By Harley Zipori. I am not a beer fanatic. Don’t get me wrong, I truly love beer but beer is something I enjoy drinking, I love writing the blog and it is very satisfying exploring the world of beer and getting to know those who make it. Not to mention the beer that I brew for myself at home.
I do call myself a “beer guy” but merely to indicate my interests, not my identity. I like to believe it’s my passion but only in the sense that I love what I do and it gives me great satisfaction.
I assume there are those that do worship beer, wine and the finer alcoholic beverages. So it’s not surprising there is a local establishment for the imbibing of spirits, beer and other alcoholic beverages call the Temple Bar.
Before relating my recent experiences at Temple Bar, I would like to tell you about some of the beers that I have been working my way through from my collection at home. I don’t drink much and when I do, I usually pick one of my home brews. However I do sometimes collect interesting beers as I find them and sometimes they stick around awhile before I decide to drink them.
So recently I opened a bottle of Hobgoblin, from the Wychwood Brewery in England. These people have a sense of humor. The tagline for Hobgoblin is “Deliciously Dark, What’s the matter Largerboys… Afraid you might taste something?” Gotta love people like that. These are the same folks who make Jester Jack, a beer that I tasted when I was in the UK in September. The Hobgoblin is a full bodied ruby ale. Lots of flavor but with fairly mild bitterness. I quite enjoyed it. I’ll mention Hobgoblin a bit later.
The other beer I had lying around was a Fuller’s London Porter. Fuller’s is an established brewery in the UK but makes a nice range of cask ales, including Fuller’s ESB (Extra Special Bitter), one of my favorite beers. To oversimplify a complex beer style with a long history, Porter is kinda like Stout but without that burnt flavor. A good Porter is nearly opaque black, rich and not very bitter. It has strong flavors of chocolate and coffee. The Fuller’s Porter is a good example of this style and was very enjoyable.
Alexander Black, brewed by the Alexander brewery is a locally produced beer in the Porter style and is well worth looking around for. It’s a seasonal beer (see my previous blog about seasonal beers) and should start being available in as the weather cools.
Back to Temple Bar. The name actually doesn’t have any religious significance. I just found the connection to religion a cute way to open the blog. In truth, it is an area of Dublin that has narrow cobbled streets, a lively nightlife and is popular with tourists. The Temple Bar chain of pub restaurants has several branches in the center of the country and a nice Irish Pub kind of atmosphere. They also have a true dedication to beer of all sorts with a large selection of European and of course Irish brews. They also have Hobgoblin on tap. It’s worth a visit to any of the Temple Bar branches and they will let you a taste of different beers before you decide what you want to drink. You can see their drinks menu online (sorry it’s mostly in Hebrew). Also be sure to ask about the beers of the month.
I recently found myself at Cinema City in Ramat Hasharon with an hour to kill so I went to Temple Bar, sat and the bar and started talking beer with Alon, the barman. I certainly appreciate it when the barman not only understands the beers being served but truly appreciates them. Being familiar with all the beers at Temple Bar is no small feat. They have close to 20 different kinds on tap and a large selection of bottled beers. Alon made sure I tasted the current beers of the month before making any decision.
On a previous visit to Temple Bar, I had tasted the Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel, a dark wheat beer brewed by the Franziskaner brewery in Munich. It was quite good but I don’t recall the details as it was already a few weeks ago.
The beers of the month at Temple Bar (well as of last week at least) were Edelweiss a naturally cloudy wheat beer from Austria and Maredsous Brune, a brown Trappist Belgian ale brewed under license from the Maredsous Abbey by the same people who brew Duvel. I tasted both but decided on another Belgian beer, Westmalle Dubbel.
The Westmalle Dubbel is also a Trappist brown ale and is brewed at the Westmalle Abbey in Belgium. At 7% alcohol it does pack a bit of a punch but it was so aromatic and full of flavor, the extra alcohol was just another layer of flavor.
The downside of the Temple Bar is that the beers there are quite expensive. But then I tend to go for the more exotic high quality beers and just like anything else, you get what you pay for.
The big disappointment is that they do not have any Israeli boutique beers on tap. They do have beers from the Alexander, Golan and Pavo breweries in bottles. However I have a tendency to order beers on tap. Call it habit. I know as a brewer that draft beer isn’t always better and unless the beer is actually cask conditioned, which no Israeli brewer that I know actually does, then it really shouldn’t make a difference.
Of course draft beer is usually less expensive for the same quantity.
I do understand the hesitations of pub managers to put a new beer on tap. Kegs have a limited life after they have been tapped. I remember once tasting a Guinness that was way past it’s prime at a well known pub. Bottles have a rather long shelf life. So the tradeoff is clear.
However we have a chicken and egg situation. People, Including myself, like draft beer. Until we can get the Israeli boutique beers on tap in a good number of pubs, there will be no breakthrough in the market. Of this I am convinced. After visiting the US and England and exploring craft brewed and boutique/microbrewery beers, I realize that the keg is king.
However it seems there won’t be Israeli craft beers on tap in lots of places until there is a breakthrough in the market.
Which brings us back to cost. The beer tax in Israel is still a big barrier to small brewers. It drives the price of local boutique beers up. It also makes it very difficult for the small guys to compete with the large brewing corporations here in Israel. However the main competition to the boutique breweries is not Heineken and Carlsberg but the quality imported beers like those served at pubs and restaurants that truly care about beer like Temple Bar, Murphy’s and Porter and Sons.
Still the government should be encouraging local breweries that will employ people locally, and reduce imports. After all importing the finished product (kegs of beers, which is mostly water) cost more than the raw ingredients. Especially beer ingredients which consists of dry malted barley primarily with a bit of hops. I generally use about 50 gm of hops for each 19 liters so you get an idea of the quantity.
I recently heard, but haven’t verified, that the UK has lower excise tax rates for small brewers. That is food for thought. Or maybe a better way to say that is “Drink for thought”.
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