Podcast on four Israeli beers

Those Brew-Drink-Run guys are at it again.  This time they put up a podcast where they sit around, drinking four Israeli craft beers and commenting on them.  These are some of the beers that Lee Heidel brought back to Savannah, Georgia, from his visit to Israel.

The beers are Herzl Embargo, Negev Passiflora, Dancing Camel Midnight Stout and  Shapiro's Jack's Winter Ale.

The only thing they can read on the labels are the English names.

Enjoy listening to them here.

http://brewdrinkrun.com/2015/03/episode-65-shekles-on-shekles/

The Mateh Yehuda beer event

There was nothing new at the Mateh Yehuda beer event held March 19-20 on Kibbutz Netiv Halamed Hey.  Seven booths for seven brewers, all from the Mateh Yehuda region, plus a few food vendors selling hot dogs and hummus.  Suitable for this time of year, the booths were indoors, in a kind of warehouse structure.  Not very festive.

But it did give me a chance to renew old acquaintances with the brewers there:

Shapiro and Buster's:
Before the imbibers arrived. 

Itzik Shapiro from Shapiro Brewery (Beit Shemesh)

Itzik told me that his brewery's Purim charity project, with customers buying cases of 24 beer bottles with personal labels, was a big success.  More than 100 cases were sold, with the profits going to the Shekel charitable organization, providing community services for people with special needs.

He also said that Shapiro was bringing out a new, as yet unnamed beer later this year.

Denny Neilson from Isra-Ale and Buster's (Mevasseret Zion and Noham)

It was a great pleasure to taste Denny's double IPA, Chutzpah, which is normally available only at his brewery and store.  (Read more about Denny and his Chutzpah here.)

Amir Lev from Mosco (Moshav Zanoach)

I tried Amir's new Pilsner lager, which will probably not be brought to the market anytime soon.  It's very light and mild, only 3.8% alcohol by volume, and I found it quite taste deficient.  (You can read the story behind Mosco Beers here.)

Home-brewer Mark Markish by the
Hashahar Brewery booth,
with Ronnie Calderon.

Ronnie Calderon from Hashahar (Mevasseret Zion)

I re-acquainted myself with his IPA, a flavorful and refreshing beer, though not as hops-forward as other IPAs.  (Read about Ronnie and Sharon Calderon and their home brewery here.)

Aram Dekel from Abeer Ha'ela (Kibbbutz Tzafririm)

My friends and I paused to sip and savor his "Crispy," a delicious honey-wheat beer that Aram told me would pair well with any strong cheese.


Leon Solomon from Samson (Kibbutz Tzora)

Harriet and Leon Solomon at the
Samson Brewery booth.

Leon and his wife Harriet were pouring beer and selling soft pretzels in what may be Samson's final event.  Leon recently closed his pub on the kibbutz.  The good news is that he's not going to stop
brewing, if only for his family and friends.

I tried his stout, which was missing when I visited him a few months ago (read about it here), and found it creamy and delicious, with a nice roasted malt taste well balanced with the hops.  

Ofer Ronen from Srigim Brewery -- Ronen and Emek Ha'ela (Moshav Srigim)

Ofer told me that the brewery is expanding and that he is looking into the possibility of exporting his beers.  I wish him much luck.  Alexander and Malka are already in the U.S. and selling well in a number of states.

Afterwards, Barak Katz, one of the event's organizers from the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, told me that the local beer festival is usually held twice a year, though there was none this past summer.

"This one was put at the last weekend of our Rural Food Festival, and is intended more for local area residents," he added.  "We are already planning our big beer festival for the end of June or the end of August.  I'll keep you informed.  That's my job."

And I'll keep all of you informed -- on this and all the other 2015 beer festivals that are coming our way.

Here for the beer, here for the run

Lee and Ginger Heidel with
their Israeli craft beer.

Lee and Ginger Heidel from Savannah, Georgia, came to Israel to run in the Jerusalem Marathon -- or at least in the shorter versions.  He for the 10 kilometer; she for the five.  They came as guests of the Israel Ministry of Tourism, along with other journalists, who were invited to write about their experiences in the marathon.  

But Lee is also a colleague of mine, a well-known beer blogger writing for Brew Drink Run and The Manual, The Essential Guide for Men.  

Choosing Israeli craft beer
in Hamisameach.

Lee found me via Israel Brews and Views and asked if I could help acquaint him and Ginger with the local craft beer scene during this, their first visit to Israel.  In the short time we had during their very tight schedule, I took them to the Hamisameach liquor store in Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda market, where I actually surprised myself by being able to describe almost all of the Israeli craft beers on display.  Lee bought some dozen bottles of the beers to enjoy back in Georgia and hopefully to write about them on his blog.

Savannah beer to Israel;
Israeli beer to Savannah.

Lee and Ginger presented me with a bottle of Rally Point Bohemian Style Pilsner from the Service Brewing Co. in Savannah, with the instruction to wait until a nice warm day to drink it.  I will.

I'm happy that I was able to play a small role in the success of the Heidels' visit to Israel, where they continued their quest for craft beers around the world.

You can read about what Lee had to say in The Manual here, and in Brew Drink Run here.

Lee wrote yet another article on his visit to Jerusalem in Connect Savannah.  You can read that one here.

An evening at the Frieds -- delicious food, excellent beer

By day, Dr. Levi Fried is a medical intern doing research on drug discovery.

By night, he turns into an driven home-brewer, pushing the envelope into strong flavors and little-known beer styles not attempted by more timid souls.

I've met Levi Fried once or twice before, but I've never had the chance to visit him in his home in Modi'in and try his beer, which he bottles under the Righteous Brew label.  He is an excellent brewer: knowledgeable, curious and adventurous.

Dr. Levi and Harmony Fried in Modi'in:
our hosts for the beer-and-food pairing dinner.

So I was extraordinarily pleased to receive his invitation to a six-course beer-and-food pairing dinner at his home.  I was also pleased to learn that it would be a meatless dinner, since Levi's wife Harmony, who will be preparing the courses, is a vegetarian, as I am.  She is also, I learned, a professional chef who once worked in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

This evening had definite possibilities.

I arrived at the Fried home on time -- which is actually early by Israeli standards.  While we waited for the other guests, Levi asked me if I would like to try his new Bourbon Barrel Stout, made with a few shots of American bourbon whiskey.  Would I?

Levi Fried introduces his guests to the
world of beer-and-food pairing.

The BB Stout was almost black with a roasty aroma.  It had a wonderful creamy smoothness and the rich, complex taste was fortified by the bourbon.  Levi said that he prepares all of his stouts by adding the liquid of cold-soaked roasted malt.  "This is what helps achieve the creaminess and avoids the 'soy-sauce taste' that many stouts have," he added.

It was certainly true.  This was a real "sipping beer" and made a perfect aperitif to our meal.

Before Harmony began arranging and serving the courses, Levi briefly explained to the guests the principles of beer-and-food pairing.

"Beer is a better partner for food than wine," he declared, "because its range of flavors is wider and more complex than wine.  What we're looking for are flavors that support each other because of their similarities, or complement each other because they are different -- like, for example, sweet and sour or sweet and salty."

All interesting stuff, I'm sure, but I was getting hungry.

First course.

The first course was served not a minute too soon.  It was a piece of brie cheese with tomato chutney and a homemade black sesame seed cracker, paired with a very pale blonde lager, also known as helles in German.

Levi brews the beer with Hallertau hops from Germany and Carlsberg yeast, and then ages it for four months.  The beer had pleasant floral aromas and notes of caramel and cherries in the taste.  Levi explained that the mild taste and low alcoholic content (4.5%) go well with the delicate flavors of the course.  A stronger beer would have overwhelmed them.

Second course.

Our second beer was a French biere de garde, a 7.5% ABV farmhouse-style ale.  The name alludes to the fact that these beers were brewed in the winter and then "guarded" until the spring, when they were enjoyed.  It was served to us fresh.

The biere de garde was paired with grilled zucchini with Swiss cheese and a spicy roasted red pepper relish with a Swiss cheese tuile (a crisp, thin wafer).  The note of fresh pepper in the beer was a beautiful complement to the cheese in the dish, once again without overpowering it.

Third course.

The third course was fresh fettuccine with Thai basil pesto and an egg yolk in the middle.  Sounds strange, but it was truly delicious, with the yolk adding both smoothness and flavor.

This was paired with a French saison beer, a lighter version (6.5% ABV) of biere de garde. This beer also had a peppery tang, but was maltier than the biere de garde and more aged.

Fourth course.

A curried arancini (rice ball) stuffed with mild goat cheese in a coconut cream infused sauce was the fourth course.  Levi paired it with his German maibock, a very strong lager (9% ABV) which held its own against the rich flavors of the food.  Like the previous two beer styles, maibock has also traditionally been brewed in the winter months for springtime drinking (hence its name!).

It poured a middle amber color and had a yeasty aroma which, Levi explained, was the lager (bottom fermenting) yeast coming through.  The beer's powerful sweetness complemented the rich, acidic flavors of the food.  Added CO2 refreshes your taste buds from the strong cheese and curry.

Fifth course.

For the next course, dessert number one, we went in a completely different direction -- a sour lambic beer which Levi had brewed together with his friend Noam Shalev.

"Actually, this is a pseudo-lambic," Levi explained to us, "since true lambic beer can only come from Belgium."  Similarly, only sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France can be called "champagne," and only whisky from Kentucky can be labeled "bourbon."

We poured this very sour beer to accompany sweet lemon cake with a soft meringue and tart cherries.  It was an intriguing choice, with  the sourness of the beer cutting the extreme sweetness of the dessert.  Alcohol was a low 4%.  The beer was accompanied by a jigger of cherry syrup, which is often added to lambic beers in Belgium to cut the sourness and add a different taste.  I found this tasty, but actually preferred the "raw" lambic with our cake.

Beers are rarely paired with sweet desserts, and this bold move by Levi and Harmony demonstrated the reservoir of possibilities involving food-and-beer pairings.

Sixth course.

Our last course was homemade vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and salty pecans.  It was delicious, but the flavor was heightened even more by the paired beer: an English spiced barley wine, 18% alcohol, brewed with silan (date honey) and pumpkin spice (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves).  It had strong notes of what I describe as chocolate and prunes.

Barley wines are strong ales, so called because the alcoholic content is similar to wine.  This was another courageous pairing that succeeded in ending the meal with exquisite, complex flavors.

A wonderful evening at the Frieds came to an end, an evening for people who appreciate delicious food and great beer -- and what connects them.  I hope the Frieds do it again sometime.  Hell, I hope every home-brewer does it sometime.  What a great way to introduce neighbors and friends to craft beer's contribution to our quality of life.        

Golan Brewery launches new Og Double Bock Wheat Beer

The Golan Brewery in Katzrin, one of Israel's most established craft breweries, recently launched a new seasonal beer – Og Double Bock Wheat Beer.

The old blogger with Michael Giladi, Omri
Zilberman and Motti Barr at the launch of
Og Double Bock Wheat Beer.
(Photo:Mike Horton)

According to brewmaster Omri Zilberman, the new beer is a joining of two styles which the Golan Brewery currently makes: Bazelet Wheat and Bazelet Double Bock.  

The result, I believe, is better than the sum of its parts.

The new beer was launched at the Ilka Bar in Tel Aviv, and Golan Brewery Manager Michael Giladi was kind enough to invite me and photographer Mike Horton.  We joined some ten other journalists and bloggers from the online, print and radio world.

The new Og Double Bock
Wheat Beer, surrounded by
the four permanent Bazelet beers.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Giladi gave us a brief overview of the Golan Brewery: They produce four permanent beers under the Bazelet label (Wheat Ale, Amber Ale, Double Bock lager, and Pilsner lager), as well as seasonal beers under the Og label.  (Og was a king in the ancient Bashan region on the Golan Heights.)      

"Og gives us the chance to get creative," added Motti Barr, the Golan Brewery production manager.  Previous Og beers have included summer ale (Og Keitzit), double bock (Og Alon), and even an earlier version of a double bock wheat in 2012, though with a different recipe from the new beer.  Only 3,000 to 5,000 liters of each version of Og seasonal beer are produced, and when these are sold out, so is the beer.  (Read my earlier post on Golan Brewery beers here.)

The launch of Og Double Bock Wheat Beer
at the Tel Aviv "press conference."
(Photo: Mike Horton)

Brewmaster Zilberman told us that double bocks have traditionally been made for winter drinking.  It is a dark beer, strong in alcohol, with an intense sweet malty taste.  The monks who first brewed it in Germany called it "liquid bread."

"By combining the two styles of wheat and double bock, we have brewed a unique wheat beer which boasts the strength and flavors of a double bock," said Zilberman.  "Alcoholic content is a hefty 8.4%.  Our malt mixture is 70% wheat and 30% barley.  The yeast is typical Bavarian wheat beer yeast."

The first pouring of 
Og Double Bock Wheat Beer.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

After we tasted Bazelet Wheat and Bazelet Double Bock to acquaint us with the two styles joined in the new beer, the journalists were served festive drafts of Og Double Bock Wheat.  Its color is a cloudy honey amber – right between the pale wheat beer and the brown double bock.  The aroma is faintly banana (typical for a wheat beer) and whisky alcohol.  The first thing you taste is the sweet malt and caramel, followed by dark fruits, coffee and chocolate.

Og Double Bock Wheat is truly a delicious strong ale, successfully combining the elements of two very different styles.  It is now arriving at liquor stores which sell Golan beers.  Since we have a few good weeks of winter left, it can still be enjoyed on the cold days for which good double bock beer was intended.