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| Ofer Bolka, Sales Manager of HaGibor Brewery, introduces the two new beers at the Tel Aviv Craft Beerfest. |
The HaGibor ("The Hero") Brewery in Carmiel has brought out two new beers – officially launched at the Craft Beerfest in Tel Aviv last month. They are as different from each other as two beers can be.
The first is named Dark'le, a Dark Ale brewed with no more than the traditional four beer ingredients: Water, malted grain, hops and yeast. Yet, with just these, Brewmaster Dekel managed to produce a flavorful, classic beer. Alcohol by volume is 5.5%.
I drank Dark'le with fellow IBAV Tasters Oded and Bat Sheva.
Like its name says, Dark'le is an opaque brown, with red highlights revealed when you hold it up to the light, and a very long-lasting head of tan foam.
The aroma is very roasty malt and some pine. Oded also smelled toasted bread, while Bat Sheva picked up notes of alcohol.
The taste is very bitter, as it should be, with more strong roasted malt, bordering on the burnt. Bat Sheva said that the bitterness was that of citrus rind, but she was alone in that opinion. Oded said that the finish was long and bitter, and on this there was agreement. He loved the beer, he said, even though he thought it was "boring."
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| Dark'le, the new Dark Ale from HaGibor Brewery in Carmiel: Bitter, with roasty and piney aromas and tastes. |
To me, this was a beer, like other Dark Ales, which was mid-way towards being a stout. While it had many of the characteristics of a stout, including the bitterness level, it still lacked the interesting chocolate, coffee, licorice and/or dried fruit flavors that are part of the stout profile.
But so what? It isn't supposed to be a stout, but a Dark Ale – and it's a good one at that!
The other beer is named Flora, a sour wheat beer brewed with passion fruit. ABV is 5.8%.
When we read the list of ingredients, we were frankly shocked. Beyond the four standard ingredients of every modern beer plus passion fruit seeds, the following were listed (in order):
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| Flora, a tart wheat beer brewed with passion fruit, from the HaGibor Brewery in Carmiel. |
Sugar, modified starch (corn/potato), glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, emulsifier ((E472e), stabilizers (E340ii, E466), anticaking agent (E551), flavorings, food coloring (beta carotene).
However, HaGibor CEO Eran Grunwald assured me that these were the ingredients of the passion fruit puree that was used in the brewing. By law, these too have to listed on the label.
But the proof of any beer is in the drinking. The nose and the tongue cannot read labels.
Flora is a semi-hazy yellow color. There are aromas of sour fruit, wheat and dough. The passion fruit comes alive in the taste, which is mildly sour. Bat Sheva also tasted pineapple and guava. "It's like a dry cider," she said. Oded agreed with that. To me, it was a successful fruited sour beer, with the passion fruit a good choice for achieving this.
As I said, two very different beers from HaGibor, each giving a very different drinking experience.