War has been going in our country for almost a month now. It is impossible to get used to it and our brain tries to shield us from the grief and pain in which we have been living for the last month, as if it hides all this horror in a closed cocoon inside us, because otherwise we can simply go crazy. Nevertheless, it is impossible to hide from reality.

Our Ashkelon has suddenly become the southernmost seaside city in the country – farther away are the military cordons that stand under the gates of our Carlsberg. We have already gotten used to the incessant cannonade and the smell of burning in the air, the sleepless nights because of the continuous shelling, as much as one can get used to it. The only thing we can’t get used to is the constant worry about our children who are in the army.

Because of all this, I can’t write anything all this time – my Muse has gone somewhere because of the shelling, but when I saw cans of Sierra Nevada beer on the store shelf, I said to myself: Enough! Get a handle on yourself! You have to write about this beer!

The first was a wonderful pale ale, Pale Ale Sierra Nevada. It has been one of the brewery’s flagship brands since 1980. It is a very beautiful light brown colored beer with a dense white foam. The pleasant malt flavor literally fills you up, leaving you with a slight sweetness in your mouth, which is tinged with a clear and pleasant hop bitterness. Cascade hops with their grapefruit notes are felt in both aroma and flavor. All this range of taste and aroma can be described in a few words: “Beer as the doctor recommended!”.

Contains 5.6% alcohol and 38 units of bitterness.

By the way, this day I tasted the beer not alone, but with my nephew – you should drink beer with people you like.  So, Torpedo Extra IPA, 7.2% alcohol and 65 units of bitterness. It’s a classic American-style IPA. Three types of hops Citra, Crystal and Magnum combine with caramel malt to create the perfect blend of body, sweetness and bitterness. The brewery calls it an Ionic IPA and we couldn’t agree more, it’s really an iconic beer.

According to the tasting rules, we slowly increased the strength of the beer and reached Big Little Thing IPA (Imperial IPA). In this beer, the emphasis is on strength, not bitterness – 9% alcohol. The bitterness, contrary to the declared style, is rather low, only 45 units. The beer is rather heavy to drink – you can’t drink more than one bottle, we decided together. Alcohol and powerful body are balanced by an interesting hop aroma. During brewing we used 7(!) types of hops – Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Crystal, Idaho 7, Magnum and Mosaic. They created a very interesting bouquet, but still it was not enough to balance the high alcohol…

For dessert we had the Hazy Little Thing IPA. It’s a great beer and matches the style well. Contains 6.7% alcohol and 35 units of bitterness. The combination of different types of malt, including wheat malt, with flaked oats gave the beer a distinct creaminess in the flavor and a slight pleasant sourness. One of the features of this style of beer is the repeated addition of hops at various stages: at the beginning and end of brewing, during fermentation. Selected brands of aromatic hops: Citra, El Dorado, Magnum, Mosaic and Simcoe gave this beer the feeling of a fairy-tale tropical garden.

Then there were more beers from my home “library”, but that’s for another time.

The home tasting was over, and with it came the end of the little holiday I had arranged for myself. The everyday life came back to us, with worries and anxieties for our families and friends. This is how everyone lives in Israel now, but someday the black streak will end and there will be a peaceful life, and what life is there without good beer?!! Have a peaceful sky, friends!