
A day later, I called a friend, one of the judges on our Israel Brews and Views Tasting Panel, and he told me how much he enjoyed the beer at his own Seder. But even more significant: His son who dislikes beer intensely, took a hesitant sip and screwed up his face: "Ugh! This is terrible. It tastes just like beer!" Could there be a more heartfelt, back-handed compliment?
Now, I have already written (here) my opinion that the taste of Meadan Date Ale is compromised by the lack of malted grain. However, since grain would make this beer unfit for Passover, it was difficult for me to envision a happy solution.
But, if I am an anything, I am deferential to the voice of the people. And the people were telling me, they like this beer!
But there's more.
During Passover, we went out to eat in a restaurant that had a chalkboard by the door: "Meadan Date Ale - Kosher for Passover." Well, here was a chance to have more beer, so we sat down, ordered our food and beer, and the waiter said: "Oh, we ran out of that beer on the first day. We ordered some more from our distributor, but he also didn't have any left." Hmm.

Meanwhile, at the brewery in Carmiel, owner Bryan Meadan was able to feel in macro what I was hearing in the field.
"Almost all of our 40,000 bottles were sold out," Bryan told me. "People visited our brewery and bought our beer all of Passover week, and the feedback was very positive.
"Unfortunately, stores and distributors ran out of our beer and we didn't have enough to re-supply them."
Bryan hopes to solve this problem next year by doubling the production and by filling orders in advance so that all stores have enough beer for the holiday.
Bryan is also negotiating the possibility of exporting his Passover beer next year to the unquenchable American Jewish market.
After Meadan has proven how much the public really thirsts for kosher-for-Passover beer, it's likely that other brewers will try to get into this market in 2017. However, they face the daunting task of cleansing their breweries of all leavened grain. Though possible, it's probably prohibitively expensive.
Being gluten-free, the Meadan Brewery never uses leavened grain and therefore, in effect, remains kosher-for-Passover year round.
"We are now returning to brew our regular gluten-free beers, but with improvements," Bryan said. "For example, we will have two Date Ales: One with the same recipe as our Passover Date Ale, and a Bitter Date Ale, with a higher alcoholic content. Our Buckwheat Beer will have a fuller body, and our Hummus (Chickpea) Beer will be less sour, while staying very hoppy."
It was exceedingly disappointing to come across a Facebook post from Beer Bazaar advertising their beer menu over Passover and the fact that they're open, business as usual. Even in the capital there were bars open, but it seemed they had the decency to keep a low profile. I'm an atheist, but the traditional Jewish character of our country is vital to me. So regrettably I won't be a consumer of Beer Bazaar in Tel Aviv anymore.
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for taking time to post. I'm Avi Moskowitz, the owner of the Jerusalem location of Beer Bazaar. Beer Bazaar is a franchise with multiple locations - each owned and operated by independent owners/operators.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Jerusalem location (Shuk Machnei Yehuda) was closed completely for all of Pesach, the small Basta in the middle of the Shuk HaCarmel
in Tel Aviv was open and Kosher for Passover. The location on Yishkon, off the main drag of the Shuk HaCarmel was open and was not Kosher for Passover. That's what's nice about different locations and different owners, it offers something for the different elements of our wide spectrum of peoples, beliefs and observances that are contained within our Jewish homeland.
Absolutely Avi, pluralism is something to be celebrated. And like the headline acknowledges, there is indeed a large population of Israeli Jews that demands beer even during Passover -- nothing anyone can do about that. To be sure, you want to cater to that demand? That's fine. What isn't fine is sponsoring a FB ad campaign over the holiday flaunting your (TLV's) utter disregard for it. Thanks for making clear that the Jerusalem branch wasn't a part of that.
ReplyDelete