"Ordering Zionism at a pub": Be'eri launches beer from the kibbutz's barley fields
Kibbutz Be'eri has introduced a light lager made entirely from local barley. The project, launched in partnership with the Milk & Honey Distillery, serves as a symbol of resilience and connection to the land following the events of October 7.
About a year ago, I wandered with Haim Jelin through the barley fields of Be'eri, and he laid out for me his vision for a kibbutz-made whiskey. Since then, the people behind the Single Be'eri project have surprised everyone and beaten the schedules. There is no whiskey yet, but there is beer from the same barley: a light and wonderful lager, currently produced at the Beer Bazaar brewery in Kfar Daniel, but entirely made of barley from the fields of Kibbutz Be'eri.
Jelin (66), a member of the kibbutz, a former Knesset member (Yesh Atid) and head of the Eshkol Regional Council, and one of the people behind the brewery, is excited: "This is not only the first beer from Be'eri, but probably the first beer created from 100% blue-and-white barley. It is essentially a harvest reaped in May 2025."
From Jelin's perspective, the beer is nothing less than the realization of the Zionist vision. "In these fields, some of the Nova party participants fled, these were the killing fields, there were tanks there, and we are now bringing from them something that is life, a connection of man to the land. Suddenly, this will be something that will be drunk in every pub in Tel Aviv. It will radiate to the entire State of Israel. It is a kind of Zionism to ask for a beer from Be'eri at a pub. It moves me. You dream about it and suddenly it becomes reality."
In practical terms, currently that same harvest season is also in barrels that will be whiskey in two years. But every year we will also produce beer from the same barley. The partners in the venture are the Milk & Honey Distillery: Tomer Goren, the head distiller, Tal Chotinier, VP of marketing and sales, and Yotam Brass, the Israeli market manager and a former brewer.
"They were the ones who suggested doing something that could hit the market as early as the summer, and not wait three years until the whiskey is ready," says Jelin. When asked if he regrets using the whiskey barley for beer, Jelin replies: "We are not wasting. From a ton of barley, you can get 20,000 cans, and we had 130 tons, and this season there are already 250 tons, so we will have plenty of beer and plenty of whiskey. You know what, let these be our problems, that we will have to grow more barley."
Jelin emphasizes that this is not about "closing a circle," but about a continuous process of coping: "We experience the burden of October 7th all the time. Sometimes it weighs 50 kg and you are not functioning, and sometimes 10 kg and you must function and do. If you stay only with this burden, the chance that you will survive is very small. On the other hand, if you continue to do, it will give you vitality and meaning. You lose something of who you were and need to reinvent yourself."
"For us, the people of Be'eri, this meaning was always rooted in one place — deep inside the clods of earth. Agriculture is the pulse of the soul, and it is the most distilled and innocent connection between man and his land," he adds. They plan to establish a local malthouse and distillery to create an entire industry of hope and light on the land of the Otef.
Tal Chotinier from the Milk & Honey Distillery explains: "It is cheaper to bring barley from abroad, so the venture is mainly an emotional act. We established the brand so that there would be a product from Be'eri, and if money comes out of it, it will go to various commemoration initiatives. For the establishment of the malthouse, we will need an investor with a deeper pocket. We did this for food security, not just for fun."
The beer (single-beeri.co.il) can be obtained on the Beer Bazaar website (there is also delivery), at the Amiram pub, at the B12 meat restaurant in Tel Aviv, at the Lauter brewery and beer shop at Givat HaTahmoshet Square in Tel Aviv, at the Biratenu beer shop in Jerusalem, at the Kimiko Japanese restaurant in Haifa, at a wholesale store in Binyamina, and at the Ruach HaTzfonit store at the Goma junction. "We made 6,000 cans. The consumer price will be 15–16 shekels," concludes Chotinier.
