Beer: Emek Ha'Ela's Irish Red Ale

Here's the bottle of Emek Ha'Ela Irish Red Ale posing with our still very feisty 5777 Rosh Hashanah head.

Just that you know, I'm not the great beer mavin my friend and mentor Doug Greener of Israel Brews and Views is. But I do have my opinions...

On Friday before Shabbat since I had decided to treat myself to one of the beers I had picked up in the shuq, I figured I'd photograph it in advance, and since 5777 is still looking pretty fresh and perky, she/he joined.

I'm not sure why I davka chose the Emek Ha'Ela Irish Red Ale to open first, but I did, and after taking its picture, I put it in the fridge. In the end I didn't drink it with the Friday night meal, since my husband had chosen a wine I wanted to drink, so I drank it alone Shabbat afternoon.

Actually, I didn't drink much of it, and that wasn't because I didn't like it. It just created such a massive amount of foam/head or whatever you call it, that even though I poured it very carefully and slowly, barely a teaspoon of beer was in the glass while the bubbles spilled all over the table. This was very frustrating. I didn't have all afternoon for this beer-tasting experiment. My second attempt to pour wasted even more beer on the table, so I just gave up. The rest is sitting in the refrigerator. I'll return to it eventually with the hope that the carbonation will self-destruct.

Besides that, from the little I managed to taste, the color and flavor were fine. I do like red ales better than the lighter beers.

But the bottom line is that because of the over-carbonization, I wouldn't recommend it, unless you keep it open for some time before pouring... I presume that a real beer mavin wouldn't say such a thing...