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.