SHEVET Iceman Beer, That Was Good!

SHEVET Iceman Beer is a good classic lager, and it tastes like a lager should. No doubt it was made with enough hops to call to a "cold spiked vegetable soup." That's how I like my beer.

Just the right amount of foamy head, perfect golden brown. SHEVET Iceman is a great classic beer when you're not looking for any unpleasant surprises. I guess I'm still traumatized by the raspberry flavored beer I had at a beer festival. It tasted like medicine hidden in sweetened artificial fruit flavored syrup. Since that nightmare, I make it clear that my beer should taste like beer.

I'll buy SHEVET Iceman again, one of the better of Israeli craft beers.

 

Stout Beer, Big is Not Always Best

Doug serving the tasters

My friendly beer mavin, Doug Greener, has finally released the results of our Stout Beer Tasting, and I was certainly surprised when we discovered the names of the craft beermakers. I'm not a real expert, not even close, but I do like beer. I actually like it better than most wines, but we don't serve beer, since my husband doesn't drink it. Also, here in Israel beer is pretty expensive, yes, even compared to the lower priced (which I buy in Rami Levy which has good prices) kosher wine.

That's me, photo by Mike Horton

Tasters putting their taste in words

Those stouts are sure fizzy

Rather flatter in height

One of the things we were told to pay attention to was the height of the beers' head and compare the various ones. Of course, for us judges, they are simply numbered, and we had no idea which companies' we were drinking.

Doug is in touch with various Israeli craft beermakers and always has something new for us. Also, although some of us judges are regulars, there's always someone new.  We all try to help Doug and his wife Trude as much as possible.

Mike Horton doing two jobs at once, judging and photographing.

I have no doubt that you're curious about which Israeli stout beers we liked the most and which we didn't like at all. That is the point of this post. I wouldn't want you to waste your money when you buy Israeli beer, which is not cheap at all.

As I alluded to in the title of this post, davka, the biggest companies came out with the worst stout beers. And this time, the panel was all in agreement as to the two best and two worst of the six. That surprised me even more than our results.  So, it's not a matter of any basic disagreement among us. All of us tasters agreed on those very basic rankings. It hadn't happened in the previous tastings I had participated in when the same beer could be in the top or bottom two according to different judges. 

Now for the drum roll....

• Sixth and last place, Jem's Stout- I found it much too carbonated tasting artificial
• with Dancing Camel's Stout a close Fifth- not much flavor
• Second Place was Malka's which had a nice pleasant taste
• and First Place was Lela Mild Stout which had a wonderful aroma and taste.

So, if you're wondering what to bring me, now you know! Thanks to Doug for another wonderful experience and tasty, refreshing evening.

Photo by Mike Horton

Fun Healthy Nosh

Last week I discovered a great healthy, tasty nosh. For me it was better than salted nuts or candy. I had dropped into a supermarket to buy myself something that could be my "dinner" at the beer tasting. We all know that beer isn't all that low in calories, though beer tasters aren't given all that much to drink of each beer. This is really as much as we get of each beer.

I had thought of buying a perfectly ripe avocado, but there weren't any ripe ones for sale. They were all as hard as rocks. I wanted a protein and couldn't have dairy, since I had eaten a late fleishig/meat lunch. Then I spied these sprouts. At first I thought they were like the sprouted lentils I've bought and loved in Rami Levy. But it was only when I opened the package and began eating them that I realized that there are all sorts of sprouted beans and legumes. They were a real treat and totally delicious.

I wasn't even tempted by the more fattening things on the table, like the bourekas, but I did eat the salad and some other bean-type thing that someone had brought.

Nosh on the sprouts while waiting for the stouts winners to be announced on Doug's blog.

Unsweetened Homemade Shandy!

Just over forty 40 years ago, I drank some shandy in Paris and enjoyed it. Then, after that I never had it. That is until a few months ago, when someone gave me a bottled Israeli version. I pretty much spit it out. It was totally awful, just too sweet and no beer taste at all.

That is until the other night...

I had a partially full (ok, almost empty) bottle of this Emek Ha'ela Irish Red Ale sitting in the fridge, because my attempt to drink it a couple of weeks before had been sabotaged by its hyperactive bubbly foam/head. And then when I tried to finish it a week or so later, it was disappointing, so there was still some left in the bottle.

It cost too much to spill down the drain, and I haven't  recently made potted beef which probably would have been a good companion. So, I decided to try something much more radical, and possibly medicinal. I had it with freshly squeezed lemon juice and even left the lemon in the mug.

The lemon added a bit more life to it, and it didn't bother me at all that the beer was totally flat, no foam at all. I'm not a great fan of carbonation and sodas. And it certainly was not sweet. OK some of you beer mavins may be groaning in disgust, as if this is sacrilegious, but I liked it!

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...

Instead of The Usual Shabbat Wine... Israeli Beer

A few years ago, my friend Doug, of  Israel Brews and Views, got me hooked on Israeli craft beers. Since then, I've even been a panelist at tastings he has run. And I also attended a beermakers session at Biratenu in downtown Jerusalem. 

Not that long ago, it was very hard to buy Israeli craft beers in stores; you had to find the beermakers by word of mouth. But I've had some from the larger ones in restaurants in the shuq (Machane Yehuda) and now there are quite a few stores selling them.

The big problem is carrying the bottles home. They don't sell brands like these in Rami Levy, Sha'ar Binyamin, sigh. I would love to drink these Israeli beers on Shabbat instead of wine. Someday, Gd willing.

Israeli Beer in Jerusalem

Not long ago, I heard from Doug Greener, the Beer Mavin, that there's a new store in Jerusalem that specializes in Israeli beers. He recently blogged about the store, Beeratenu בירתנו.

"With the opening of Beerateinu at 3 Yanai Street, the city finally has an Israeli craft beer specialty shop where you can purchase close to 100 different kinds of Israeli craft beers from over 20 micro-breweries. 
The name is a play on words which means "our capital" and "our beer."  
The Israeli beers on display include: HaDubim, Sparrow, HeChatzer, Mosco, Dancing Camel, Buster's (cider), Negev, Alexander, Vilde Chaye, Fass, Lela, Herzl, Arava, Emek Ha'ela, HeChalutz, Jem's, Cabara, Malka, Bazelet, Shapiro, Ronen, Meadan and Beertzinut." (Doug Greener)

Last Tuesday when I was in Jerusalem I found the store and stepped in, introducing myself as a friend of Doug's. I apologized for not being able to buy beer, some of which I remembered from the beer tastings at Doug's, since I wouldn't be home for another day.  When they heard that I'd be in Jerusalem that night I was invited to the meeting of brewers that they had scheduled. It included tastings and information for those who are making beer at home. Beerateinu not only sells beer, but it sells the equipment to make it and provides guidance and support for those who want to make their own beer.

Some of the participants brought samples of their beer for us to taste and told how they made it and what sort of beer/taste they were trying to achieve. From what I understood beer is as varied, if not more so, as wine can be. The store was packed with beermakers. I was the only outsider, so I had the least expertise, other than my own drinking and tastings experience. The discussion began in Hebrew but kept ending up in English. The participants were both religious and not from what can be guessed from how they dressed.

I definitely plan on being back. You can join their facebook page.  And by the way, Israeli beer is very good!! Don't be afraid to try it. And if you've ever thought of brewing your own, this is the place to learn how.

All photos are by me, Batya Medad

Beer, Glorious Beer

This may be a shocker for some, but I think that I like beer more than wine. I don't buy beer for drinking at home, because my husband can't stand it. We drink wine during Shabbat meals, and it has been decades since I've bought any juices. I consider juice to be just sugar-water, which we certainly do not need. I like my fruit fresh and crunchy.

When I eat out, especially with my kids, I usually have beer, and I've started asking for beer at the bars at weddings, rather than wine. I don't like dry wines, and the semi-dries are too sweet. But beer usually hits the spot.

Photo by Mike at the Beer Tasting

I've become more opinionated about beers ever since Doug has been including me in his beer tasting panels. In the latest one we gave our 2¢ two cents about amber beers. The beers we get to taste at Doug's tastings are all Israeli and all from the smaller, less well-known microbreweries.

I like many of them more than I like the regular commercial beers. Recently I, no doubt, amused some young bartenders at a wedding by choosing my beer by their relative colors. They were davka ambers, and since I liked the darker ones at the tasting more than the lighter colored ones then, I figured that it would be the same. Of course I was right.

With all the panelists and all the beers we took our time. The beers were divided into to "blind tasting" groups, and the panel was split into two sessions. I helped serve and organize the beers for the second tasting and was assisted by a professional bartender, who unlike yours truly, knows how to pour beer properly.


After tasting the beers and filling out the forms, we sat around discussing the merits of the different beers. Hmm... Maybe I should start buying beer for Shabbat, but not the mass produced ones.

Me, The Beer Maven?

The other night I again joined Doug, of  Israel Brews and Views, and his panel of beer mavens in a beer tasting event, this time to judge the best Israeli made amber beer.

Photo by Mike

I must admit that not all of them were good, as you can see from this picture of me trying to figure out which was the worst of the seven we had to taste.

Photo by Mike

The results will soon be published on Israel Brews and Views, so keep checking there for the news of the brews.