so the test i can do is relate a bit about the part of that festival that was dedicated to beer.
On March 18th and 19th, a mini beer festival was held at Moshav Givat Yeshayahu in Emek HaElah near Beit Shemesh, where David fought Goliath. This time it was the Davids of the beer world. The Goliaths didn’t even bother to show up. Or perhaps they weren’t invited.
Seven brewers from the area shared the fruits of their labors.
Below is a brief rundown of the brewers and their beers. At a later date I will post an in-depth look at each of these brewers and their beers.
Abir – Amram and Bat Sheva Dekel
Deep Soul – Golden Belgian Ale
Touching Blade – Pale Ale
Crispy – Wheat Beer
Black Ice – Porter
Gal’s – Gal Sapir
Double S – Sweet Stout
Phachem – Smoked Imperial Porter
SPA – Pale Ale
The L.O.S.T spicy monster – Free Style Pale Ale
Emek Ha’elah – Yael and Ohad Eilon
Bavarian Wheat Beer – classic German style wheat beer
Blond Ale – straw colored pale ale
Irish Red – copper colored ale
English Dark – full bodied, rich very dark beer
Ronen – Ofer Ronen
Wicked Dark Ale – first place in 2010 Samual Adams Longshot competition
Insolent Wheat – Aromatic Amber Wheat beer
Hashahar – Roni Calderon
Tamara’s Beer – Belgian Tripple
Alon’s Beer – German Bock Beer
Omer’s Beer – Stout
Beerbar – Nir Dahachen and Lior Yitzhaki
Dark – Dark Ale
Grape – Amber Ale with Grapes
Blondy – Amber Ale
Negev Brewery – Yochai Kolder and Haim Ben Asor
Amber Ale
Alon Porter – Oak Aged dark ale
Pasiflora – Golden fruity ale
I made aliyah 30 years ago from the US, forgoing the decadent pleasures of an affluent US for the relative austerity of our little slice of the Middle East in the 1980’s. Things of course are different today and while there may be a lag in some areas like beer, most things culinary and cultural are at standards that compete with anywhere in the world.
During those 30 years I married and raised a family and have been working in the technology sector. I am also a practicing life coach and am acting recently on my longtime passion for good beer.
My interest in quality beer started in my university days and survived the bleak early years when Maccabee and Goldstar were the “quality” beers and they still made a beer called Nesher. During that period, which we can call the “beer tzena”, the only chance to actually have a decent brew occurred in visits to exotic foreign lands.
Over the past decade or so we have seen a growth in the beer market in Israel as local producers started brewing and marketing international brands and importers started importing beers primarily from Europe. So finally we could get a variety of truly world class beers to go with the overall improvement in the quality of food available in restaurants and supermarkets.
The past few years has seen the birth of an Israeli microbrewery industry similar to the one that developed in the US in the 1980’s that I so inconveniently managed to miss by being here. With all these changes and developments in the local beer scene, I just couldn’t keep quiet so now I am blogging on Israel Seen to share with English speaking residents, tourists and anyone interested, what is happening in the boutique beer community in Israel.
Here is the first beer event on the blog. Beermaster, one of the veteran local beer websites, is sponsoring a beer festival on Friday April 8 between 12 noon and 8 pm, immediately after the Tel Aviv Marathon. There will be a chance to taste a wide variety of Israeli boutique beers and meet the brewers themselves. There will also be games, live music and more.
I am planning to be there at noon for a few hours so if you want to meet me, shoot me a mail and we can hook up and talk.
