Enjoying a beer in Mahane Yehuda (illustrative)
Enjoying a beer in Mahane Yehuda (illustrative)Hadas Parush/Flash 90

In its increasing move to becoming a more welcoming and fun loving city, Jerusalem saw its own beer bazaar open last week in the interior part of the Mahane Yehuda shuk. The opening of the bazaar came only a few weeks after the opening of another beer store dedicated to Israeli micro-brews which opened on Yanai Street near the Mamilla mall by the name of Beearteinu.

The Beer Bazaar, which is an offshoot of the Tel Aviv Beer Bazaar that resides in Shuk Hakarmel, is located on Etz Chaim Street near Yafo Street.  Currently the store offers over 70 Israeli beers for retail prices in bottles, with nine Israeli craft beers on tap on a rotating basis. Unlike its Tel Aviv counterpart, the store also has a meat menu, which is Kosher. But beer and bar food aren’t the only things served at the new bar/restaurant. There are also two taps for cold brewed coffee, brewed by Yoni Alpert.

One of the newest types of brewed coffee in the US and Canada has made its way to Israel and is available at the Bazaar in the form of Nitro-Coffee. Nitro-Coffee is carbonated with nitrogen, which makes it incredibly smooth and hides a significant punch of caffeine.

It is not unheard of that the bar, like many Israeli craft beers experiments, recently mixed stout beer with nitro coffee for their “Red Eye Special” which is guaranteed to help you work through those late night hours.        

"We have over 85 beers now, but we're always adding more," said Avi Moskowitz, one of the four partners of the Beer Bazaar. "We are going to reach 100, representing some 30 Israeli craft breweries."

Israel currently has over 62 craft breweries around the country but some 20 or so of them do not bottle their beer for sale outside of their own breweries.

Moskowitz is the only partner who is a Jerusalemite. The other partners are Lior Weiss, Gilad Heyman and Eitan Falk.

"We are seeing the same thing happen to beer that happened recently to wine in Israel - the shuk represents the soul, the hearts of Jerusalemites in Israel, and it is here that I wanted to open the Beer Bazaar,” said Moskowiz.

Not submitting to terror

Craft beers have been trending around the world for a while and in Israel the trend has exploded with all 62 breweries opening within the last 15 years.

The beer bazaar also boasts a kosher meet menu, and serves fish to include non-meat eaters.  “We want to have as wide an audience as possible,” said Moskowitz. “In Jerusalem, that means kosher. We have people from all walks of life in Israel come into our bar.”

In spite of the terror wave, the response has been phenomenal according to Moskowitz. “The place has been over full. It is really heartwarming to see that people come out and provide support for their community places like Beer Bazaar, and that they do not surrender to the terrorists and to what terror is trying to achieve. The most effective way is to show that we will continue to live our lives normally.”

Moskowitz relayed a recent story that illustrated the resilience of the average Jerusalemite mentality. “There was a terror attack last week about a hundred meters from the store. A mere few hours later, there were lots of people here. The resilience is incredible to see first hand. Our ability to carry on normally is amazing.”

For the remainder of the year, the Beer Bazaar is having a sale in which customers can make their own ‘selection six packs’ of any of the beers in the store and pay only 69 shekels for the sixer.

Beer on tap is selling for 23 shekels for a third of a liter, 29 shekels for a half, and 55 shekels for a whole liter. Flights are also offered for those wishing to taste test, and four 200 ml glasses cost 45 shekels.