Israel Brews and Views

Lucky is the person who lives near a home-brewer. If you play your cards right, you shall not lack for good beer.

Ron Prigat (left) and Yair Uziel pumping their
home-brews at the sixth Brewgarden in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem's Givat Hamivtar neighborhood, near Ramat Eshkol, has a few such lucky people. They live near Yair Uziel and Ron Prigat, two 27-year-old home-brewers who love to share their beer with friendly neighbors who appreciate it. And once a year, sometimes more, Yair and Ron throw their famous Brewgarden party for family and friends. I was fortunate to be invited to number six a few weeks ago.

The Prigat family garden is an ideal backdrop for a brew party, with grass, flowers and shade trees to set the scene. Yair, who works in high-tech, and Ron, an artist, were in their element, pumping beer from a homemade refrigerated tap system while offering their guests inspired explanations.

They were selling four kinds of beers that day, all solid styles.

Ron Prigat sharing secrets
with the old blogger.

Honey Wheat (4.5% ABV) -- Classic weissbier color and aroma, but the honey is very dominant to the taste. It contrasts well with the sourness in the beer, so I guess it could be called sweet-and-sour. Quite yummy, actually.

Belgian Trippel (8.5%) -- Another classic: Strong alcohol scent. Taste of sweet malt and yeast cake. Very weak hops.

Coffee Stout (4.5%) -- Made with Brazilian coffee, this has a delicious strong coffee taste, though the body is weak for a stout. I had the feeling that a good spot of milk or cream would have been just right.

Rye IPA (7%) -- This was the only "non-classic" beer being served. About 5% of the grain used is unmalted rye. The beer is not as bitter as a regular IPA, perhaps because the rye imparts a fruity-nut flavor. The hops, however, are very present, both in aroma and taste. A very drinkable IPA -- avoiding extremes while keeping taste.

Ron and Yair have been making beer for about three years, brewing batches of 150 liters each time.

Beer and company at the Brewgarden.

"Our Beergardens have become public events," says Ron, "attracting people from all over. We get to share our beer with other people and get their feedback. It shows that our brewing has meaning, that we're not just another small home-brewery."

I have found that many home-brewers have this need to reach out, to share their beer with others. They may even go to the extent of giving their beer a brand name, a logo and a label -- even though they have no intention of going commercial. It's as if their beer brewing is not just a generic hobby, but needs to have a name and a personality of its own.

In the case of Ron and Yair, they call themselves the Yeasty Boys, but still do not have a brand name for their brewery. There's already a Yeastie Boys Brewery somewhere in New Zealand, so they don't want to go with that.

They'd be happy to hear suggestions from readers, so if you have any bright ideas, please send them to me.

At any rate, take a tip from me and search your neighborhood for home-brewers. If you find any, introduce yourself. They'll probably be very friendly people, as home-brewers usually are. Tell them how much you appreciate good craft beer. You're sure to make a new friend -- and you shall not lack for good beer.

I just found out about the Ashdod Beer Festival, which will be held August 19-20 at the Mei-Ami Beach. The only thing I was able to learn from the website and phone number was that this is the fifth Ashdod Beer Festival (though I was completely unaware of previous ones) and that tickets cost 35 shekels and do not include tastings. The festival opens at 8:30 and there are big-name entertainers on both nights. I couldn't find out which breweries will be represented nor how many beers will be available.

Ashdod on the Mediterranean.

If you live in the area and would like to attend, the phone number for tickets is 08-854-5833 and the municipal office for these events is 08-854-5141. Maybe you'll have better luck getting information than I did.

By the way, the name of the beach, Mei-Ami, means "waters of my people" in Hebrew. There are folks out there who believe that the name Miami (as in Florida) comes from the same source.

Just a reminder that the BEERS 2015 Festival in Tel Aviv will be held this coming Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings (August 11-13) at the Train Station (HaTachana) in Neveh Tzedek. Doors open at 6:00 pm. The entrance fee is 70 shekels, which includes the first five tastings. After that, you can buy five additional tasting coupons for 30 shekels.

According to information on the BEERS website, if you print out and bring the coupon below (or display it on your smartphone), the entrance fee is reduced to 50 shekels. What are you waiting for?

There are two beer festivals going on over August 26-27. One of them is in Haifa (held on the Agritech Grounds, near the Convention Center) where entrance is free. Since it is sponsored by Goldstar and Maccabee Beer, don't expect any Israeli craft breweries to be there -- but it should be a lot of fun anyway.

Last year's Jerusalem Beer Festival.
(Photo: Koby Sharvit)

The other one is the 11th "Ir Habira" Jerusalem Beer Festival, held in Independence Park (Gan HaAtzmaut). Entrance costs 35-45 shekels, and does not include any beer tasting. There will be food and entertainment, and if it maintains the level of past Jerusalem festivals, a great time should be had by all.

Regarding the Mateh Yehuda Rustic Beer Festival, I havebeen informed byChani Ben-Yehuda, who is responsible for festivals and events at the Tzlilei Hakesem company, which organizers these events, that it doesn't appear as if there will be a festival this year. This is a real shame, since the atmosphere, the music, the beer and the food at these festivals were always first-rate. As they used to say in Brooklyn, "Wait'll next year!"

Our very august and robust Israel Brews and Views Tasting Panel met on a recent summer night to taste and rate seven Israeli-brewed amber ales. We are honored to bring the results to you -- the beer-loving public.

This time we had a full complement of ten judges, whom we can really say represented the tastes of the Israeli public -- masculine and feminine, young and old, urban and rural. To have had a panel more representative, we would have had to hold elections.

Brilliant amber ale.

Amber ales are the duskier cousins of pale ales, or more accurately, American pale ales. To get the amber color, which can appear in a range of shades, a darker malt is used. Although amber ales can have strong hop tastes, they are usually better balanced with malt than pale ales.

When our Tasting Panel chose amber ales, I was concerned that this style would be a kind of nondescript way station between a pale ale and a porter, without real distinguishing characteristics.

I was wrong. The amber ales we tasted had a variety of colors, aromas, tastes and bodies which made the judging quite enjoyable. Speaking in the royal "we" (as they usually do), several of the judges told me afterwards that these beers were the best group of any of our tastings.

Four of the seven beers we tasted are from what I would call major craft breweries, available in stores throughout most of the country. The other three breweries are smaller, not so readily available outside of their local area, but are seriously working on expanding their marketing and distribution.

On a balmy Budapest evening, our judges
celebrate a successful Tasting Panel.

As with our past panels, our tastings were completely blind. All glasses just had a number on them, corresponding to a beer which only the servers knew. The judges recorded their impressions on a specially prepared page and when they were finished, gave each beer a ranking. The best beer received seven points, number two got six points, and so on. All the points given to each beer were counted to obtain the final rankings.

Unlike the results of our last tasting panel, for porter beers, this time there was a very clear winner . . . and a clear loser. The middle five beers were separated by only seven points. Eight judges gave the winner high points, and eight judges gave the loser low points. To me, this indicates that the judges, in spite of their very different backgrounds and tastes, were basically on the same page in choosing their favorite, and their least favorite, amber ale.

The old blogger himself
watches over the contenders.

Before we give the final comments and rankings -- what you're all waiting for -- please meet out esteemed judges.

Yitzchak from Orr Yehuda, computer programmer
Moshe from Jerusalem, office manager and app designer
Shoshana from Jerusalem, student, former bartender
Bob from Moshav Ramat Raziel, jeweler
Mike from Jerusalem, photographer and graphic designer
Eitan from Tekoa, tour guide
Ira from Jerusalem, risk management consultant
Batya from Shiloh, teacher and blogger
Manny from Jerusalem, book retailer
Doug from Jerusalem, yours truly

Our beer servers bringing on the suds.

And here, without further ado, are the results of their judgment:

Seventh Place:
Alexander Ambree -- This is a classic amber ale from the Alexander Brewery in Emek Hefer, with 5.7% alcohol by volume. Several of the judges mentioned that they enjoyed this beer in the past either by itself or with food, but that in the head-to-head competition with other ambers, it just didn't make the grade.

Some comments from the judges:

Manny contemplating.

"Low hops, high malt sweetness. Dank."
"Fruity taste. Interesting, impressive and different. Amber ale without exaggerated tastes."
"Very malty, almost like soda. Spicy aftertaste. "
"Frothy, sour, bitter and dull flavor."
"Too light, lacks taste."
"Very thin, light body."
"Diluted flavor, disappointing."

Sixth Place:
Katzra Amber -- From the Arava Brewery in Tzukim, located in the Arava Valley of the Negev Desert. "Katzra" is a stream in the Arava. This is a small, local brewery which also makes a dark ale and a blond ale. The alcoholic content of the amber is 4.6%.

"Grassy and no hop aroma. Sour."
"Strong aroma of spices, fruit and caraway. Some cloves and banana."
"Dark color, fruity and hoppy, nice after-taste."
"Flat and cloudy with a mild taste."
"A bit bland, but good all-around taste."
"Bitter, light after-taste."
"No smell. Diluted flavor, and later fruit."

Fifth Place:
Jem's Amber Ale -- From the Jem's Beer Factory in Petach Tikva. The bottle label says that this is a 5.3% ABV "English Ale" made with Carafa malts.

Batya deliberating.

"Almost no aroma. Good for those who like mild amber ales."
"Gentle, sweet, light body."
"Lemony, bitter after-taste."
"Slight bitterness. Balanced."
"Medium amber color. Mid-bitterness. Thick and smooth."
"No aroma and flat flavor."

Fourth Place:
Chuck's Amber Ale -- From Chuck's Brewery in Ra'anana, although the beer is brewed at the Mosco Brewery facilities on Moshav Zanuach. Chuck's is a small brewery of four partners which has recently increased its commercial activities. 5.3% ABV.

"Earthy aroma. Very well balanced."
"Mild, pleasant aroma of hops. Balanced."
"Light color. A little sour."
"Strong on hops. Closest to an IPA."
"Dark amber color, thick head. Hoppy, strong initial bitterness, full body."
"Neutral taste. Not overly bitter."
"Mild aroma, hoppy taste."

Third Place:
Amber Beer -- From the Vilde Chaya Brewery. Vilde Chaya beer is made at the Mosco Brewery facilities on Moshav Zanuach by Itai Tzuker of Kibbutz Gvat and Hagai Gelman of Kiryat Tivon. Their impressive showing in this tasting is indeed a compliment to Itai and Hagai's talent. In addition to their Amber Ale (5.2% ABV), Vilde Chaya also makes a wheat beer, a stout, and a beet(!) beer.

Eitan savoring.

"Sweet hop aroma. Bitter chocolate taste."
"Very mild. Strong hop presence and pleasant finish."
"Slightly sour and sweet. Musty."
"Bitter and strong, with a hint of citron."
"Highly aromatic. Nice balance between bitter and sweet."
"Darker color. Strong fruity aroma and strong flavor."

Second Place:
Bazelet Amber Ale -- From the Golan Brewery in Katzrin. At 6.4% ABV, this was the strongest amber ale in our tasting.

"Fruity with a good malt taste."
"Excellent hop flavor and finish. Balanced and tasty."
"Fruity, lightly bitter, malty."
"Strong hops flavor but not bitter."
"Not a good after-taste, but refreshing."
"Medium bitterness, sour and hoppy."
"Dark and sweet. Bubbly in the mouth. Taste of hops and schav (sorrel soup)."

First Place:
Amber Ale -- From the Negev Brewery in Kiryat Gat. Our winner was 11 points above number two. The judges, while not being unanimous in their praise, had several enthusiastic comments for this beer. Alcohol by volume is a low 4.9%.

Bob relishing.

"Strong but not exaggerated hops. Excellent taste and clean finish."
"Good hop flavor. Close to an IPA."
"Light color. Balanced flavors of fruit, vanilla, malt."
"Nice aroma. Good all-around beer. Smooth mouthfeel."
"Light amber. Citrus aroma and flavor. Very nice."
"Sweet and fruity."

Congratulations to the folks at Negev Brewery, led by Sagiv Karlboim, for their first-place amber ale.

Amber waves of grain.

Our warm thanks to all of the brewers represented in the Tasting Panel for contributing their beers. They came from near and far to put the amber ales on our table.

Thanks also to my wife Trudy for helping to make the Tasting Panel a culinary and social success. She became a "beer maiden" for the night, making sure the beer was served cold and the snacks were plentiful.

And extra-special thanks to Judge Mike Horton, the photographic magician who immortalized our Tasting Panel and transported us to exquisite realms in Budapest.

There I was, running around like a crazy man in the dog days of August.

One week -- The BEERS 2015 Festival in Tel Aviv.
One week later -- The Jerusalem Wine Festival.
One week later -- The Jerusalem Beer Festival - Ir HaBira.

I enjoyed them all, but the only one that was 100% kick-back, eat-drink-and-think-about-nothing-else, was the Wine Festival. I went with my friend Manny Samuels, the book seller and wine connoisseur; followed his lead, refilled my wine glass time and time again with merlots, cabernet-sauvignons, shirazes, blancs and gewürztraminer -- and never for a moment felt I had to take notes or photos.

Not so the beer festivals. Your trusty old blogger was your eyes and ears, recording what was new, different, noteworthy or ho-hum. Oh, I enjoyed every minute, but I also had a job to do.

(Photo: Hanna Kamil)

BEERS 2015 Festival in Tel Aviv

At the BEERS 2015 Festival with
Yitzhak (center) and his daughter Shoshana.

I went to the BEERS 2015 Festival with my friend Yitzhak Miskin and his daughter Shoshana the bartender. I had promised Yitzhak that I would be a good drinking buddy and spend my time with him -- but he has too much experience to believe me. Soon enough I was falling behind, speaking with brewers and visitors, while Yitzhak and Shoshana went their own way without me.

As before, several brewers used the BEERS Festival to unveil new beers. I was able to get some at the event and will write about them separately. I may be a slow learner, but I finally understand that the hurly-burly of a beer festival is not the best time to seriously write down your impressions of a new beer.

Itay Marom (right) of
HaShachen Brewery.

I did have a chance to speak to Itay Marom of the new HaShachen ("The Neighbor") Brewery in Netanya. He currently brews two kinds of India pale ales: a wheat IPA called Americana (5% alcohol by volume), and an "extremely hoppy" IPA called Pressure Drop (6% ABV), made with four kinds of hops.

"I've decided to brew only IPAs," says Itay, reflecting and reinforcing this growing trend in Israeli craft beers. Where only a few years ago the number of Israeli breweries making an IPA could be counted on one hand, today almost every brewery makes at least one.

According to Itay, "IPA is a fun beer and we intend to concentrate all of our efforts on this one style."

I also met Na'ama Ashkenazi from Karkur, even though her Klara Beers have been around since 2011. Na'ama is the only woman brewer whom I know of in Israel, Her beers have won prizes in international competition, not a small honor for a beginning home-brewery. She now makes her three beers at the Mivshelet Ha'am contract brewery in Even Yehuda. Klara's very attractive and clear labels include scales which indicate the beer's bitterness, sweetness and color, as well as additional useful information.

The Ace IPA (6% alcohol by volume) is made with Sorachi Ace hops, originally developed in Japan and not very common in Israeli craft beers. The beer is on the sweet side for an IPA, with citrus hop taste, specifically lemon.

The three beers of Klara.

The Belgian Tripel pours a dark amber color and has the high alcoholic content of this style (8% ABV). It is fruity and yeasty and very sweet. The hops are very hard to detect.

The Stout is just on the brown side of being black. It's a pleasant stout beer, with flavors of roasted malt, strong coffee and dark chocolate. It's one of the few beers I would call bittersweet.

For me, the emotional high point of BEERS 2015 was the award ceremony for the winners of the Samuel Adams Longshot competition for home-brewers. In previous years, the winners were announced at the Jerusalem Beer Festival, but this year the ceremony took place in Tel Aviv.

The families of Jamoos Garage Brewery
proudly display their three first prizes.

The big winner was the Jamoos Garage Brewery on Moshav Yarchiv near Kfar Saba. The three partners are Ami Prager, Bentzi Alexander and Garry Barak. Their Pilsner beer won the Best-in-Show and also first prize in the Lager category. But that wasn't all. The Jamoos brewers were also called on stage to receive first prize in the category of Dark Ale for their Dry Stout.

Home-brewer Ephraim Greenblatt of Jerusalem won first prize in the Pale Ale category for his American Pale Ale.

The first prize in the Wheat Beer category was split between Daniel Alman for his Belgian Wheat and Penta Brewery for its Smoked Wheat.

The Gecko Brewery of Kevin Unger and Betzalel Fialkoff in Beit Shemesh took the gold for their Roasted India Dark Ale in the Freestyle category.

I plan to taste and write about all (or at least most) of these winners in future posts.

(Photo: Netanel Tobias)

The 11th Jerusalem Beer Festival -- Ir HaBira

Wow. What can I say? If there were new Israeli craft beers and new people at BEERS 2015 in Tel Aviv, there were none at this year's Jerusalem Beer Festival. Even the long table of small home-brewers which has graced the first night of the festival for several years, was gone. The physical aspects -- the layout, lighting, food stands, and music -- were all well organized by impresario Eli Giladi (whom I got to meet for the first time) and his company. And I really enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and acquaintances on the Israeli craft beer scene. But there was really nothing new that I can report.

With Eli Giladi: Young impresario of
the Jerusalem Beer Festival.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Almost nothing: I met Gilad Dror, Marketing Director of Norman Premium, a major beer importer which also owns the Negev Brewery in Kiryat Gat. Gilad informed me that almost all of Negev beers are now made in the Alexander Brewery in Emek Hefer. The Kiryat Gat facility still has an active Visitors' Center and brews seasonal beers, which currently is Negev Blazer.

But, as Gilad explained, "our standard line of beers are now being brewed at Alexander. We simply reached full capacity and were not able to keep up production at the rate we were growing. It was either investing a lot of time and money on expansion, or moving our production line to a brewery that could accommodate us."

Negev Beer: No longer
brewed in the Negev.

Maybe it makes economic sense, but the Negev Brewery was a gem for the periphery town of Kiryat Gat, and it's a shame that beer is no longer being brewed there.

The old blogger (left) with Bernhard Purin,
number two son Aharon, and
Conrad Seidl in his lederhosen.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

The highlight (for me) of the Jerusalem Beer Festival was that I got to show around two VIP visitors from Europe: Bernhard Purin from Munich and Conrad Seidl from Vienna. Bernhard is the director of the Jewish Museum in Munich, and Conrad, known also as the Bierpapst (the "Beer Pope"), is the most famous beer writer and blogger in Austria.

You can read more about him here:
http://bierpapst.eu/english-summary/
and see his weekly beer review videos in English here:
http://www.beer-weekly.com/

He cut a striking figure walking around the streets of Jerusalem and the Beer Festival in his traditional lederhosen!

Conrad was in his element at the Jerusalem Beer Festival, tasting and commenting on all the beers he could get his hands on. He especially appreciated:

Herzl's Embargo and IPA . . v'Zeh
Shapiro's Lager and Oatmeal Stout
Ronen's Ugly Indian IPA
Lela's Wheat

Conrad Seidl in contemplative judgement.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

As the "Beer Pope," Conrad is involved in beer tastings and competitions all over the world. We got into an interesting discussion when I told him that our own Israel Brews and Views Beer Tasting Panels concentrate on only one style of beer at each session. How was it possible, I asked Conrad, for tastings to include different styles, pitting IPAs, stouts, pale ales and saisons (for example) against each other. It would be like a fruit competition, I said, which includes apples, oranges and grapes. How can you pick the best?

Conrad answered that he tries to judge each beer by how it is true to itself, to its own style, and not necessarily in relation to other beers. "Say that I like an IPA in the competition -- as an IPA -- more than I like a stout -- as a stout -- in the same competition. Well then, the IPA will get more points. In short, the beers should be tested against themselves rather then against the other beers."

Easier said than done, dear reader. Maybe someday, we'll be able to try that -- but we still have a few more styles of Israeli craft beers to judge against each other before moving on.

To close on a dramatic note, let me just say that Bernhard and Conrad were here on a mission, a very exciting and special mission. But that will have to wait for a future post, hopefully very soon.

The old blogger with Jeremy Welfeld
of Jem's Beer Factory . . .
(Photo: Mike Horton)

. . . with Amir Lev of Mosco Brewery
(Photo: Mike Horton)

. . . with Or Fass of Fass Brewhouse
(Photo: Mike Horton)

. . . and with Leon Solomon of Samson Beer.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

As I wrote previously (here), I was recently honored to greet two important visitors from Europe and show them around Jerusalem and the Beer Festival.

Drinking beer in Jerusalem with
Conrad Seidl (left) and Bernhard Purin (right).
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Bernhard Purin, the director of the Jewish Museum in Munich, and Conrad Seidl, the most famous beer writer in Austria, found me through the web log you're reading now. They asked if I would be kind enough to meet them in Jerusalem, show them some nice craft beer locations, and perhaps accompany them to the Festival.

Oh, and there was also a very interesting project they wanted to discuss with me.

What would you have said?

We met at the Machane Yehuda market. I had no problem recognizing them. Conrad, who is known as the Bierpapst (the "Beer Pope"), was wearing a traditional Tyrolean outfit, including lederhosen. You can read more about him here: http://bierpapst.eu/english-summary/
and see his weekly beer review videos in English here: http://www.beer-weekly.com/

I took them to my favorite "bottle shop" in Jerusalem, Hamisameach on Agrippas Street, where they purchased several bottles of Israeli craft beers.

The "Beer Pope" himself studying Israeli
craft beers in the Hamisameach store.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

As we walked through the market, Bernhard and Conrad couldn't resist stopping at the Que Pasa tapas bar which has all seven beers of Srigim Brewery on tap. It was a hot day in Jerusalem after all, and one could only walk a few steps before building up a powerful thirst for a cold beer.

We continued on our way and ended up at the Bardak pub, which has five or six Israeli craft beers on tap.

In this perfect setting, Bernhard told me why he and Conrad were in Israel.

"To drink the beer, of course!"

Discussing the finer points of Israeli craft beers.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

And something else.

Next year, Bernhard informed me, is the 500th anniversary of the famous Reinheitsgebot (the "Purity Decree"), which everyone involved in beer knows was the first law which specified which are the only ingredients that can be used to make beer -- which, in this case was only barley, hops and water. It was decreed in 1516 by the two dukes of Bavaria, and in some way or other, is still on the law books in Germany.

To honor this anniversary, the Jewish Museum in Munich is having a special exhibit entitled, "Beer is the Wine of this Land: Jewish Brewery Tales" on the history of Jews in the German brewing industry. It opens in April 2016 and Bernhard has been busy gathering the artifacts, building the displays and generating publicity.

A 15th century brewer in Nuremberg,
with the six-pointed
"brewers' star" hanging from a pole.
(Photo: Nuremberg Municipal Library)

The exhibit will focus on such topics as Jews in the hop trade, the six-pointed star as a symbol of both the Jewish community and the German brewers' guild(!), Jews involved in brewing in Bavaria, and the saga of Lowenbrau beer as one of the most popular German imports in the U.S.

The exhibit will conclude with the modern era, including -- what else? -- the flowering of craft brewing in Israel. Conrad Seidl is serving as an adviser for this section. He is very enthusiastic about Israeli craft beers and believes that they will generate discussion and interest in Germany.

As to the "interesting project" that I mentioned, Bernhard and Conrad are planning to sell a specialty beer at the exhibit -- a collaborative brewing effort between a Bavarian craft brewer and an Israeli craft brewer.

The German brewery has already been chosen -- the Crew Republic in Munich. While they were here, Bernhard and Conrad met with several Israeli brewers and will choose the winner in a couple of months.

My gifts from Europe: Two bottles
from the Crew Republic Brewery
in Munich and two bottles from
the Gusswerk Brewhouse
in Salzburg.

"We'll bring the winning brewer to Munich to make the celebration beer at the Crew Republic," Conrad told me.

"You know that according to the current German beer purity law, beer must only be made with grain, hops, yeast and water. On the other hand, Israeli craft brewers are very innovative in flavoring their beers with local fruits, herbs and spices. Yet, I'm sure they will be able to work together and brew an anniversary beer we can all be proud of. I can't wait to taste it!"

As for me, your old blogger, as soon as I hear which Israeli brewer has been chosen to represent Israel, I will publicize it on this blog and on Facebook. This is a great opportunity to put Israeli craft beer on the map (at least the European map), and I plan to be there when it happens.

Bartender Shmuel Naky serves the sleeveless
old blogger (it was the Middle Eastern
summer after all) at the Glen Whisky Bar.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Last summer, the Glen Whisky Bar on Shlomzion Hamalka Street in Jerusalem started to host different home-brewers every Friday morning. It was a lovely idea and it gave beer-lovers and bar-patrons a chance to try new beers and to meet and speak with the people making them. I wrote about a few of these ambitious brewers, which you can readhere.

I'm happy to report that this summer the Glen Bar has continued the tradition. These events are organized by owner Leon Schwartz and bartenders Tom Castel and Shmuel Naky.

I wasn't able to be there every week, but I was there enough times to meet the following intrepid home-brewers:

1) Eli Cohen and Gal Amedi

Eli and Gal from Jerusalem don't even have a name or symbol or label for their beers. However, since Eli once worked at one of the bigger craft breweries (he has since left to study mechanical engineering) and Gal still works at another brewery, they've been able to make their beers at those professional facilities.

They were pouring three of their beers from bottles on the day I was there.

Eli Cohen and Gal Amedi pour their beers
for the Friday morning crowd.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Vanilla Porter -- A very satisfying porter beer which is dry hopped with real vanilla beans. This means they are steeped in the beer during fermentation. I appreciate the taste of vanilla in a porter or stout, but in this case, I think the roasty taste of the malt hid too much of the vanilla. There was also a slight burnt taste, which I liked, and a sour finish.

Spiced Wheat -- A very light beer with the color, sparkle and dryness of champagne. Orange peel and mint are added to the wheat ale base, and these flavors are quite noticeable. The mint additive was a first for me, and I believe was very successful. I also detected a taste of nutmeg. Though I am not a great wheat beer fancier, I enjoyed this beer a lot.

Summer Ale -- A light-bodied and refreshing beer for the hottest days. Not especially high on flavor or other distinctions.

I told Eli and Gal to put some thought into choosing a name and a brand. It will make a difference not only for the drinkers, but also for themselves as brewers.

2) Hechter Beer

Raz Hechter is a home-brewer who's given his name and caricature of red chin whiskers to his beers. He's been brewing for three-and-a-half years in Beersheva, where he's in the home-brewing guild and takes part in local competitions.

Liron and Raz.

"This is the first time I'm selling my beer to strangers," Raz, 30, tells me on this summer morning. Standing next to him is his girlfriend Liron Chiki from Kfar Saba.

Raz began making beer when he got a brewing kit as a birthday present and took a half-day brewing course. "That's all it took to hook me," he says. He's now working on his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Ben-Gurion University.

I tasted the three beers Raz was pouring:

Turbulent Ale -- A very hoppy and strong (6.7% alcohol by volume), dark copper beer which Raz admits resulted from a mistake. "My boiler broke in the middle of my brewing and in order to save the batch, I added a lot more Cascade hops." Isn't that why you have to love home-brewers?

Raz Hechter's beer and cider menu,
with his distinctive caricature logo.

Instead of a pale ale, Turbulent came out dark and strong, with lots of fruity hops aroma and flavor. I liked it, and would classify its taste as a spirited, fruity IPA.

Florale Litchi-Hibiscus -- At 5% ABV, this is a light saison-style beer which Raz infuses with Wissotzky Litchi Tea with Hibiscus a few minutes before the end of the boil. It has a grassy aroma and I found it full-bodied with the taste of apricots and sour fruits. This was nicely balanced by the malt sweetness.

However, since I'm really not a litchi eater, I could not detect the taste. All-in-all, a nice refreshing beer that would probably go well with light sharp cheese or spicy Middle Eastern dishes.

Florale Chamomile -- Similar to Hechter's Litchi-Hibiscus, but infused with chamomile tea. Also, less flavorful. 5.5% ABV.

Raz says he wants to expand his repertoire of beers and find other outlets for reaching the beer-buying public, which I think are both excellent ideas.

3) Lanner Beer

Boaz Lanner is no stranger to beer festivals and public gatherings. This talented home-brewer concentrates on classical beer styles, which he tweaks and adjusts to make them ever better.

Boaz Lanner (right) hosts the old blogger.
"The sky's the limit."

I asked Boaz if he's going to stay a home-brewer or take it to the next level. "Well, I'm retiring from my work in high-tech in the middle of 2017," he answered, "and then you never know. The sky's the limit."

Boaz was serving two beers that morning:

Brown Porter -- With a medium body and strong coffee notes, this is surprisingly dry and crisp, not to be confused with other porters you might have had recently. Add to this an ABV of only 4.2% and it's easy to understand why this is the kind of beer I can drink all day long -- but I'll restrain myself.

Wheat Beer -- Another Lanner classic, this time a hefeweizen-style wheat beer. I detected a sour grass aroma, along with the expected cloves and banana. Although wheat beers are not my favorite go-to beers (Have I mentioned this already?), I enjoyed this tart and dry beer with low hop bitterness and low hop flavor. The alcoholic content is 5.25%. When I asked Boaz why he measures the alcohol down to a hundredth of a percent, he laughed: "Because I can."

It was a pleasure to meet up with Boaz Lanner again and drink his beers while he explained about them. I did the same with other home-brewers at the Glen Bar on Friday mornings, and I will continue with these brief reports in the future.

The winners of the Sam Adams Longshot competition for home-brewers were announced on the last night of the BEERS Festival in Tel Aviv this past summer.

At the time, I promised my readers that I would do my best to get and taste the five gold medal winners and report on them. Well, it's taken me a little while, but I have been able to round up almost all of the winning beers -- and here's what I have to say:

Best-in-Show and Best Lager:

Jamoos Pilsner

The three partners of the Jamoos Garage Brewery on Moshav Yarchiv near Kfar Saba, and their families, were whooping it up at the ceremony. Their Pilsner beer had just won first prize in the Lager category and as all-around Best-in-Show . . . and their Garage Stout had taken the gold in the Dark Ale category.

The Jamoos Garage Brewery clan.

American-born Ami Prager, one of the partners, told me that the three of them had served in the army together and enjoyed drinking beer in pubs. "We saw an ad about the Longshot competition back in 2007 and decided that's what we wanted to do." So Ami, Bentzi Alexander and Garry Barak took brewing courses and began to make beer. When one of them bought a private house on Moshav Yarchiv, they moved their equipment into the garage and named themselves the Jamoos (Buffalo) Garage Brewery.

"In 2011," says Ami, "we won our first award in the Longshot competition, and we've won a prize every year since. We brew 80 liter batches of beer about once a month. We have a cooling system and do lager beers as well as ales."

"Most of our beer is given away to friends," Ami continues. "All of us have our day jobs and we're not ready to go commercial. But maybe in the few years . . . "

The Jamoos Pilsner I had is very pale colored and well carbonated, as a pilsner lager should be, 5.2% alcohol by volume. But from there it takes off in a non-traditional direction. The aroma is of spice, non-distinct but sweet. The taste has notes of peach and bazooka bubble gum -- very nice -- and for the finish, there's a surprising pepper burn in the back of your throat. The beer is a pleasant symphony of flavors and sensations.

Best Dark Ale:
Jamoos Garage Stout

This is a very dark, near black stout, highly carbonated with a long-lasting tan head. The taste is burnt spicy chocolate with coffee and a little celery. There's no mistaking this is a stout beer, yet its combination of flavors makes it very distinct. ABV is 5.5%. Jamoos is definitely a brewery to watch. If and whenever they do decide to "reach out" to the public, I highly recommend you buy and enjoy their beers.

Best Pale Ale:

Bounteous American Pale Ale

Ephraim Greenblatt is a home-brewer in Jerusalem who loves "fermenting." Wine, whisky, vinegar, kombucha, kimchi, soy sauce -- he's done it all. But his real passion is saved for beer.

"My goal is to make the very best beer," he declares. "Sometimes I will spend hours changing the most minute details -- the percentages of the malts, the temperature of the water, the original gravity -- all to get the final beer just a little bit close to perfection." Ephraim's fervency for brewing is palpable.

And Ephraim has only been brewing for a year-and-a-half. He came to Israel from Lawrence, NY, three years ago, got married and now, at age 27, has two young children.

Ephraim has chosen the name Bounteous Brewing Co. for his beers, but he named his first prize-winning American pale ale "Vinnie is Boss," after the legendary brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo of the Russian River Brewery in California. His recipe is based on the Russian River menu for APA. Although his award-winning beer used Simcoe, Amarillo and Cascade hops, the tap version I had with him used all Mosaic hops. These are put in towards the end of the boil, as well as used in dry-hopping and "hop tea," which he makes in a French coffee press and then adds to the vat just before bottling.

Ephraim Greenblatt:
Excellent beer from very tight quarters!

The result, at 6.7% alcohol by volume, is an explosively hoppy and fruity pale ale. I detected some pineapple notes and other less distinct fruits, as well as a light body and a nice, dry finish. To me, this APA tasted like a very spirited India pale ale. Why it is not has more to so with technical details than with taste and sensation, and I leave that to those on a higher pay scale.

Even though he is only an amateur home-brewer, this talented and dedicated young man is certainly an asset to the Israeli craft beer scene.

Best Freestyle:

Gecko India Dark Ale

Betzalel Fialkoff (left) and Kevin Unger
enjoying their Longshot victory.

Kevin Unger and Betzalel Fialkoff of Gecko Brewery in Beit Shemesh took first place in the Freestyle category last year with their Whisky Chips beer. They came back again this year with their India Dark Ale. This 7.2% ABV beer is a darker version of India pale ale, known for its strong hops aroma and bitterness, and increased alcoholic content.

The winning beer pours out a very dark brown with a reddish tinge and a tan head. It's not as hoppy or as bitter as a regular IPA. Although it has a spicy hop aroma, the dominant taste is sweet and roasty, the result of roasted barley malt being used instead of pale. There are flavors of burnt caramel and chocolate. It is a very finely tuned beer.

Wheat Beer:

Alman Belgian Wheat

Daniel Alman presenting
his beers.

Daniel Alman is a home-brewer from Kfar Daniel near Modi'in. I met him to get his winning Belgian Wheat beer when I attended a meeting of Modi'in home-brewers. This is a classical Belgian witbier, pale and cloudy, which Alman makes with coriander and orange peel, and with Hallertau and Tettnanger hops, noble hops which are low in bitterness and high in aroma. I found it to have a particularly fruity taste and was very crisp and refreshing, with a tart finish. As I said, well-done and classic.

Alman shared the first prize for wheat beers with the Penta Brewery, which made a smoked wheat beer. I have not been able to track them down to get my hands and my tongue on this beer. If I ever succeed, I'll let you know.

While I congratulate all the winners, I'm left with the question: What makes these beers first-prize winners? Granted, they are all fine brews, but would they make a special impression on me, or anyone, who was just drinking them without previous knowledge of their awards? I don't think so. I have tasted quite a few unsung home-brews which have impressed me no less than these winners.

In the end, we are left with our own olfactory nerves and taste buds to make our own decisions. When all these choices come together, beers that win awards and beers that win our admiration, the brewers will know of it -- and this is what will influence the direction and quality of Israeli craft beer.

For the past two or three years, some of the established Israeli craft breweries have been unveiling new beers at the annual BEERS Festival in Tel Aviv. This year, three of them did so, and by now you can buy them in most stores wherever the brands are sold.

Two of them are stouts – the dark, heavy, roasty tasting beers made famous by Guinness of Ireland. There are several different stout styles: they can be dry or a little sweet (milk stout), full-bodied or thin, and relatively low in alcohol or high (imperial stout).

Stout beers are popular all over the world (I hear especially in Africa), and here in Israel many of the established craft breweries make this style.

Carobbean Stout from Dancing Camel

in Tel Aviv

Dancing Camel in Tel Aviv has been brewing their Midnight Stout for years. Now, owner-brewer David Cohen has unveiled his new Carobbean Stout – a clever name since this beer is made with carob, not a very common additive in beers.

Many stouts are, however, made with coffee and/or chocolate added to the brewing process to give the beer these rich, dark tastes. So why wouldn't carob work just as well.

It does. This is a strong stout that pours out a luscious dark brown with a tan creamy head. Carob is noticeable even in the aroma, and the flavors include carob, chocolate and caramel sugar. Even though this is a strong stout with 7.2% alcohol by volume, you don't feel the alcohol in the taste.

Choose this stout when you're eating rich and spicy foods, cheddar cheese or even dark chocolate desserts.

Mosco Stout from the Mosco Brewery

on Moshav Zanuach

Mosco Brewery on Moshav Zanuach near Beit Shemesh has come out with its first stout, adding to its regular line of blond, red and wheat ales. According to my humble judgement, this stout is their best beer yet.

It pours out very dark, though has a much lower alcohol level than Carobbean, only 4.8%, closer to the average ABV for stouts. The dominant aroma and flavor here is coffee, roasted coffee to be exact, with some yeast. Moshe, my trusty drinking buddy, called it "an aggressive beer, rough," but it has a dry, bitter finish which I especially liked.

If you're a lover of classical stouts, this is a good one for you.

"M" from the Alexander Brewery

in Emek Hefer

The Alexander Brewery in Emek Hefer unveiled their new "M" Beer, a Belgian saison-style. Not too many Israeli breweries are making saisons, a beer traditionally brewed in the rural areas of France and Belgium during the cold months for drinking in the spring and summer seasons – hence its name. Saisons are noted for their intense flavors, whether fruity, yeasty or spicy. They are usually highly carbonated and rather bitter.

Alexander owner Ori Sagi told me at the BEERS Festival that "M" is named for the variety of ancient emmer wheat which is used for brewing this beer. But what really gives saison its distinguishing characteristics is the yeast used. Alexander imports its saison yeast directly from a Belgian brewery.

The smell of spicy hops is apparent in this pale orange-colored ale, as is sour grass. The traditional saison tastes are also there, like spice, citrus and a light sourness. Moshe, with a bit too much exaggeration, compared this beer to a "vegetable shake." I appreciated the dry, fruity finish. Alcoholic content is a comfortable 5.2%.

Saisons are delicious by themselves and also go well with spicy foods like Thai or our own Middle Eastern dishes such as felafel, hummus and tehina. They are also fine with fatty cheeses like brie.

These three beers are welcome additions to Israel's growing craft beer repertoire. Look for them in liquor stores. If they're not there, ask for them.

It's not healthy to spend too much time glued to the pages of Israel Brews and Views, so I'd like to direct your attention to an online article and an online video which have appeared recently and may be of interest to you all.

The article appeared on the website Breaking Israel News, and it was written by Raphael Poch on the subject of Israeli micro-breweries. Yours truly, the old blogger, was quoted a few times in this round-up of the Israel craft brewing scene.

You can access the full article by clicking here.

The video was posted by Conrad Seidl, the "Beer Pope" of Austria, as one of the weekly reviews of beer on his blog. In this particular video, Conrad reviews Embargo Cuban Tobacco Leaf Porter from Herzl Beer in Jerusalem. And -- no surprise here -- the Beer Pope loves it. Conrad's enthusiasm and expressive gestures make him a great presenter. After drinking Embargo, he wonders whether he should be called the "Beer Rabbi."

View Conrad's video in English by clicking here. Once you're on his blog site, you can also access a German version of the same thing, if you find that easier to understand.

I wrote about Conrad Seidl in an earlier post after he visited Israel this summer. You can refresh your memory by clicking here.

I am giving a lecture in English on the origins of beer brewing in the Middle East, including the flowering of Israeli craft beers during the last decade. We will also taste three different styles of Israeli beers, generously donated by the breweries.

The lecture will be on Monday night, November 16 at 8:00 pm, at the Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism, 8 Agron Street in Jerusalem. Admission is 20 shekels.

If you're in the area, please come, enjoy the lecture and the beer, and say hello. It should be a good time for all.

Doug Greener

P.S. Please let me know if you're coming so we'll be sure to have enough beer.

To tell the truth, I've never had any interest in following Israeli basketball, neither the local teams nor the national basketball team when it plays in the Euro league. One of the reasons is that the teams are hardly Israeli. Of the five players on the court at any one time, two or three are mercenaries -- mostly American basketball players, perhaps NBA rejects, who are hired by the Israeli teams to play for a season or two.

So having a winning team really comes down to being able to hire better foreign mercenaries than the foreign mercenaries hired by the other teams. What does that have to do with "Israeli basketball"?

When I ask this, sport fans tell me, "well, bringing these guys over here to play in Israel is helping to raise the level of all Israeli basketball."

Yotam Baras presenting the new beers.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

If that's really true, maybe it works with craft beer too. I was just at a launch in the Glen Whisky Bar in Jerusalem of two new foreign beer brands in Israel -- heavy hitters from Germany and Belgium which perhaps will raise the standard for our own brewers.

The first of these is the Riegele Brewery from Augsburg in Bavaria. Riegele is a family brewery that has been making good, solid beers since 1386(!). The current owner, Sebastian Priller-Riegele, is a world-famous beer sommelier (cicerone), who decided to add craft beers to the brewery's repertoire. They now make eight different craft beers, six of which are imported into Israel, five of which we tasted.

Doing the presenting was Yotam Baras, formerly from The Dictator Brewery. Yotam is now head of marketing for Protary's Craft Beers, the importers of Riegele. All of these beers come in 660 ml bottles, that is, double the size of regular beer bottles. "When you're dealing with such quality," Yotam told us, "it would be a shame to have it in small packages."

And quality it was! Starting at the lighter end of the spectrum, the first beer we tasted was called Simco 3, a very aromatic pale ale, rich in tropical fruit flavors. There is a very hoppy aroma, caramel and citrus, and a pleasant bitter finish. Alcohol by volume is 5%. The "3" in the title refers to three different kinds of hops used in this beer. One of them, as you might have guessed, is Simcoe from the U.S.

The Riegele line of craft beers from Bavaria.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

The second beer was Amaris 50, a pale Pilsner lager. The "50" refers to the international bitterness units (IBUs), which make this a very bitter beer. Yet there was also spicy hop aroma and tastes of lemon and pine. ABV is 5%.

Beer number three was Ator 20, a 7.5% ABV double bock (doppelbock), the very heavy and strong lager beers originally brewed by German monks. "-Ator" has become the suffix used for naming double bock beers, and the "20" refers to the Plato scale used to measure the amount of fermentable sugars to water. The beer poured a dark reddish-brown with a thick cream-colored head. I got tastes of licorice and prunes, with a caramel sweetness. It was full-bodied and "chewy" -- no wonder the monks called double bock beer, "liquid bread." Although the alcohol level is high, you hardly taste it.

Ator 20 has won the silver medal for double bock beers in this year's European Beer Star competition.

Next in line was Augustus 8, a weizenbock beer, in other words, a strong bock beer made with a good portion of malted wheat. This adds a creaminess to the beer, as well as the distinctive characteristics of a wheat beer: ripe banana, orange, cloves and spice. This is definitely a sweet beer, with tastes of fruits and hops.

Augustus was the Roman emperor who founded Augsburg, home of the Riegele Brewery, and the"8" refers to the 8% ABV.

Our last beer in the Riegele line was a big, bold imperial stout named Noctus 100. This beer poured as black as night ("noctus" in Latin), measuring 100 on the SRM (standard reference method) for measuring the color of beer. One hundred is way off the charts; nothing can be darker.

This is a beer you feel you can eat. The dominant tastes are dark chocolate, espresso and roasted coffee, along with licorice, dried fruits and caramel. This strong (10% ABV), beautiful beer was made to enjoy during the wintry days and nights that bless our globe. It's also a perfect pairing for the strongest tasting, spiciest foods, the most powerful, smelliest cheeses, and the sweetest dark chocolate desserts.

The Gulden Draak beers from Belgium.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

After we finished the Riegele beers, Yotam popped the caps of two Gulden Draak (Golden Dragon) beers from the Van Steenberge Brewery in Ertvelde, Belgium -- also making their Israeli premiers.

The first we tasted was Gulden Draak 9000, in the black bottle, a quadruple Belgian ale with 10.5% alcohol. Yotam explained that the ABV was boosted by the use of wine yeast, which produces more alcohol. This dark amber-colored beer had a delicious flavor of yeast, malt, dark fruits and bananas. "Rich and round" is what came to mind. The strong alcohol is unmistakable, giving you a warm feeling all the way down.

The Gulden Draak Dark Strong Ale, in the white label, is a darker brown color than the 9000 but with the same 10.5% alcoholic content. I found it more balanced than the 9000. with similar tastes but sweeter, more intense flavors: brown sugar, caramel, bananas, espresso and spices. This is a beer you sip and savor; something that the Belgians seem to do so right.

So in the end, I guess it's good to have these new players in Israel. They present a standard to which Israeli brewers can aspire. Certainly, nothing even close to the dark German and Belgian beers is made in Israel, and it's good that we have this choice when we buy beer.

Yet, I must add that it's difficult for me in good conscience to recommend that you buy these beers. They are made in the same European Union which is requiring member states to label certain Israeli products from the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). Google "territorial disputes" and you'll be amazed at how many countries on every continent have disagreements over borders with their neighbors, and consider the other side to be "occupying" their land. Yet the EU, in its wisdom, has chosen to penalize only Israel with its labeled products.

Labeling of certain products, however, is left to the discretion of individual countries. Germany has reacted strongly against the EU guidelines, but Belgium has been labeling Israeli products from the West Bank for years.

Those are the facts, and I leave it to my readers to decide what to buy and from where. Personally, I feel ill at ease whenever I purchase anything which supports the European Union. I would much rather choose a product from the good ole U.S.A.

On the other hand, these are great beers. Maybe if we don't make too much of a habit about it . . .

It may be small in size, but for beer lovers and home-brewers in Jerusalem, it's a giant event.

The grand opening of Beerateinu.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

With the opening of Beerateinu at 3 Yanai Street, the city finally has an Israeli craft beer specialty shop where you can purchase close to 100 different kinds of Israeli craft beers from over 20 micro-breweries.

The name is a play on words which means "our capital" and "our beer."

The Israeli beers on display include: HaDubim, Sparrow, HeChatzer, Mosco, Dancing Camel, Buster's (cider), Negev, Alexander, Vilde Chaye, Fass, Lela, Herzl, Arava, Emek Ha'ela, HeChalutz, Jem's, Cabara, Malka, Bazelet, Shapiro, Ronen, Meadan and Beertzinut.

In addition, selected imported beers are also on sale, as well as new lines of Israeli craft distilled spirits, which is a fancy way to say "liquor." The new distilleries are Pioneer Spirits (from Isra-Ale, makers of Buster's Cider and Chutzpah Beer) and Golan Heights.

Leon Shvartz (left) and Shmuel Naky
pumping the taps at Beerateinu.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

"With all due modesty, Jerusalem has been waiting for a place like this," says Beerateinu partner Leon Shvartz, who is also the owner of the Glen Whisky Bar across the road on Shlomzion Hamalka Street. "Tel Aviv has had at least three stores like this for several years, while Jerusalemites didn’t have any place to find the full range of Israeli craft beers, including some quite small but excellent micro-breweries."

The other partner, Shmuel Naky, a bartender at the Glen, adds that Beerateinu also sells cold beer in bottles and on tap. "We have six taps where we will be pumping different Israeli craft beers on a rotational basis," he says. "People can sit around and enjoy cold beer and light snacks right in the shop. For the time being, we open at 11:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. It's a very nice social atmosphere and we will be adding on later hours."

Leon Shvartz pours malted barley
into the miller.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Beerateinu sells bottles of Israeli craft beers for 14-16 shekels per 330 ml bottle, which is somewhat lower than prices were even a year ago. "Because of the recent reduction in tax on beer, we were able to lower our prices," Shvartz explains. Prices for all beer on tap is 15 shekels for a quarter of a liter, 20 shekels for a third, and 25 shekels for a half.

The third role of Beerateinu is home-brewing, and the back of the store is devoted to selling equipment and ingredients, as well as giving courses in home-brewing.

"Making your own beer at home is growing in popularity all over Israel," says Shvartz. "You can brew beer in your own kitchen or garage very inexpensively, and get a much better product than buying from the big, industrial brewers. Until now, home-brewers in Jerusalem – and there might be hundreds of them – had to travel outside of the city to buy their equipment and ingredients. No more. We offer them everything they need right here.

Shmuel Naky (left) and Leon Shvartz,
partners of Beerateinu.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

"And for those who want to begin home-brewing or improve their techniques, we are giving classes at all levels."

And here's more good news for Jerusalem beer aficionados: Within a short while, a branch of the Beer Bazaar, located in Tel Aviv's Carmel Market, will be opening in the Machane Yehuda Market.

It's taken some time, but it looks like Jerusalem is finally on the craft beer map.

I think more people came to taste the beer than to listen to my lecture, but so what? From the reaction of the crowd (all 30 of them), everybody had a good time, including me.

Drinking beer and listening to the old blogger:
What a treat!
(Photo: Mike Horton)

The lecture was given last week at the Conservative Center in Jerusalem. (That's Conservative Judaism, not a local branch of the Tea Party.) The event was a personal triumph for me, your old blogger. My forte, such as it is, has always been in writing -- printed communication -- not speaking in public.

There's this scene from "Shakespeare in Love," just before the premiere of Romeo & Juliet. The narrator is a stutterer who can't get a sentence out.

Will Shakespeare says, "We're lost." The director answers him, "No, it'll work out." Shakespeare asks, "How?" The director says, "I don't know, but it always does."

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Beer-drinking pharaohs.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Well, it also worked out fine for me. I quickly traced the origins of beer at the dawn of grain domestication, through the great civilizations of the Fertile Crescent and the Nile. Beer was a necessity of life in those regions; less so in the Land of Canaan and Israel, where we had bountiful grapes and wine as well.

I showed that beer ("sheichar" in Hebrew) is mentioned several times in the Bible and the Talmud, where the early rabbis discuss under what conditions it can be imbibed and for which religious ceremonies it can be used. I then jumped to the modern period, when beer began to be brewed in the British Mandate of Palestine, and the consolidation of two huge industrial breweries in the State of Israel.

Pouring craft beer for the tasting.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

I concluded with the flowering of Israeli micro-breweries only in the last decade. Although they account for only a minute proportion of all the beer consumed in Israel, they provide Israelis with the impressive range of aromas and tastes of quality craft beers. And they provide me with all I need for writing this modest web log.

At the end of my lecture (which is why nobody left in the middle), we tasted four beers. The first was an industrial beer, the Maccabee 7.9%, because I wanted the audience to experience the taste (or non-taste) of the big beers. Well, they actually liked it! And, to tell the truth, it is not at all bad, as far as industrial beers go.

Leading the tasting session.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

We then tasted three very different craft beers, which had been generously donated by the brewers:

Bavarian Wheat from Emek Ha'ela (Srigim Brewery)

IPA . . vaZeh from Herzl Beer

Porter Alon from the Negev Brewery

I encouraged the audience members to shout out their reactions to the aromas and tastes of the new beers. Many were tasting craft beers for the first time and registered their surprise and delight. Others, conditioned for years by drinking only industrial lagers, found the flavors too intense. That's what makes the world go round.

Iron Age beer drinking jug.
(Slide: Mike Horton)

I would like to thank the esteemed graphic artist and photographer Mike Horton for preparing the 15 slides which accompanied my talk, and my son Aharon the archaeologist for borrowing an authentic early Iron Age Philistine beer jug which I displayed and demonstrated to the audience.

Thanks also to my friend Bob Faber and my wife Trudy, who poured the cold beer and kept it flowing to the audience. We gave out printed matter from the breweries, my own blog cards, and malted barley for people to eat so they would know where beer comes from.

Special thanks as well to Rabbi Ed Romm of the Conservative Center for including me in his Monday Evening Forum schedule.

It was such a high, I may want to do it again.

When Bernhard Purin, Director of the Jewish Museum in Munich, and Conrad Seidl, the "Beer Pope" of Austria, visited Israel last summer, they met with several Israeli craft breweries. Their mission: to choose one which would brew a collaborative beer with a German brewery, in honor of a new exhibition to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot, Germany's and perhaps the world's first beer purity law.

(You can refresh your memory here.)

Well, after three months, a winner has been chosen: Herzl Beer of Jerusalem.

Conrad Seidl (left) and Bernhard Purin meet
Maor Helfman at the Herzl Beer booth
last summer at the Jerusalem Beer Festival.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Bernhard and Conrad liked Herzl beers from the start, which they called flavorful and innovative. They especially appreciated Embargo, a 6.7% ABV porter flavored with Cuban tobacco leaves. On his "Beer of the Week" blog, Conrad said of the tobacco, "it's better to drink it than to smoke it." (You can see the video in English here.)

Herzl's other regular beers are:

IPA . . v'Zeh -- A 7% India pale ale.
Shesh Achuz Kapara – A mild, red, British-inspired ale, 6% ABV.
Dolce de Asal – A strong (8%) Scottish style ale made with honey and spice.
Bira Levana (White Beer) -- A 4.9% "steam beer" (California common), made with lager yeast and fermented at ale temperatures.

The old blogger visited Herzl Beer to meet
brewers Itai Gutman (left) and Maor Helfman.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Maor Helfman, one of the founding partners of Herzl Beer, told me: "We were really excited to learn that our brewery was chosen to represent Israel in this historic project. The opportunity to work with our counterparts in Germany is amazing and gives us a great source of pride."

Maor and partner Itai Gutman will fly to Munich next year to begin working on this project.

The Israeli-German brew will be introduced in April 2016 at the Munich Jewish Museum at an exhibit called "Beer is the Wine of this Land: Jewish Brewery Tales." The exhibit will honor the important role Jews played in the beer industry and hop trade, starting in ancient Israel, through the Torah and Talmud, and then dealing with Jewish hop traders, brewers and brewery owners in Munich, and ending with the recent flowering of craft beers in Israel.

The bi-national beer will be on sale at the Museum restaurant and in selected bars and shops in Munich.

The Bavarian Collaborators:
Mario Hanl and Timm Schnigula
in their new Crew Republic
brewery near Munich.

The German craft brewery chosen for the project is the Crew Republic in Unterschleissheim near Munich. In only five years, partners Mario Hanl and Timm Schnigula have earned a reputation in Germany for their excellent beers.

Regarding the collaborative beer, Purin explained that the 500-year-old Reinheitsgebot is still basically the law of the land in Germany. "This means that beer can only be made with water, grain, hops and yeast. No other additives of flavorings are permitted.

"This is a special challenge for the Israeli brewers, since Herzl and many other Israeli craft beers use extra ingredients which add flavor and depth.

"It will be a fascinating mission for the two breweries to bring the taste of Israel and the taste of Bavaria into one bottle," said Purin.

To me, it's also very emotional that two young Israelis and two young Germans, born of the same generation, will be working together to make one great beer. And if you can't get to Munich to taste it, you'll be able to rely on the old blogger's review. The good Lord willing, I plan to be in Munich for the opening of the exhibit.

The exhibit, "Beer is the Wine of this Land: Jewish Brewery Tales," will run at the Munich Jewish Museum from April 13, 2016, through January 3, 2017, in honor of the 500^thanniversary of the Reinheitsgebot.

Jerusalem must have done something right. A few weeks after the opening of the Beerateinu beer specialty store on Yanai Street, a branch of the Beer Bazaar from Tel Aviv has opened in the Machane Yehuda market.

The new Beer Bazaar in Jerusalem opens right
onto the covered street in the Machane Yehuda market.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Located in the covered Etz Chaim Street, just before the corner of Jaffa Road, the Beer Bazaar offers retail sales of over 70 Israeli craft beers in bottles, 9 taps of Israeli craft beers (on a rotating basis), cold bottles of beer, and a compact kosher meat menu. There are also two taps for cold brewed coffee by Yoni Alpert. One is regular, the other is nitrogen carbonated, which make it smooth as silk and hides the caffeine punch. The other night, the Beer Bazaar was selling a "Red Eye Special," which is half stout beer and half nitro cold brewed coffee, guaranteed to keep you on your toes through the night.

"We have over 70 beers now, but we're always adding more," said Avi Moskowitz, one of the four partners of the Beer Bazaar. "We are going to reach 100, representing some 20 Israeli craft breweries."

Jerusalem partner Avi Moskowitz sits by the
draft beer menu and the shelves of
Israel craft bottled beer.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Avi is the only one of the partners who lives in Jerusalem, so he's the one you'll probably see when you visit the Beer Bazaar. The other partners are Lior Weiss, Gilad Heyman and Eitan Falk.

Avi told me that opening a beer bar in Machane Yehuda was an "old dream come true. I wanted a place where people of all kinds would sit together, drink beer, eat something and chat. I didn't believe I'd do it, and everyone around me said I was crazy. But for me, the market is the place to try. There's a lot of movement here, and curious people, and it works."

I call the Beer Bazaar a "cozy" pub. In the daytime, there's room for about 10 seats around the bar, where you can have some beer and a light meal. As night falls, tables are set up in the pedestrian street, and the Beer Bazaar joins the other bars, pubs and restaurants that have made Machane Yehuda a thriving center of Jerusalem night life. New ones seem to be opening every month.

Beer Bazaar is selling draft beers at 23 shekels for a third of a liter, 29 shekels for a half, and 55 shekels for a whole liter. Nothing like a liter of beer of beer to keep you warm on a Jerusalem winter's night -- or at least where you don't really care how cold it gets. Cold bottles of beer are 26 shekels each.

Avi Moskowitz and the old blogger
sample a "flight" of four different beers.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

For those who want to taste several beers, Beer Bazaar offers "flights" of four 200 ml. (7 ounce) glasses of different beers for 45 shekels. A nice way to go, if you ask me.

The retail bottles off the shelf are 14 shekels each. Six-packs are 69 shekels until the end of the year, when they go up to 79.

The menu has around six meat and fish dishes, plus two vegetarian dishes and two desserts.

Avi Moskowitz adds: "I feel like my years of experience in hi-tech and marketing, which I loved, and my experiences and failures, led me to where I am today, that I've found my mission. My principle is always to keep going no matter what's happening. And the Machane Yehuda market, which always manages to move on after difficult events, is the place that proves it's possible."

The "cozy" Beer Bazaar in Jerusalem.

(Photo: Mike Horton)

It's hard to overestimate what the opening of the Beer Bazaar means to the Jerusalem craft beer scene
-- and to our pub culture in general. Together with the recently opened Beerateinu, Jerusalemites now have places where craft beer is the main event, where they have a wide choice of beers to enjoy both on- and off-premises.

Two months ago, Jerusalem beer lovers traveled to Tel Aviv to stock up. Today, they can hop down town.

My friend Moish Rubinstein took the leap from beer blogger, beer reviewer and beer aficionado to beer brewer. It took guts. The kind of guts that made America great . . . wait, that's for a different audience.

Moish writes "the other English blog" on Israeli beer, called Beer Israel (http://beerisrael.com/), in which he offers reviews and comments on Israeli craft beers and breweries. If you don't know it, it's worth checking out. Moish knows Israeli beers.

The other night, he launched his own beer, Samuel's Highland, at a party in the Tarlach pub in Petach Tikva. He calls it a "Zion Pale Ale," which is as good as any other designation.

The beer's name comes from Moish's town of Givat Shmuel, near Ramat Gan and B'nei Brak, which translates accurately as "Samuel's Hill." The "Highland" part is more of a poetic flourish harking back to Moish's own Scottish heritage.

"My family came from Scotland," he told me, "even though I was born in Liverpool and raised in Manchester."

Moish Rubinstein and his wife Bat-Chen
at the launch party for his new beer:
Moish should have been wearing the kilt!

Moish is keeping his day job as a consultant to start-up financial broker companies, even as he moves from passive observer and writer to active commercial brewer. This is worthy of praise and, to tell the truth, is what keeps people young.

Why take this step?, is what I asked Moish. This was his answer:

"1) Being a blogger made me a believer in the culture of craft beer, and I want to be a part of it.

"2) Grass-roots brewing means that you want others to enjoy your beer, and I can reach more people if I sell it commercially.

"3) Israel is the most natural place in the world to be a beer-brewing entrepreneur. It was the 'start-up nation' mentality that made me do it. That mentality is paramount in this country. It's what makes everything tick -- from the kibbutz to hi-tech to craft breweries.

"4) In Great Britain, where I grew up, craft beers are very geographical and local, expressing pride in your home area. Samuel's Highland tries to do that. The name honors the founder of Givat Shmuel, Samuel Pineles (1843-1928), a great philanthropist and Zionist. The kumquats which I use in the brewing come from the parks in Givat Shmuel."

Kumquats: Sweet on the
outside, bitter on the inside.

Yes, you read that right. Samuel's Highland is one of the only beers in the world which is flavored with kumquats, those little yellow oval-shaped fruits with the edible skins. In fact, according to Moish, it's the skin which imparts a sweetness to the beer, while the inside fruit pulp gives it notes of tangy bitterness.

The beer's base is an American pale ale, to which Moish adds whole kumquats during the boil. This draws the sweet oils out of the peel. Then during the cooling process, the kumquats are crushed, allowing the bitter, citrusy juice to enter the recipe.

The kumquats are also used a third time, but Moish is keeping this a secret.

Samuel's Highland beer pours out an opaque copper color with very low carbonation. The citrus aroma from the hops and the kumquats is delicious (if a smell can be called "delicious"). The first taste is rather mellow, continuing with the fruit theme, but then the sharp bitterness hits. That's what raises your eyebrows. The finish is dry and bitter.

For sure, this was an unexpected beer, very different from the styles you find in most craft breweries.
The kumquats really add a unique set of aromas and flavors. I go back to Ernest Hemingway who said, in so many words, if you're just going to make a copy of something else, why bother?

Samuel's Highland is nobody's copy. It's a good beer to have if you want to try something different. In the meantime, it's available only in shops in Givat Shmuel and environs, and in the beer specialty stores in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. But Moish plans to bring his beer to more and more people, and if anyone can do it, he can.

Somehow or other, I never knew about the "First Annual Beersheva Beer Fest," but I couldn't miss the chatter about the second. I got invitations by e-mail, on Facebook and probably other social media that I don't even know about.

The three judges at the Beer7 Fest in Beersheva.

Organizer Gilad Ne-Eman, owner of the HeChalutz ("The Pioneer") craft brewery, promised me some interesting old and new beers from southern brewers. Since Beersheva was new to me as an Israeli beer destination, I decided to make the effort and attend the Beer7 Fest. (Remember that 7 in Hebrew is "sheva.")

So one sort-of-recent Friday morning saw me riding down to the capital of the Negev with my friends and fellow beer judges Mike Horton and Bob Faber. We were welcomed by Gilad into the courtyard of the Chalutz 33 bar and restaurant -- no connection to Gilad's HeChalutz brewery.

There were eight brewers along the walls of the courtyard. We decided to go counter-clockwise.

The very light-hearted and
enjoyable Hippopotamus beer.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Hippopotamus

Eitan Rabinovich and Ran Dach give their home-brewed beers the Hippopotamus label, a heavy animal but a light-hearted name.

I tried their Senor Mandarin, a pale ale heavy with citrusy spice flavors, as you might guess from the name. The Pacifas wheat beer was an enjoyable classic wheat.

I brought home a bottle of their Hyper-Caheh ("Ultra-Dark") Oatmeal Stout, which paired very well with my soya cutlet, French fries and green beans. It pours out a dark amber brown with a creamy tan head. The body is somewhat thin, but the flavors of chocolate spice and sweet roasted coffee are robust. The sharp contrast between salty food and a sweet beer made for a very enjoyable meal.

Yulia and Aleksey Radionov.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Radionov

Aleksey and Yulia Radionov are a home-brewing couple. I tried their American pale ale, which was full of fruity aromas and tastes. The Radionovs were also serving a wheat beer and an oatmeal stout.

Taekwonbeer

Alex Fux is a taekwondo martial arts expert who also home-brews. Or is it the other way around? In either case, Alex is not a stranger to beer festivals further north, though Beersheva is his home turf.

Alex Fux and Garry Shteinberg
serving their Taekwonbeer.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Alex was pouring four of his very original beers, plus a 10% alcohol Cinnamon Mead. For a change, I tried his Peanut Butter Stout (or as he calls it, the Drunken Master on peanut butter). I thought it was a real treat. Think of Reese's Pieces with dark, bitter chocolate instead of sweet. Alex was also serving The Great Pretender (a blond stout -- you have to be a virtuoso to pull this off), Field of Hops (an American pale ale), and Fire Storm (a wheat beer made with chilies). Kudos to Alex Fux for keeping on pushing the envelope.

Maxim Shain and his beers.

Maxshain

Maxim Shain is the eponymous brewer of Maxshain beers. He was serving bottles of IPA, brown ale and porter. I tasted his porter, which I found to be mild and sweet.

Hechter

Next in line was Raz Hechter and his lady friend Liron Chirky, whom I had met in Jerusalem at the Glen Whisky Bar one Friday morning.

Raz was serving different beers from then, including Florale Pomegranate-Hibiscus and Scarborough Fair Saison, made with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. I tried his private recipe Belgian Triple, called Thrice as Special. He brews it with oats in the malt mixture (mash), and then adds honey and spices. The result is a strong Belgian ale with a very smooth texture and rich, sweet flavor. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Raz Hechter and Liron Chirky
getting cuddly.

I had to pace myself with drinking beer before the long ride home, so I stopped after this one beer from Hechter and purchased a bottle of his Intercontinental Smash IPA -- single malt (Vienna from Europe) and single hop (Sarachi Ace from Japan) -- to bring home. A few days later, I popped the bottle and poured out this opaque amber beer with an off-white, ivory head. The aroma was strongly fruity, and the taste narrowed it down to bitter citrus, notably orange and lime. The bitterness was very strong, overpowering the fruit, and this continued in the aftertaste.

Zvi Sharon serving and enjoying
his Desert Brewery beer.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Desert Brewery

Zvi Sharon has been home-brewing for just one year and has chosen the name Desert Brewery for his beers. He was serving his Double Bee -- which he calls a double Belgian ale -- and Darken, a dark wheat beer, which I tasted. He uses chocolate malt to achieve the dark color, as well as wheat and Pilsner malts.

Basha-Flom

I said shalom to Omer Basha and Dvir Flom, whom I first met at the Brew Party in Tel Aviv earlier this spring. These are two very innovative and enthusiastic brewers whose beers can be found in specialty shops in major cities.

Dvir Flom and Omer Basha greet
the old blogger.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

They had bottles of their Saison du Boff (a French saison), Nelson (an oxymoronic black India pale ale named after Mandela), and Avi Bitter (an extra special bitter).

The saison and the bitter were excellent, two beer styles not made by many Israeli craft brewers. The "bitter" ale is not really bitter by today's standards of pumped up IBUs. It got its name in Britain when at the time of its appearance, it was bitter-er than the pale ales and porters being served.

Omer told me to be sure and try the Nelson, but by the time I asked it was all sold out.

It's a pity that the Basha-Flom beers are not available at more locations, and I hope this is soon remedied. Good beer all around.

Gilad Ne-Eman at the
Beersheva Brew Shop.

HeChalutz

At the end of the line was the host -- Gilad Ne-Eman's HeChalutz beers. Even though there was nothing new from HaChalutz, their regular brews are always welcome by beer-lovers:

Totzeret Ha'aretz("Made in Israel"), their award-winning American pale ale; HaTafsan ("The Catcher"), a rye beer; and two India pale ales --Avoda Ivrit("Hebrew Labor"), an American IPA, and Hodgson Traditional, a British IPA.

Tomer Ronen.

In addition to brewing his beer, Gilad and his partner Tomer Ronen have opened up the Brew Shop to sell brewing equipment and ingredients to home-brewers in the Beersheva and southern region. You can also shop through their website at: http://www.brewshop.co.il/ They also give courses in home-brewing, and organize beer events and festivals -- including, of course, the Beer7 Fest that I'm so glad I attended.

It was great to see our southern citizens enjoying craft beer and the togetherness it creates. In that wonderful crowd of visitors, we saw young and old, Israeli-born and immigrants. It gave proof the the new craft beer culture is not just for a few cities in central Israel, but for the whole country.

Just in time for the first blasts of winter, the Shapiro Brewery in Beit Shemesh has brought out the 2016 version of Jack's Winter Ale. This is a strong and dark Belgian-style ale which is perfect for drinking in the coldest weather.

The 2016 version of Jack's Winter Ale.

This is the fifth year that Shapiro has brewed this unique seasonal beer. Itzik Shapiro, one of the partner-brothers in the brewery, told me that the recipe has remained basically unchanged through the years, though minor tweaks here and there could have effects on the aroma and taste.

"One of the major changes has been that the beer has become more alcoholic," Shapiro disclosed. "In the early versions, our alcohol by volume was about 6.5%. Now it's 8.5%. This may change the perception of how people experience the beer, but our brewmaster Yochai Kudler has made no drastic changes in the original recipe."

From the start, Jack's Winter Ale has been aged with wood chips soaked in Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey – which is how it got its name. The whisky chips give the beer a full and rich body, and smooth, buttery finish, but have little effect on the alcoholic content.

To get the complete winter experience, I poured myself a bottle of Jack's 2016 on a particularly cold and blustery afternoon. Like most heavy winter or "holiday" beers, it should not be drunk ice cold, so I took it out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before I opened it.

Itzik Shapiro in the brewery.
(Photo: RonenGoldman.com)

It poured out a dark chestnut brown color with a thin tan head. The aroma was strongly chocolate and caramel. The first sip continued with the caramel theme, though a bitter caramel, along with the taste of red fruits. The beer is quite full bodied; you can even say "chewy." There was a nice spiciness in the aftertaste, perhaps cloves or pepper. If there was any whisky in the taste, it was very understated.

This is a great beer for any winter meal, especially foods with intense or spicy tastes, as well as pizza, aged cheeses, and rich, semi-sweet desserts. After the meal, it's a beautiful warming dessert by itself.

Leave the "crisp" and "refreshing" beers for the steamy days of summer. Now is the time to enjoy a bottle of hearty Jack's Winter Ale, before the spring thaw sets in.

Jeremy (Yossi) Sulzbacher came from Antwerp, Belgium, to present me with some of his home-brewed, gluten-free beer. (Well, he was also visiting his three sons who live here, but I was on the short list.)

Jeremy Sulzbacher gave me a bottle
of his Ginger Tipple while we both
enjoyed a glass of regular beer,
not on Passover.

Jeremy was born in the UK but has been living in Antwerp with his Belgian-born wife for 12 years. He took a course in brewing several years ago and got hooked.

But, he says, "I've never brewed regular beer." Indeed, he gave me a bottle of his Ginger Tipple, a beer brewed without grain at all.

"We use non-white sugars and grated ginger in the mash," Jeremy explained. "We ferment with wine yeast and dry-hop during fermentation for four weeks. Just before bottling, we add lemon juice and rind, and honey.

"Although it says 7% alcohol on the label, it's really closer to 9% -- a really strong brew."

Jeremy also gave me a second bottle of Ginger Tipple with added organic apple juice.

"Wait! You can't have beer!"

Now here's the thing about Ginger Tipple: Since it has no grain of any kind, it is 100% gluten-free. It can also be Kosher for Passover even for people who don't eat legumes (kitniyot), since it has none of those either.

"I found rabbinical authorities in Belgium who will certify this for me," Jeremy adds. "This includes the hops, which are not grain at all, but you must prove that they never come into contact with leavened grain.

"My plan is to sell this beer for Passover to the major Jewish communities in America, Israel and Britain. I will be able to brew the quantity I need by using the facilities of large kosher wineries, where the equipment is kosher for Passover all through the year."

So do we finally have a beer we can serve at our Passover table which will be kosher by all accounts? This could be big news. With this in mind, I eagerly popped open my bottle of Ginger Tipple to have a taste.

They didn't have beer at their seder table.
Why should we?

Well, the good news is, it's a curiously refreshing beverage which would grace any table. The interplay of the ginger, lemon and hops is a very successful blend of flavors. Although it has a light body and is highly carbonated, this is very much an adult drink. I think it would be especially suitable as an aperitif (before the meal) or a digestif (afterwards). I would be happy to serve Ginger Tipple at my Passover seder meal.

But . . . beer, as we know it, it is not. Although "beer" has a wide range of styles, colors, aromas and flavors, there is also a connecting thread which we can identify almost immediately. Even those beers which tend strongly towards sour and salty can still find a place under the tent. But in my humble opinion, Ginger Tipple is not there.

So, hearty kudos to Jeremy Sulzbacher for giving us a wonderful alternative beverage to serve during Passover. I certainly hope to see it on sale in Israel and will buy a few bottles for my own holiday table and as gifts.

But the search for a kosher for Passover beer still continues.

One of the nicest results of this web log is getting to know fellow beer enthusiasts from all over the world. Sometimes I even meet them. Sometimes they even bring me gifts.

Nick Hawkins (right) and the old blogger
with Chicago beer and Jerusalem pizza.

So it was that several weeks ago, I met a faithful reader who was visiting Jerusalem and was kind enough to attend my lecture and bring me beer. Ah, it's good to be famous.

Nick Hawkins came all the way from Chicago to enjoy a vacation in Israel and drink some of our craft beers. In fact, he's been doing the same thing all over the world.

"That's what I do," says Nick. I travel around the world to drink local beers: Myanmar, China, Norway, Poland, even Kuwait. You name it."

Nick feels a little guilty that it's been 20 years since he was last in Israel. As someone who thinks deeply about his Jewishness, he is very interested in how Israel fits into the equation.

"Many American Jews try to separate Israel from their Judaism," he declares, "but I don't see how you can do that."

If you're wondering about the "Hawkins," it's because Nick's father is Irish and his mother is Jewish. "I was given the freedom to go either way," he explains, "and I chose my Jewish side. Still, if you're Irish and Jewish, you can't help but love beer."

What a gift to shlepp all the way from Chicago:
Six beautiful craft beers.

At any rate, this is a blog about beer, not religion. So when I met Nick at the new branch of the Bardak pub near the Machane Yehuda market (4 Beit Yaakov Street), he told me how impressed he was with Israeli craft beers.

"Even though I search out good beer all around the world, I'm not a beer geek," Nick told me. "I don't use the jargon: 'flavor notes,''hoppy to the nose,''mouthfeel' -- none of that. Beer for me is 'good' or 'bad,' and most of the Israeli crafts have been good."

Oh yes, what about the gift-bearing visitor? Nick had carried six different beers from craft breweries in Chicago, so that he could give them to me. Certainly an unexpected and delightful gift.

Troublesome (wheat beer brewed with coriander) from Off Color Brewing
Daisy Cutter Pale Ale from Half Acre Beer Company
Gringolandia Magnifica Wheat from 5 Rabbit Brewery
Matilda (Belgian style pale ale) from Goose Island Beer Company
Eugene Porter from Revolution Brewing
Fist City Chicago Pale Ale from Revolution Brewing

I've had some already, but I'm not drinking them all at once. I'm making them last.

It was a rare pleasure to meet and chat with Nick. I never met anyone whose hobby is to visit foreign countries and drink their beers! I checked the list of "50 most popular hobbies" and it's not there, but it should be. Long may Nick continue his travels -- but I hope he doesn't wait another 20 years before coming to Israel again!

Jerusalem Brewgarden: Lucky neighbors

Ashdod Beer Festival -- August 19-20

Results of the Israel Brews and Views -- Amber Ale Tasting Panel

The Festival Season

Israel and the Reinheitsgebot

More Fridays at the Glen Whisky Bar -- Part 1

A taste of the gold

Three new Israeli beers

Off-the-blog events

My lecture on beer here in the Middle East

New foreign players

New beer specialty store opens in Jerusalem

The old blogger's beer lecture

Herzl Brewery chosen to make collaborative beer in Germany

Beer Bazaar comes to Jerusalem

Moish Rubinstein's new beer: Making a Highland out of a Hill

Beer7 Festival

2016 Jack's Winter Ale is here

The elusive quest for a Passover beer

Gift-bearing visitor from Chicago