Abbie Rosner

Psychedelics, Aging and a New Vision of Elderhood

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A Galilee Beer Tasting

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My 18 year old son is remarkably responsible about drinking and driving. He meets friends in pubs on the weekends and is appalled when I ask him if he drank alcohol. “Mom, I was driving!” he replies, incredulous that I even asked.

Yesterday we happened to be out grocery shopping together and we noticed the selection of beers, which included offerings from several new micro-breweries. “Why don’t we do a Galilee beer tasting?” I suggested. That way we could enjoy a beer together without leaving the house. “Sure”, he replied, and we searched the various bottles for any that were produced in the Galilee.

In the end we took two – a brown ale from the Butterfly brewery in the Dalton Industrial Area, and a light beer from the Assif brewery in Ramot Naftaly – both are in the Upper Galilee. We decided to do our beer-tasting over our Saturday lunch – a risotto that I made with fresh wild asparagus we’d gathered the day before.

The Butterfly ale was dark and rather sweet – I tasted chocolate and my husband said it reminded him of the non-alcoholic malt beer that is popular here. The Assif was strikingly different – fruity but full bodied. And with that, we felt that we had exhausted our stock of adjectives.

My son thought that something should be mentioned about the “head”, but at that point, my head was already past discerning the nuances. Good thing there was more risotto, and a nice afternoon nap to follow. The bottom line from our beer-tasting is that visiting these new, boutique breweries that are springing up is yet another reason to go exploring the Upper Galilee. 

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  1. Hi Abbie, I also sampled the butterfly beer, but have not seen it in the stores since the last time I purchased it in the Krayot at Supersol. Do you know who sells it or keeps it in stock in the Nahariya/Maalot/Karmiel area?

    • I have no idea – but it would be worthwhile to contact the brewery and ask them where they distribute to – these things are pretty dynamic… Good luck!

  2. Shalom, my Sister in the faith.

    I notice that you give much information on WHEAT, but little on BARLEY. Could you please inform me when or what time did they start reaping Barley that could be roasted for offering up or that was fully ready and could be harvested. When was this in 2010? Late March or Late April? And when so in 2011?

    Thanks for your time,

    D.G.

    • Thanks so much for your comments and your interest. In fact, I know very little about barley growing in the Galilee. From what I was told by the people I know who are involved in agriculture, barley is only grown these days for animal feed. I also recall reading that even between the First and Second Temple periods, the use of barley as a grain for human consumption was already waning. I know that I joined the harvesting of the green wheat last year (2010) on Easter Monday – but the family had been working on the harvest for several days before and continued several days after. I’ll try and post when the harvests begin this year – coming up soon enough!