Beer Tasting- Israeli Craft Beer, Great Selection

A couple of weeks ago, Beer Maven Doug Greener invited me to a beer tasting. Joining us were two much younger tasters, so each bottle of beer had to be split between the four of us. And in case you're wondering, yes, the Beer בירה mosaics was made by yours truly.

All photos by me, Batya Medad

I'll start with Alexander's "DON'T" which we didn't drink at the tasting. I was given a bottle to taste at home. It's a nice tasting IPA. The name "DON'T" is in honor of the American president's statement, but I'm not going to start with politics... 

I must admit that my favorite beer is a good IPA. "DON'T" wasn't the best IPA I've sampled, but it still had a nice fruity plus hops flavor. I enjoyed it much more than the beers from the big commercial breweries that are sold in our local store.

IPA's must be very popular with Israel's craft beer brewers, because White Rabbit gave us two very refreshing ones. 

Feed Your Head is a light and fruity IPA. Day Dream is a New England IPA, less bitter but sweeter.

You can see the lovely golden color. Both are highly recommended.

We got a lager, named Bock from Alexander. It's a gorgeous dark orange color with a fruity aroma. As I sipped it, I realized that it doesn't taste like a beer and may be a good beer for those who don't like beer. After hearing my opinion on it, Doug called in someone who doesn't like beer. She took a couple of sips and agreed with me. 

Bock is like a tart fruit soda for adults, with the kick of some alcohol. If you like to taste the hops in your beer this isn't for you. 

Hatch brewed a beer it calls הגינה של רוחל'ה HaGinah Shel Ruchala, Ruchala's Garden which has a surprisingly natural mango aroma. Even the color is more like mango juice than beer. It tasted like a spiked sour citrus fruit juice. 

Previously I didn't like fruity beers, because they all seemed to taste artificial, like children's medicine. I'm still traumatized by the fruit flavored beers at the Jerusalem Beer Festival 2019. The more recent attempts to flavor beer with fruit is much more natural tasting. I'd prefer them to a sweet wine.

And then we had what could be called a "dessert beer." Hatch brewed an amazing Chocolate-Maple beer. It's almost a liquor, and I insisted that it would be great with a strong vanilla or coconut ice cream. 

This beer may also appeal to those who insist that they don't like beer.

In all honesty, the selection was the best ever. I don't remember a tasting when I enjoyed all the beers. OK, some didn't quite taste like beer, but they are all very drinkable. None tasted "funny." Try to buy them. 

Israeli craft beers are getting better and better. That's for sure.

Beer Tasting, Four Different Beers

The "Beer Tasters" got together early last week to try out four beers that Doug the Beer Maven had received for reviewing.

These are what we drank in the following order:

1- Alexander's Fest 

2- Schnitt in a joint production with Lervig of Norway,  How's- It Hanging -- 

3- Shikma's HaMishteh, which used traces of  3,000 year-old yeast. This is a special edition, which can't be purchased in stores.

4- BeerBazaar Brewery's OMG Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout from 2019 

The format and atmosphere of this tasting session were very relaxing; we sat around a dining room table instead of wandering in a noisy festival. 

Unlike our tastings at festivals, here we had the bottles, and the one can from Schnitt, with us to examine, so we were able to check out things not usually known to us. We discovered a connection between the alcoholic content and the calories per 100 ml. They were amazingly (for the ignoramus -like me-) similar. I wasn't all that happy in discovering that. Apparently there is a need for more sugars/carbohydrates to produce alcohol. So if you're concerned about calories and carbohydrates, the alcohol content is easier to discover than the calories on the bottles; the print is usually larger. 

We started off by sharing the bottle of Alexander's Fest Lager, which we all agreed was pleasant, fruity and light. It's the beer you can drink socializing on a summer evening without eating a real meal. Only afterwards did we discover that it had the least alcohol and calories.

After the Alexander, we tried het collaborative effort, a beer by Schnitt and Lervig of Norway, which we all enjoyed. It had a stronger aroma and taste than Alexander's Fest. Plus it has more alcohol and calories. Now that I've become aware that the more alcoholic kick the more weight it adds, I'm not very happy, but this beer was worth it.

We suggest more of a meal or snack with the Schnitt-Lervig beer.

Shikma's HaMishteh had more flavor and darker color, as you can see, than Schnitt-Lervig though it has the same alcohol and calorie contents. Combining ancient and modern technology there are traces of  3,000 year-old yeast. Ancient yeast is more like the natural yeast of sourdough bread. Yeast is needed for fermentation which turns the hops and other vegetation into alcohol/beer.

HaMishteh is definitely recommended with some food. 

So far, we agreed that we enjoyed the first three beers we had tasted. Now, would the fourth be better or worse?

Then Oh My Gd! 

We finished our tasting session with BeerBazaar Brewery's OMG Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout from 2019! It was like drinking a sweet chocolate-coffee syrup with the kick of a strong beer. We almost fought over the last drops; it was that good. For those who like coffee and/or chocolate liquor, you'll probably like BeerBazaar Brewery's OMG. It's more an adult drink than the sweet liquors, and nobody would expect you to limit yourself to a shot glass. It's beer! And, yes, it does have more alcohol and calories than the others, but it's worth every last one.

To summarize, all four beers were good, pleasant to drink and flavorful. Thanks to Doug for inviting me to the tasting and looking forward to the next one.

Alexander Green aka IPA Definitely Great Beer

 

I must admit that I bought the Alexander beers, because they were among the less expensive of the Israeli craft in one of the local supermarkets. Unlike the Jerusalem store where I had gotten my Shapiro Beers, in this store each brand was a different price. I'm glad that I have found a source for good craft beer at a decent price not far from home. And now I have two "favorite" brewers who are large enough to sell to supermarkets and specialty stores.

Another confession, I had no idea what Alexander had meant by "green," but I really liked the beer. So, no surprise, I consulted my beer mentor, Doug Greener the beer maven who informed me that Alexander Green is an IPA first produced by them before Israeli craft brewers were using the term. That shouldn't have surprised me, because I do like a good IPA, but I'm not professional enough to recognize them by taste. Maybe now I will be...

OK onto the beer, enough introduction-

As you can see, the beer pours to a gorgeous golden brown and just enough, but not too much foamy head. There's a clean, pure hop aroma and taste making it the perfect beer for us purists. I'm looking forward to sampling more of Alexander's craft beers.

Alexander's AMBRÉE Beer, Nice Full Flavor

Last week when I explored the local shopping center/industrial zone, I discovered that the Super Menachem supermarket has an interesting selection of Israeli craft beers. So, of course, I bought some,  a couple of Alexander beers. Tonight I decided to try the Alexander Ambrée.

The Alexander Ambrée has a nice warm orangy color and a very foamy head. I enjoyed the rich flavor. In English it would be called an amber beer, but the Alexander brewery apparently prefer the French word. But no matter how you spell or pronounce it, this is a very tasty beer. I'm glad I chose it.

I'm adding Alexander Ambrée to my list of favorite Israeli craft beers.