Israel is a unique country, the birthplace of the three major religions of the world. Not many people here celebrate Christmas as such and Christmas beer, accordingly, you can’t find on supermarket shelves.

Probably this is not our biggest problem – after all, you can always fly to Europe for buy some beer. The main thing is to know where and what brand of beer to look for, but… before you buy tickets, let’s see which beer you can buy here without flying anywhere.

Unfortunately, only two Christmas beers are currently being imported to Israel. One of them, the wonderful Christmas Ale from the Belgian brewery St. Bernardus, will grace any holiday table. This very rich, dark beer contains 10% alcohol, but is surprisingly easy to drink. It is literally filled with the flavor of winter, which we are lacking in Israel. With the first sip, you can taste notes of aniseed, creamy caramel and roasted chestnuts. All of this immediately brings a sense of celebration. With each next sip it does not leave, but only strengthens – clear notes of chocolate and dried fruits appear in the beer, which stay with us for a long time, creating the feeling of a winter fairy tale.

The magical St. Bernardus Christmas Ale is a great dessert, it goes well with chocolate or chocolate cakes, but like other strong Belgian ales it also pairs well with meat and poultry main courses.

This beer is only available in Israel at the end of the year, and the rest of the time you can enjoy other brands from this great brewery. In addition to the Christmas ale, the St. Bernardus Wit wheat ale, the excellent Dubbel St. Bernardus Pater 6, the Abate St. Bernardus Prior 8, the strong St. Bernardus Tripel and another Abate St. Bernardus Abt 12 are also available in the Holy Land. With such a range of beers you can celebrate all year round!

This past Friday I was at my nephews’ house – we celebrated Hanukkah. I brought a beer from my home “library” to the table. When we opened it, a magical aroma filled the room and without even taking a sip, everyone exclaimed, “What is this? Is this Beer? Does beer ever happen like this?”. It was a Samichlaus Christmas lager brewed back in 2018.

In addition to its beauty and rich taste, this beer has a very strong aroma of dried fruits and nuts. Each of those sitting at the table sensed something different in this flavor of a real holiday. This unusual lager is brewed only once a year on St. Nicholas Day – December 6. On this festive day in Europe, it is customary to exchange gifts. And what better gift than a bottle of Christmas beer? It can be aged in a sealed bottle for many years. Specialists say that Samichlaus really reveals itself only after 5 years of aging, and then it becomes more interesting and richer every year. You can read about the magical Christmas beer Samichlaus on my website, and you can buy it in specialized stores selling alcohol.

Of course, flying to Europe in December, you can enjoy a wonderful Christmas beer, but it doesn’t always work out, and now we don’t have time for vacations at all… So, let’s enjoy now a good beer in Holy Land, and postpone the trip for next year, after the Victory….