Three from the Shevet Brewstillery: Farm Mama ● Twist & Stout ● Rye or Die IPA

The Shevet Brewstillery in Pardes Hanna introduced three new beers at the Tel Aviv craft festival: One in its family of core beers (The Farm Mama) and two in the Small Batch Series (Twist & Stout and Rye or Die IPA).  Shevet's Small Batch beers are produced in limited quantities, and when they're gone, they're gone -- unless Brewmaster Felix Magdziarz decides to make them again. 

The Farm Mama joins the core beers produced by
the Shevet Brewstillery: 
A Belgian Witbier brewed with orange zest,
chamomile, coriander and white pepper.

The Farm Mama is a 5.2% alcohol Belgian Witbier, brewed with wheat malt, oats, orange zest, chamomile, coriander seeds and white pepper.  Very few Belgian Wits have been brewed commercially in Israel.  This style is the Belgian version of the popular wheat beers (Hefeweizen) brewed in central Europe.  Wits are usually made just with additives of orange peels and coriander seeds.

The Farm Mama is a fine Israeli way to introduce you to this style.  It's a clear color of pale straw, not too carbonated with a thin head.  The initial aroma is spicy, grassy and lemony, with the hops contributing floral scents, and the malts faint white bread.           

The taste is low to mid bitter.  You should be able to pick out flavors of lemon, pepper and even farmhouse funk.  The beer is crisp and refreshing (good timing with the hot days upon us), thin bodied, dull effervescence, and a mid to long aftertaste. 

[The four other core beers from Shevet are The Ice Man (Helles Lager), The Wee Laddie (Scottish Ale), The Red Knight (Irish Red Ale) and The Hop Guru (India Pale Ale)]. 

Twist & Stout from the 
Shevet Brewstillery is an
Imperial Stout brewed with
cocoa nibs and vanilla extract.

Twist & Stout, a small batch beer of around 2,000 bottles, is an Imperial Stout (11% alcohol by volume) based on Shevet's earlier Small Batch Imperial Stout from 2020 (which you can read about here).  However, Twist & Stout is brewed with cocoa nibs and vanilla extract -- and what a difference they make!

The beer pours out a very dark brown, but clear and translucent, with a tan head of mixed rocky bubbles.

The aromas are from the malt and the additives.  You get delicate chocolate, caramel, faint vanilla and light coffee roast.  The taste is skewed towards the sweet, but with a balancing bitterness.  Flavors of roasted malt and dark chocolate are prevalent.  The strong booze is felt in the taste and the alcoholic warmth.  This beer is thick and flavorful, full in body and effervescence.

Enjoy Twist & Stout by itself -- just sip and let the flavors wash over you.  You might also like it paired with a rich and/or chocolaty pastry, hearty macaroni and cheese, or strong aged cheeses like camembert, brie, gouda and cheddar.  

The other Small Batch beer is Rye or Die IPA, 6.5% ABV, brewed with rye and a hop mixture of Simcoe, Centennial and Magnum.  About 3,000 bottles were issued. 

 

Rye or Die IPA from the
Shevet Brewstillery is an 
India Pale Ale brewed with rye.

This beer looks different from the start.  It's a opaque deep amber, with a creamy off-white head that begins thick, reduces in time but never really disappears.  The aromas were a mix of grass, pine, light citrus and perhaps peach from the hops, with the malt contributing some dark bread.  The taste is bitter with hop flavors of dark fruits, orange, pine and pepper spice -- but balanced by the malt sweetness.  The finish is semi-dry, with a mid to long aftertaste.

The body is medium thick, and the mid to high carbonation is tingly on the tongue.

The aromatics and taste of Rye or Die IPA were different from other IPAs.  All of the elements blended well to produce a beer that I found surprising and enjoyable. 

Shevet (and the rest of us) is fortunate to have Brewmaster Felix, who continues to put his skill and experience into every new Shevet beer.