It was thrilling to see how the country came together after the horrors of October 7.
Businesses pitched in. Banks froze mortgage payments. Restaurants and supermarket chains are sending food to the soldiers. Singers and musicians, as is our long tradition, are flocking south to entertain the troops.
Israel is also home to about 20 craft breweries. What could they do for the national effort?
How Israel's breweries helped out amid the Israel-Hamas war
“The first thing we did was to take our van, fill it with beer bottles, and drive to more than 20 locations where evacuees from the South and the North are being housed,” reported Neil Wasserman, CEO of the Shevet Brewstillery in Pardess Hanna. “We gave away about 200 full cases of our beer – over 4,000 bottles. People are always happy to get free beer!”
Shevet is also involving the public in this campaign: For every purchase made online, an equal amount of beer is being delivered to evacuees.
Leon Shvartz, owner of Birateinu, the Jerusalem Beer Center, felt so compelled to do something from the first day of the reserve call-up, that he packed a few cases of his beers on his motorcycle and drove south. “I gave them to a reserve unit,” he told me. “Soldiers in the regular army have very strict orders against drinking alcohol, but older soldiers in the reserve units are allowed more leeway, and they really appreciated the beer.”
Shvartz now donates two cases of beer every week and also raises contributions from individuals, which adds another five to 10 cases. He delivers them to reservists and evacuees.
At the new Beer Bazaar Brewery in Kfar Daniel, almost all work stopped when the war started. Brewers and staff were drafted, and the beer market, like many others, came to a halt.
“We decided to use our marketing and logistical assets to help the farmers,” said CEO Lior Weiss. “We turned our visitors’ center into a huge farmer’s market, where people can come to buy produce, relax with a cold beer, and take tours of our brewery. We are handling all of the logistics, marketing, and sales for farmers from all over the country.”
Beer Bazaar is also delivering and donating its beers to evacuees.
The HaGibor Brewery in Karmiel is also distributing free beer to evacuees being housed on kibbutzim. They use their reliable van named “The Hero,” which is ha’gibor in Hebrew, and gave the name to the brewery.
The Alexander Brewery in Emek Hefer is delivering beer to evacuees, but in a different way. Their beer bar van drives to hotels and other places where the people from the Gaza border communities are being housed, and serves them cold beer from the tap. “Where it isn’t possible to set up the van,” explained Yaron Gamliel, Alexander sales manager, “we distribute cases of our beer.
“In addition, we invited evacuees who are staying in our area to clear their heads by coming to tour the brewery and drink our beer.”
Adds Ori Sagy, founder and CEO of Alexander: “We want to embrace these people, and the way that we do it is by serving beer. We do it with a smile, and the people who drink smile back.”
The staff of the Shapiro Brewery in Beit Shemesh also did something different. They went down to communities on the Gaza border to help them pick pineapples and mangoes. Since most of the agricultural workers fled the area, these fruits would simply have rotted.
Most of the fruit saved by the Shapiro team was sent to market, but a quantity was taken back to the brewery to be used in the making of a special beer dedicated to the border communities. Shapiro is not revealing anything more about the beer at this time, but Israeli craft beer lovers are expecting something really special to emerge from this project.
Shapiro’s neighbor in Beit Shemesh, Oak & Ash, is doing its best to keep brewing, even though most of the staff was called up for reserve duty. The online store is still active, and the brewery is using a third party to distribute beer to evacuees.
The Six-Pack Brewery (also known as Super Heroes Beer) is distributing cases of its beer to evacuees all over the country, as well as to soldiers. “Most of them [the soldiers] will have to enjoy this beer only when the fighting is over,” quips Meidad Ram, a brother-partner of Six-Pack. “These are our real superheroes. We are waiting for them back home with a glass of cold beer.”
The writer is the owner of MediawiSe, an agency for advertising and direct marketing in Jerusalem. He writes a web log on Israeli craft beers at www.IsraelBrewsAndViews.blogspot.co.il