The first German-Israeli beer will be ready for tasting next month. The bi-national brew, the name of which is to remain secret until its launch, will be presented in April at Munich's Jewish Museum to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot, the world's first beer purity law.
The collaboration is between Jerusalem's Herzl Brewery and the Crew Republic micro-brewery in Unterschleissheim, near Munich.
The beer will be on sale at the museum's Beer is the Wine of this Land: Jewish Brewery Tales exhibition, which will run from April 13 to January 3.
Herzl is Jerusalem's only brewery and its beers are uniquely available in the city's bars and restaurants. The brewery, 10km from the Old City, is based in a former printer's workshop and produces 7,000 bottles a month. Its Embargo brew, flavoured with Cuban tobacco leaves, won a silver medal at the recent Berlin Beer Show.
Says 34-year-old brew-master Itai Gutman: "We also make Dulce de Asal. The Spanish and Arabic name means 'the sweetness of honey'. But our tobacco beer is our signature product. There is no smokiness in it. It's certainly better to drink tobacco than smoke it!"
Maor Helfman, 32, who works on the marketing side of Herzl, says: "We are honoured to have been chosen to represent Israel in this historic project. We hardly knew we were being considered. Or had a chance.
"It's a huge compliment to be recognised internationally. The judges visited many other craft breweries and tried different beers. To know that they enjoyed ours the most is a big feather in our cap."
Helfman and Gutman both studied beer-making in Scotland in Fraserburgh's Brew Dog Ale House.
Helfman thought he was the first Israeli to learn brewing in Scotland before discovering Gutman had been there before him. Returning to Jerusalem, he tracked him down to the Shanty Bar in the Nachlat Hashivah quarter of Jerusalem. They discovered they had attended the same high school (Rene Kasin) and both loved beer. Herzl was born, its headquarters in Talpiot; the tiny brewery is surrounded by carpenters' shops and they employ just one person.
The young Israeli brewers will join up to handcraft the new collaborative beer with Bavarian brewers and start-up entrepreneurs, Mario Hanl and Timm Schnigula, of Crew Republic which has just moved into a state-of-the-art brewing plant.
Says Schnigula : "It's a great privilege. The first batch was brewed in late February and will be ready for tapping and tasting in April. We are planning an amber-coloured, full-bodied yet generously hopped beer."
Germany has a long history of brewing with the first German brewing licence granted in around 974 by Emperor Otto 11 to the church at Liege (now Belgium). The oldest continuously-operating brewery in the world is the Weihenstephan Monastery in Freising, which dates back to 1040, and is now the Bavarian State Brewery. There are now over 1,300 breweries in Germany producing around 500 beer brands.
The exhibition traces the role Jews have played in the German beer industry over the years. Jewish involvement started with fourth-century Babylonian Talmudic amoras (biblical scholars) in Surah and sixth century rabbis who brewed their own beer. Jewish hop traders supplied European brewmasters over the centuries and by the 19th century several breweries had been founded by Jewish families.
The symbol used on barrels was a six-pointed star (the Bierstern), the oldest emblem for German brewers. This "Zoigl star" was used extensively across several German breweries, and when hung outside signified that beer was for sale.
Israel's first brewery was opened by Edmond de Rothschild in 1934 at Rishon Le Zion and in 1940 the Palestine Brewery opened to supply Australian troops stationed in Israel. There is now a burgeoning beer culture in Israel; Jerusalem and Tel Aviv both hold beer festivals every August and the country has 40 microbreweries producing beers with names ranging from Genesis to Samson.
Bryan Meadan of the Meadan Brewing Co in Galilee has just produced Israel's first gluten-free beer and the world's first date ale. Scotsman David Shire and his Tunisian wife Myriam run the Lone Tree Brewery, 15 miles from Jerusalem in the Gush Etzion forest where, with American couple Susan and John Levin, they produce California Steam Ale, London Pale Ale and Belgian Piraat.
The Jewish beer-making tradition in America is kept alive by boutique breweries including Jeremy Cowan's Schmaltz Brewery in Clifton Park, New York. It produces Messiah Nut Brown Ale, Hop Manna IPA and the nine-hop, 10-malt Jewbilation.
Comments museum director Bernhard Purin on the forthcoming exhibition: "My favourite items on display are Munich beer steins made around 1900. These were decorated by Jewish craftsmen called refinementer.
"Some steins are modelled on Munich's main church, the Frauenkirche, the Zugspitze mountain and we even have a beer mug made out of an artillery shell.
"We chose the Herzl brewery for the bi-national venture because it's one of the most innovative young craft breweries in Israel. The name reminds us of the Zionist leader Theodore Herzl, but it's also a common Israeli first name. And in Bavarian dialect the word means 'sweetheart'."
Concludes Herzl's Gutman, who also studied at Berlin's Academy of Brewing: "The challenge is to make a beer in the original manner. And bringing the taste of Israel and the taste of Bavaria into one bottle."
