Our wood anniversary

It has been the custom in the lands of the West to designate each anniversary with a different commodity, which is then normally used to help choose a present for the occasion.  For example, the first anniversary is traditionally paper, the second cotton, and so on up to silver for the 25th, gold for the 50th and diamonds for the 75th!

The old blogger doing
what beer bloggers
are supposed to do. 

Israel Brews and Views has just reached our fifth anniversary.  It's called the wood anniversary, so we wood choose to dedicate it to beer -- like all our previous anniversaries.

It's been quite a ride.  I've tried to keep you, my dear readers, informed about what's happening in the world of Israeli craft beer.  If I tasted new beers, met interesting people, attended exciting events, found out secrets, and enjoyed myself too much  -- you were the first to know.

Researching and writing Israel Brews and Views takes up most of my waking hours these days -- more than my paid work, leisure activities, such as they are, and spending time with family and friends.  It seems like there are always beer events to attend, meetings to keep, festive openings and sad closings.

I'm not complaining, mind you. 
During these past five years, I've met wonderful people, some of whom I can call friends, tasted innumerable great beers for free, been ushered into inner sanctums of dining and drinking, been treated like a celebrity, been recognized by strangers who take "selfies" with me, been consulted about beer, events and trips, and have hobnobbed with the glitterati at sparkling and shining celebrations.   

Spreading the good news about
Israeli craft beers.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

We've published around 225 posts and are rapidly approaching 200,000 page views which, if you do the math for five years (60 months), averages out at over 3,300 page views a month.  Not overly impressive, but the subject is not politics, sports, celebrities, sex or money.  It's Israeli beer -- and I am happy that we have readers not only in Israel and the United States, as you would expect, but also in all of Europe, China and the Far East, South America, and even the Arab world!  What is it that interests them?  Is it beer?  Israel?  Or maybe the two together?

Never forgetting that I'm working
for you, my loyal readers.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

We have covered home-brewers who follow their passion and take the big, bold step of going commercial; the opening of new breweries and the growing number of contract brewers; and micro-breweries which grow into bigger, more modern facilities where production reaches tens of thousands of liters per month.

I've given you heads-ups on beer festivals and other events all over Israel, and have reported happily and boozily on the ones I attended.  Even if there were no new beers to report about, I enjoyed every minute, meeting up again with old friends and drinking their beers.

And we've continued with our popular Tasting Panels, wherein our Esteemed Tasters compare Israeli brews of the same style and give them rankings.  So far, we have tasted India Pale Ales, Amber Ales, Wheat Beers, Stouts, Pilsners and Porters -- with more to come, and a few surprises, in the coming months.  Our panel aims to reflect the tastes of the Israeli public, but we certainly welcome other opinions and have been called to order more times than the Knesset Plenum.

All of these Israel Brews and Views posts are not going to stop or even slow down, and the best way to keep on top of them is to type your e-mail address in the little box on the upper right of this page and press "Submit."  You'll get e-mails informing you of all new posts on my blog.   

To all my readers, wherever you are, I say "thank you" for your loyalty, involvement and concern.  If you hear, learn or see anything regarding Israeli beer which you think will interest our audience, please let me know and I'll do what I can to share the news.

You and I are here for the beer.  I hope we'll stay together for at least another five years.

Doug, the "old blogger"

Alexander (again) wins European Beer Star award

For the fifth year in the row, the Alexander Brewery in Emek Hefer has won a medal in the prestigious European Beer Star competition in Munich, Germany.  They took the Bronze prize in the Sweet Stout/Milk Stout category for their seasonal beer, Alexander Black.  In previous years, Alexander Black has taken the Gold Medal in this category three times, while other Alexander beers have also won prizes.

Ori Sagy (third from left), founder and brewmaster of Alexander Beer,
showing the Bronze Medal for Alexander Black at the
European Beer Star award ceremony.
Left of Ori is Alexander's head brewer Dan Taub,
and right of him are brewers Sahar Nevo and Guy Tarif.

Although other Israeli brewers have entered the European Beer Star in the past, only Alexander has won medals.  Since I've been reporting this for several years now, you may think it's getting boring -- but not for me.  This is a big deal, people.  For all the European breweries, as well as some from America and elsewhere, this is the premier competition, specializing as it does on the classic beer styles of European origin.

The name and flag of Israel are screened
above the stage at the
European Beer Star award ceremony.

[Read about Alexander's prize-winning achievements last year here.  You can follow the links in that article back to previous posts about Alexander.]     

This was the 15th year that the European Beer Star was held.  A total of 2,344 beers from 51 countries were entered and rated by an international panel of 144 beer judges.  Only 8% of the entries won any medal at all.

Ori Sagy, owner and brewmaster of Alexander, was at the award ceremony with his brewing crew.  "We get feedback all the time from our customers how much they enjoy our beers," said Ori.  "But it's good to get confirmation from some of the leading experts in the world that our beer ranks with the best in the world."

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  More Israeli craft brewers should be entering the European Beer Star and other international competitions.  Some will win, I'm sure of that, but all of them will bring Israeli beer to the world's attention. 

So congratulations again to Ori Sagy and Alexander Beer for having the ambition and daring for entering international contests, and the excellent beers for winning them!   

Technically a Porter, Alexander Black is brewed every year for the winter months.  It's perfect for this season, dark brown and warming (alcohol volume is a high 7%), rich in flavors of bitter chocolate, coffee and roasted malt.  The 2018 version is now on the shelves, so go get some if you want to taste an international prize-winning beer.

Weekend on the Mystic Mountain

The beautiful, enchanted alleyways of Safed.

The Galilean, mountain-top city of Safed (in Hebrew, Tzfat) has had a mystical reputation for centuries.  Here, the writers and practitioners of the Kabbalah laid the foundations of Jewish mysticism in the 16th century.  Safed, on a cloudy morning or at twilight, has an ethereal, other-worldly demeanor unmatched by any other city, including Jerusalem.

On a recent weekend, my wife Trudy and I joined our friends Yitzchak and Pnina Miskin in riding north to Safed to continue our wonderful tradition of hiking, visiting a local brewery, and spending a quiet Shabbat.

The only mystical encounter we had was with beer – the Mystic Mountain Craft Brewpub.

[Read about our previous hikes plus brewery: Alexander Beer here and Malka Beer here.]

Nothing like a rained-out hike to
keep friends together.

After a three hour bus and car ride, we arrived at the destination for our Friday morning hike: Mount Meron.  Yitzchak had meticulously planned and coordinated our route down to the last minute.  We were going to trek three kilometers (almost two miles) around the mountain peak in about two hours.

Alas, the weather had other plans.  Israel's first cold and rainy morning of the season bared its teeth after we had taken a few steps.  We retreated back to the car, waited a few minutes, observed other would-be hikers similarly retreating, and drove to our hotel – the Artists' Colony Inn in Safed.

In the courtyard of the Artists' Colony Inn
in Safed.

The weather cleared up enough for us to take a short walk through Safed's picturesque Old City, stop for a falafel lunch, and head for our (or maybe just my) main attraction – the Mystic Mountain Craft Brewpub.

Even though the taproom and brewery is usually closed on Friday afternoons, owner and brewer Andy Alpern agreed to meet us there so we could see the place and taste his beers.  We had a lot to thank him for.

We knew that the Mystic Mountain Craft Brewpub was at 2 Revitsky Street, but it wasn't easy finding it in the rabbit warren of alleyways and stairs that are Safed's Old City – even using Yitzchak's hand-held GPS system.  Finally, Andy had to come out and find us.  The morning storm had knocked down one of the signs that would have led us to him.

Andy Alpern greeted the old blogger
outside of the Mystic Mountain Craft Brewpub
in Safed.

Andy welcomed us to his cavernous taproom – a converted house over 200 years old, making it the oldest beer hall in Israel and perhaps the Middle East!  It contains several different sections and an eclectic collection of tables and chairs.  The main room has a warm and comfortable bar where Andy served us his beers while telling us his story. 

He immigrated to Jerusalem from the U.S. in 1997, having lived there in a few places, most recently Chicago, Colorado and Eugene, Oregon.  Andy, who is married with three sons, 11, 9 and 4, came to Safed in 2006, planning to pursue a career in his chosen profession, photography.  In fact, around five years ago he began to rent the location which became his brewpub to use as a photography studio and gallery.  

 

Behind the beautiful bar at the
Mystic Mountain Brewpub. 

"I started making wine at home," Andy explains.  "After all my vines died from a virus, I used the demijohns to brew beer, which I learned online from the Siebel Brewing Academy.  When I moved into this building, I had the space to increase my brewing to 100-liter batches and to start serving people."

Like I've heard a dozen times before, the brewing became more and more of a passion for Andy, starting to rival his love for photography.  He spent a month cleaning up the studio ("It was very hard physical work.") and turned it into the Mystic Mountain Craft Brewpub.  It wasn't long before it became a favorite meeting place for the small but conspicuous English-speaking community in Safed.

The brewpub is now open on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Andy would like to add Saturday night as well.  Most nights there is live music to accompany the beer and light food menu.  Andy himself often plays the guitar with a local group.   

Andy now brews in 100-liter batches, and almost all of his beer is put into kegs for selling at the taproom.  "I tried contract brewing in another brewery," he explains, "but that didn’t work out.  First of all, it was very expensive, and second, I wasn't brewing the beer!  It never came out the way I wanted.  In Safed, which is a pretty small city after all, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself!"

Andy Alpern pouring us his
Mystic Mountain beers
in the brewpub.

Andy regularly brews five Mystic Mountain beers and one cider, which we all enjoyed at the bar.

Ex-Pat Pale Ale – An American pale ale, 5.7% alcohol by volume, brewed with three kinds of hops and dry-hopped with two.  Very hoppy with tastes of citrus.

Holy Hefe – A German-style classic wheat beer, with the clove, spice and banana aromas you're looking for, but also other fruits.  Hefe means "yeast" in German, and this style of beer is known as Hefeweizen. 5.5% alcohol.  I don't like to stereotype or typecast, but this beer was Trudy's and Pnina's absolute favorite.

Andy also brews a seasonal wheat beer called Red Hefe, made with organic tart cherries from the Golan Heights, but this was not available when we were there.

In the lobby of the Mystic Mountain Brewpub.

Dark Star – A true Dunkelweizen, a dark wheat beer, made with 70% malted wheat.  Very creamy with a roasty flavor.  5.8% ABV.

Panoramic Porter – A deep brown Porter beer with flavors of chocolate, yeast, and light coffee.  6% ABV.

Granola Stout – Mystic Mountain's oatmeal stout, made with organic oats, cinnamon and cloves, as well as other spices.  A strong 7% ABV, it has tastes of cinnamon, chocolate, caramel and fruit.

Soma Cider – A 5% alcoholic dry apple cider with cinnamon.  Very refreshing and not sweet.

Andy sometimes plays the guitar
with a local group.
That's him in the center.

After our tasting session, Andy admitted that he was at a crossroads.  On the one hand, he would like to pass on some the daily responsibilities of brewing and running the brewpub to a manager, so that he can get back to concentrating on his photography and other projects.

On the other hand, he loves his brewing and publican activities and would prefer not to abandon them.  Only recently, he was presented with the possibility of buying a 200-liter brewing system.  "If I do this, which is very tempting, then I will have to spend more time, not less, on brewing and selling beer," Andy says.  "It's not an easy decision for me to make, but I have to do it."

Before we left, Andy was able to find us a few bottles of his beer, which we bought to have over Shabbat and to take home. 

We thanked Andy for his hospitality and beer and left him to ponder his future direction.  The four hearty travelers were unanimous in their opinion that the Mystic Mountain Brewpub is a wonderful beer destination and an invaluable asset for the city of Safed.  Nothing even comes close in the whole area, where locals and tourists can enjoy hand-crafted beer surrounded by history, music and friends. 

We all joined in: "Andy, say you won't leave us!"

It was a good thing that it was a short walk from the Mystic Mountain Brewpub to our hotel, because all the beer we had tasted was having its effect. 

That evening we had dinner with our host, the hotel owner and his daughter.  We were joined at the table by a couple from Holland who were visiting family in Israel.  Lively and interesting conversation all around.  

    

The next day was bright and sunny.  After a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we joined Yitzchak and Pnina for a walk through the Old City of Safed, closed down because of the Sabbath, and a hike outside of the city.  We made up for the Friday morning rain-out by hiking four kilometers (2½ miles) heading north on the western slope of Mount Canaan, atop of which Safed is located.  A lot of our attention was taken up looking for a famous spring, which we couldn't find.

We returned to the hotel for a well-earned rest and then had a hearty home-packed lunch, crowned by some of the beers we brought from the Mystic Mountain.

This is a lovely pattern for touring Israel that we would like to continue and which I strongly recommend to others: Vigorous Friday hike, visit to a micro-brewery, relaxing and nourishing Shabbat.  There are so many beautiful locations to visit in Israel, and more and more of them have nearby breweries.  Coincidence?  I think not.