Cafe Liz

What makes a beer Israeli?

Is there such a thing as Israeli beer, and if so, what makes a beer Israeli? I’m not the first person to ask that question, but it comes up again on the occasion of Israel’s second-ever beer expo, Beers 2012.

The local industry is young but growing, with a profusion of microbreweries and home breweries — enough of them to fill a stadium (Nokia Stadium, to be precise). But while the beers are brewed here — even the mass-market Danish brands Carlsberg and Tuborg — nearly all the raw ingredients are imported. The malt — made abroad in a water-intensive process; hops — grown elsewhere, since the plant likes cold weather. In fact, as a liquor store owner disdainfully pointed out to me last year, even the beer styles are imported — Pilsner, Stout, Lager, Ale, Tripel. (Of course, the same could be said for “local” beers from many countries, but that’s not our focus here.)

Now, unlike that liquor store owner, that doesn’t mean that most of us intend to refrain from drinking locally-produced craft beers because there’s nothing distinctly Israeli about them. What it means is that coming up with a truly local, Israeli product is difficult. Continue reading What makes a beer Israeli? …

7 Comments | |

Brewing up a beer culture

Does Israel have a beer culture? Well, kind of. A young one. One that’s perhaps largely imported. What it does have now is a beer expo. To be precise, Israel has had one beer expo to date — yesterday was the day for professionals, and today it’s open to the public at large, all those beer drinkers who want to get to know the country’s importers and microbrewers.

Continue reading ...

17 Comments | |