Arabica: A coffee beer from HaDubim

Arabica from HaDubim:
Pale ale with real coffee taste.
(Photo: Mike Horton)

The HaDubim ("The Bears") brewer-brothers Rotem and Dagan Bar-Ilan made Arabica, their new Coffee Pale Ale, for the Tel Aviv Coffee Fest last month.  From the bottle, we read that it was brewed at the BeerBazaar Brewery in Kiryat Gat and the alcohol by volume is 5%.  To learn more, I had to taste some, which I did with my drinking partner and blog photographer, Mike Horton.           

Arabica is a golden amber color, although rather murky, with a thin white head.  The dominant aroma -- and flavor -- is coffee; but as Mike noted, "pure coffee, real coffee."  The pale ale base provides an excellent window to let the coffee additive shine through.  The malt gives just the right amount of "sweetener" for the coffee.

We felt that Arabica would go well with any dessert you should have coffee with.  Baklava and knafe come to mind.

Mike gave this beer high marks, but added that, "it wouldn't replace my morning coffee."

As for me, I wouldn't mind if it does, every now and then.    

This isn't the first time an Israeli craft beer has been brewed with coffee. For example, I've already written about Cold Brew Coffee Stout from BeerBazaar and Barista Beer from the Shapiro Brewery.  (Read about them here.)