South Africans love their beer as do Israelis. While ancient Israel may well have been known as “The land of Milk and Honey”, modern Israel could well be on the way to becoming “the land of hops and barley”. Israel’s bludgeoning boutique beer industry is foaming at the brim.
“Our goal”, says brewmaster David Cohen, founder of Dancing Camel brewery, “is to brew an exciting beer that makes people think and smile. Sure, we make traditional styles but they are nuanced in a way that is distinctly Israeli. This country is rich in herbs, fruits and spices that belong in beer but have never been tried before. I want to help define what Israeli beer means. You know when I’ll be satisfied? When I hear people in London, Brussels and Seattle talking about how exciting Israeli beers are.” Just think of it – twenty years ago, there were the two stalwarts of Maccabi Beer and Goldstar with few imports from abroad. The soft drink was king; beer the lowly pawn.
However, in the land that gave the civilized world wine in the era of our Patriarchs – evinced by the many ancient wine presses found all over the country – it was only a question of time for a thriving beer industry to emerge. If the choice of beers was once limited, today it’s difficult keeping up with the new labels as an ever-increasing number of enterprising brewmasters are entering the market.
A Twist in the Ale. Brewmaster David Cohen named his brewery ‘Dancing Camel’ from a tale over 500 years old.
Chill Out
The market may be competitive but what this writer found most refreshing – apart from tasting the various chilled beers – was the camaraderie amongst the various brewmasters. This was evident at the recent Beer Festivals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where the various brewmasters had little hesitation praising their competitors and their beers. “We are a rare club,” says American immigrant David Cohen whose passion for beer began in 1987, “at a time when the American microbrewery scene was first hitting the East Coast,” and decided to brew his own. “It was the thrill of tapping into a craft that’s as old as time itself and for most, as mysterious. Suddenly, I was connected to the Babylonians of 4,000 years ago, the Trappist Monks of Belgium, the pilgrims that landed on Plymouth Rock, the brewers of medieval London. I began to study different beer styles and flavors – to learn what ingredients and processes impact flavors and how. What I discovered was how complex beer really is and how much each beer reflects the unique cultures, climates and tastes of different civilizations.”
Once the hobby got under Cohen’s skin, there was no turning back, nor to bringing to ‘fruition’ his other passion – Aliyah (Immigrating to Israel).
The combination of these two passions is Dancing Camels which he established over six years ago. Dancing Camel Pub was opened in May 2011 inside the brewery serving “all of our beers on tap,” followed a year later with a second pub in Tel Aviv’s Florentin neighbourhood. As to the derivation of the name Dancing Camels, “that’s a long story that goes back 500 years.” In the meantime, Cohen’s customers are ‘dancing’ the nights away fueled by his unique beers.
Jeremy (“Jem”) Welfeld the founder of Jem’s Beer Factory at his pub in Kfar Saba.
A Real ‘Jem’
“All our advertizing is by word of mouth, or word of lips,” says Jeremy (“Jem”) Welfeld the founder and owner of Jem’s Beer Factory in Petach Tikwa. The name is derived from Jem, the name his little sister coined from Jeremy when they were kids. That’s the simple part of a long journey that began when Jem gave up a lucrative job as an event planner at the While House, “during the Clinton and Bush administrations” for brewing beer in Israel. Quickly discovering that his proposed new occupation would require a variety of skills “beyond drinking a lot”, Jem studied Microbiology and The Advanced Sciences of Brewing and arrived in Israel armed with a battery of diplomas and a wife and their two kids. Closing in on eight years of production, Jem’s Beer Factory churns out over 30,000 liters a month, “about a third of our production goes out in bottles, the rest out on tap.” The range includes an American Pale Ale, an American Indian Ale which he describes as “deep color gold like the city of Jerusalem, with more hops and of course, more date honey,” and a ‘Midnight Stout’, “black as coal with a creamy tan head, thick as the afternoon haze over Tel Aviv.” If Jem is poetic in describing his beer, he is no less philosophical why he enjoys the business. “Beer is a catalyst to play with my people?” Puzzled, I enquired, “What do you mean?” “Israel is a very intense country on a lot of different levels and beer is the perfect equalizer; it lets everyone calm down at the end of their day. It is perfect for the Israeli climate and with only 5% alcohol, it is the beverage of friendship.”
Highflyer Brewery. Former pilot, CEO Ori Sagy has navigated the successful flight path of Alexander Brewery.
Judges at the 2013 European Beer Star competition in Munich swigged 1,512 beers from 40 countries to find the best beer. Israeli boutique brewery Alexander located in the Hefer Valley won the
gold medal in the English Style Porter category. Alexander’s ecstatic CEO Ori Sagy, a former pilot who plotted the course for his brewery’s success, told local media, “Our vision is to make Alexander Israeli beer fresh, excellent and as good as the best breweries in Europe and the USA. After a series of blind tastings, the jury, composed of professionals in the field of breweries from across Europe, selected our beer as the best English Porter Beer. We, therefore, received recognition in the beer capital of the world that our beer is indeed up to par with the best breweries in Europe and the USA. For us, this is a great joy and honor.” This was followed in 2014 by another gold medal at the prestigious World Beer Cup in Denver, Colorado. Established in 2008 the brewery “takes the name of the nearby Alexander River,” explains Shawn Ivri, Head of Sales for the north of the country. However, in case one is confused over “Which Alexander?” – particularly after a few pints – the river is named not after the conquering Macedonian but after Alexander Yannai, once king of Judea. “This beer is historically kosher,” laughs Ivri. With the Alexander River home to the country’s largest habitation of soft-shelled turtles it was only ‘natural’ that “the turtle featured on the brewery’s logo,” explained Shawn. The appearance of wings is a nod to Sagy’s previous career as a pilot. Beer and humor go hand in hand so it was quite fitting to see written high on the wall in the brewery bar the quote from the legendary rock musician Frank Zappa:
“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline.
It helps if you have some kind of football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”
Desert Delight
There is a joke making the rounds that there is a new Israeli beer priced at thousands of shekels. There is a grain of Negev truth in the joke. The Negev Brewery in Kiryat Gat – the makers of this 
fruity-smelling pale ale – recently began making Negev Beresheet Desert Beer but exclusive to the expensive Beresheet Hotel in Mizpe Ramon. To try the beer one must first fork out the daily hotel rate, hence “the most expensive beer in Israel.” Not to worry, though. The brewery has other beers as well – ones anyone can buy. Negev Brewery, which started out as a home-brewing project dreamed up by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev graduate Yochai Kudler, has been open for several years. In addition to the hotel exclusive, and several seasonal brews, the brewery offers four beers that are always available: Amber Ale, Oasis, Passion Fruit Ale and Oak Porter. They range in taste from the light, orangey flavor of the Oasis beer, which recently replaced the Amber Ale as the most popular choice, to the porter’s darker earthiness. “We’re not trying to make another commercial beer,” said Sagiv Karlboim, the brewery’s CEO. “Of course, we want to sell; we want to be famous, we want to be a big brewery; but we do not want to make regular beer just to sell more. True, we’d be happy to sell a lot, but we won’t compromise for it.” Producing between 10,000 and 12,000 liters a month, Negev’s brews are available around the country, in pubs, restaurants and stores that sell wine and beer Tomer Ronen, one of the brewers at the Negev Brewery said, “the company is very particular about the ingredients that go into its beers,” and refutes that beer is fattening. Setting the record straight, “It’s the peanuts you eat with your beer that make you fat!”
The Booze Brothers
Uncorking the story of Shapiro Beer begins with two brothers Itzik and Danny Shapiro in their parents’ basement in Jerusalem with plastic bowls and improvised tubes. Toying with flavors 
and recipes they soon had a following for their brews but it wasn’t until Itzik spent a summer working at a microbrewery in Colorado that they began giving some serious thought to turning their hobby into a business. What a difference a few years makes! Today, their state-of-the-art brewery is in Beit Shemesh, however “it’s a Jerusalem beer,” asserts Itzik. Known as Shapira in Hebrew and Shabeera in Arabic it is most popular in the nation’s capital. Their label is the Lion of Judea swigging down ale. At the recent Jerusalem Beer Festival, the local brew received a ROAR of approval from the crowd. “The cool thing about a microbrewery is that it’s flexible,” said Dani. “You can make a test batch and if it’s good, you sell it. If it’s not good, you drink it!” Clearly no down side!
Beer and the Bible
One happy reveler at the Jerusalem Beer Festival was Dr. Avi Shmidman who was joined by his mates from nearby Alon Shvut. Avi who has a PhD in medieval Hebrew poetry said “the wonderful thing about the beer festival is how it breaks down barriers. You have people from across Jerusalem and from all walks of life, coming together in one public area. These are people who would not say hello to one other if stuck in an elevator, and yet at a beer festival, after everyone has had something to drink, with music and a DJ, there is unity and friendship.” This was best revealed says Avi “as festival-goers would spontaneously raise their glass and shout ‘Le’Chaim’ and thousands would respond, all raising their glasses together in a universal Le’chaim.” Avi also ascribes a biblical context to the festival. “There is a verse in Isaiah in chapter 24, where the prophet says that at the time of the destruction of the Temple, there will be a desperate cry for alcohol across the streets of Jerusalem. He describes how people will be walking around in the public square yearning for alcohol and there won’t be any. Contrast that with the beer festival, where people are walking in Jerusalem, in the very same public ‘square’, yet with the alcohol overflowing. So, if according to Isaiah, the destruction of the Temple is about a lack of alcohol in the streets of Jerusalem, then the beer festival must be a sign of the redemption.” Makes perfect sense!
Former South African Brett Sacks at his pub-restaurant ‘Sheinkin’ in Ra’anana.
‘Streetsmart’
In his early thirties, Brett Sacks is at the top of his game. In six years, his pub ‘Sheinkin’ in Ra’anana has emerged as one of the most popular restaurant-pubs in the Sharon and three years ago 
came out with its own beer also named Sheinkin. Why the name ‘Sheinkin’? Brett, who arrived with his family at the age of twelve from Johannesburg in South Africa explains: “As young adults in our twenties in Ra’anana, there were few quality pubs at the time.” The result was a nocturnal mass-migration to Tel Aviv because “That’s where the action was.” The aim of Sheinkin, named after Tel Aviv’s culturally iconic street “was to bring Tel Aviv to Ra’anana.” Open seven days a week, packing in folk every night from 22 to 50, this is now being achieved “and what is great is how our brand has taken hold; more and more of our customers are ordering our own beer instead of the usual favourites.” In time Brett and his two partners, Asaf and Ido Dotan, plan to retail their beer to the general public, although ‘the public’ can buy Sheinkin to take home directly from the pub. Brewed in nearby Evan Yehuda, Sheinkin is a 6% alcohol content American Pale Ale. “Usually this is a heavy beer. We make it much lighter with a sweet ending. This was important. As we produce only one beer, it had to please everybody.” And please it has! Their “beer for all” popularity was evident at the Tel Aviv Beer Festival. “The name Sheinkin clearly attracted the crowds but it was the flavor and texture that kept bringing them back for more…and more,” said Brett. No wonder their biggest problem at present “is not producing enough bottles for our club.” May all businesses have such problems!
Last Call
Having ‘done the rounds’, I was indebted to the brewer from Negev Breweries’, who assured: “You won’t put on weight from beer; it’s the peanuts that is fattening.” Staying clear of the peanuts and having ‘weighed’ all aspects of these boutique beers across much of the country, it is only left for this writer to have the final word:
Le’Chaim! (“to life”)
