Beer Tasting- Israeli Craft Beer, Great Selection

A couple of weeks ago, Beer Maven Doug Greener invited me to a beer tasting. Joining us were two much younger tasters, so each bottle of beer had to be split between the four of us. And in case you're wondering, yes, the Beer בירה mosaics was made by yours truly.

All photos by me, Batya Medad

I'll start with Alexander's "DON'T" which we didn't drink at the tasting. I was given a bottle to taste at home. It's a nice tasting IPA. The name "DON'T" is in honor of the American president's statement, but I'm not going to start with politics... 

I must admit that my favorite beer is a good IPA. "DON'T" wasn't the best IPA I've sampled, but it still had a nice fruity plus hops flavor. I enjoyed it much more than the beers from the big commercial breweries that are sold in our local store.

IPA's must be very popular with Israel's craft beer brewers, because White Rabbit gave us two very refreshing ones. 

Feed Your Head is a light and fruity IPA. Day Dream is a New England IPA, less bitter but sweeter.

You can see the lovely golden color. Both are highly recommended.

We got a lager, named Bock from Alexander. It's a gorgeous dark orange color with a fruity aroma. As I sipped it, I realized that it doesn't taste like a beer and may be a good beer for those who don't like beer. After hearing my opinion on it, Doug called in someone who doesn't like beer. She took a couple of sips and agreed with me. 

Bock is like a tart fruit soda for adults, with the kick of some alcohol. If you like to taste the hops in your beer this isn't for you. 

Hatch brewed a beer it calls הגינה של רוחל'ה HaGinah Shel Ruchala, Ruchala's Garden which has a surprisingly natural mango aroma. Even the color is more like mango juice than beer. It tasted like a spiked sour citrus fruit juice. 

Previously I didn't like fruity beers, because they all seemed to taste artificial, like children's medicine. I'm still traumatized by the fruit flavored beers at the Jerusalem Beer Festival 2019. The more recent attempts to flavor beer with fruit is much more natural tasting. I'd prefer them to a sweet wine.

And then we had what could be called a "dessert beer." Hatch brewed an amazing Chocolate-Maple beer. It's almost a liquor, and I insisted that it would be great with a strong vanilla or coconut ice cream. 

This beer may also appeal to those who insist that they don't like beer.

In all honesty, the selection was the best ever. I don't remember a tasting when I enjoyed all the beers. OK, some didn't quite taste like beer, but they are all very drinkable. None tasted "funny." Try to buy them. 

Israeli craft beers are getting better and better. That's for sure.

Shapiro's Barista Beer- WOW!

Way back when... could it only have been just over a year ago... in the days when summer nights were made for enjoyable beer festivals, I attended a beer festival in Jerusalem and complained about the latest Israeli craft beers. The big thing was "flavored beers," and the artificial flavoring plus beer just didn't work. I wrote Where's The Beer?" Jerusalem Beer Festival 2019. One of the worst was a "cherry beer" that tasted worse than a children's antibiotic.

That experience put me off of flavored beers, however...

When the beer maven, Doug Greener blogged about coffee-flavored beer... I began to crave it, coffee beer that is. One of the companies making coffee beer is my favorite, Shapiro, and  I just had to buy some. But how was I going to buy it? The country was in corona COVID lockdown! There was no way I could justify traveling by bus to Jerusalem for Barista Beer. And since it's a "limited edition," no guarantee I'd even find any.

What could I do? I bided my time.

Finally it became legal to travel to further than your closest stores to shop for food. I had also used up almost all of my jersey yarn for crocheting projects. 

Siyate d'Shmaya, Hand of Gd, beer and yarn stores are in the same neighborhood, so off I went to Jerusalem today.

At the very first liquor store I passed, there it was... calling me. How'd it know? I bought a six pack, three barista, two IPA and one stout. That's because I hadn't found an open yarn store, so I wasn't schlepping. An added bonus was that since I bought six they could safely pack them in a special carton. And Baruch Hashem, thank Gd the carton fit into my backpack. And then while rushing to catch the lightrail to my bus I found a store with the yarn that was selling by "orders" outside their door with immediate "delivery." So I had lots to schlepp, but I bought what I needed.

Now, no doubt you want to know how the Barista coffee beer tastes. 

Simply put, coffee and hops make a great shidduch, match. There's no artificial taste in Shapiro's Barista coffee beer. Shapiro uses a pale ale, not my favorite beer, but when it's paired with cold brew coffee, it's a hit. The coffee gives the pale ale more flavor and body. Drinking it I didn't feel like I was drinking a flavored beer. There's something more natural; the flavors blend nicely. 

I was so excited about the beer I drank it as soon as it cooled. Barista is great after a busy day, and I'll try some on Shabbat morning, too. Yes, it's definitely recommended.

"Where's The Beer?" Jerusalem Beer Festival 2019

Doug taking notes

Last night, as I wandered around the Jerusalem Beer Festival with my beer maiven and mentor, Doug Greener, sampling the latest Israeli commercial craft beer creations, I began to feel confused. Are all of these new "beers" beer?

In previous Jerusalem Beer Festivals, the dominant taste was the "hops" some with various flavorings. Last night, granted that we were, davka, going for new beers, the word we all used the most to describe the beers was "fruity." The cherry beer pictured above, looked and tasted more like cherry soda.

oats and wheat

We tasted a very unusual "date beer," which could be made for Passover, since there's nothing in the ingredients of the forbidden chametz. I suggested to the beermaker that he markets it as a Biblical drink, since there's a good chance that dates had been used way back when, as an alternative for grapes.

After awhile and lots of sample drinks of the new versions of craft beer, all I wanted to say was:

"Where's The Beer?"

Most of the beers we drank were pleasant tasting and rather fruity. The IPAs had a nice kick. But contrary to other years, the dominant taste of hops was missing. Can it be beer sans hops or tasting more fruity than anything else?

Many of the beers we sampled, and I trust Doug to write a more detailed report, were closer to flavored fizzy wines and fruit-flavored sodas. I didn't taste the blonde beers, since I don't usually enjoy them.

Besides the smaller craft beer companies, some of the larger Israeli beers were at the fair as were some foreign ones. They served more of the classic bitter beer. I guess that the small craft brewers have found it better not to compete with those big successful companies. Craft beer brewers look for a different niche/customer.

I suggest you try for yourself. The Jerusalem Beer Festival 2019 is open tonight, too. Opens at 6pm in Independence Park, Gan Haatzmaut. Even if you don't like beer, maybe you'll davka like the beers that don't taste all that much like beer. Some people go to the Jerusalem Beer Festival just for the music and party atmosphere. There's all sorts of food for sale from a variety of food trucks.

Your opinions are welcome in the comments.

Just one more thing about flavored beer. There may be kashrut problems concerning manufactured flavoring ingredients in the various beers. If you have any questions, ask the brewer. Many I saw and met last night appear Torah/kashrut observant, but ingredients are more questionable out of Israel. The owners may not even understand your questions about kashrut.

At least the whiskey didn't pretend to be beer.