Nostalgia Sunday – Beer, beer and more beer

September 4, 2011 - 10:11 PM by Rachel Neiman

Summer closed last Wednesday night in the Holy City with the Jerusalem Beer Festival, a nighttime event having nothing to do with holiness, social justice protests, regional unrest, looming diplomatic crises or the decline of Western Civilization as we know it. Well, it might have had something to do with the decline of Western Civilization… but I left before that part started.

As a card-carrying member of the Hash House Harriers, an international running and drinking disorganization (we don’t really have cards), it was only fitting that some of our number visit the Festival to sample the wares. The festival did not disappoint — it is a showcase for imported beers ranging from well known brands like Stella Artois to lesser knowns such as Chang of Thailand — but more importantly, today, there are many quality local micro-breweries in Israel, producing beverages that are both tasty and interesting. That is a great comfort after a half-century of drinking piss-water.

A bit of history, courtesy of Wikipedia: “Beer in Israel is manufactured primarily by two major brewers in Israel: Tempo Beer Industries Ltd. of Netanya, and the newer Israel Beer Breweries, of Ashkelon, a subsidiary of the local Coca-Cola Company.”

Actually, it’s a bit more complicated. There used to be more breweries in Israel but, as befits the centralized mentality that ruled our economy for many decades, one company gradually came to dominate the market: Tempo, brewer of Maccabee, Goldstar and Nesher malt .

Smaller companies like Abir — which my father liked because, as an aficionado of bilingual puns, he could order ‘a-beer, please’ — fell by the wayside. Others, like Nesher, (marketed in pre-State Land of Israel by the “Palestine Brewery Ltd.”) were taken over.

In any case, alcohol consumption in Israel was slight until the Russian aliya of the early 1990s which is around when Israel Beer Breweries, part of the Carlsberg Group, opened a major plant and began manufacturing Carlsberg and Tuborg for the local market.

But Tempo is still the behemoth to beat. According to the Euromonitor market report entitled Beer in Israel, “Tempo continued to lead sales in 2010 with a 45% total volume sales share. 2010 was a good year for Tempo within beer in general as the vast majority of its leading brands witnessed actual sales growth between 2009 and 2010.

“One of the most outstanding activities of Tempo within beer was the repositioning of Maccabee standard lager. In addition, during 2010 Tempo witnessed a lot of success within the on-trade with its unique premium beers Samuel Adams and Paulaner. During 2010 the demand for such unique premium beers was on the rise, raising the sales of Tempo both within the on-trade and off-trade channels.”

And the premiums brands begat high-end local brews. As with all trends, microbreweries came to Israel late — only in the past decade — but, as with all trends in Israel, was adopted with vigor. The Tel Aviv Brewhouse was soon joined by the Golan Brewery in Katzrin, Salara Brewery in Yizrael Valley; Dancing Camel Brewing Company in Tel Aviv, Jems Beer Factory in Petach Tikva, Taybeh Brewery near Ramallah and others.

Almost all of the above-mentioned were present at Wednesday’s festival, along with a few others — Zichron Yaakov’s Pavo (“Brewed by good people”), http://www.pavo.co.il/en/, Laughing Buddha with ginger and spice beer, the Negev Brewery from Kiryat Gat, which had passion-fruit beer on tap, red ale from Herzl Beer of Anatot and my personal favorite of the evening, Lone Tree of Gush Etzion offering, among its seven brews, an outstanding dark, rich Oatmeal Stout.

The Taybeh Brewery wasn’t represented at the festival which is unfortunate because their beer is really good and is also a favorite of the Holyland Hash House Harriers.

The future is bright for our local microbreweries, according to Euromonitor: “Despite their small overall sales size and low contribution to total beer growth in Israel, unique premium beers and boutique beers continued to witness a lot of attention in 2010 and to grow healthily. Sales of premium beer were up 9% in volume and 13% in current value terms as the Israeli consumer looks for more refined products, especially within on-trade channels.”

“Premiumisation is expected to continue to be a strong influencing trend within beer over the forecast period both within the on-trade and off-trade channels. Niche beers such as boutique beers and imported premium beers are expected to continue to drive sales within this small niche. The range of premium unique beers will continue to expand as the demand among Israeli consumers will continue to rise.”

So, let’s raise a glass to the small, independent microbreweries, who make products that increase the variety and raise quality of choices presented to the consumer. Here’s hoping the dairy industry will one day be able to follow in their footsteps.