Malka Brewery is located in Kibbutz Yeh'iam, Israel, a kibbutz in the Upper Gallilee region not too far from Israel's northern border with Lebanon. Craft brewing in Israel is a relatively new concept; while breweries have been in Israel since ancient times, the first commercial brewery was founded in the 1930s to cater to British nationals living in Palestine. Only in the last ten or fifteen years have small craft breweries popped up in the country - with Malka Brewery, which means "queen" in Hebrew, founded in 2006.
This particular beer is billed as a "dry stout". I've never heard that term before, but using my liberal-arts degree, I'm envisioning a stout that's either salted or low in roasty bitterness, or both. I should note the beer is also made with water from the Ga'aton River springs.
And actually, this beer is aged quite a bit - the bottling date on the neck says 12/11/14. And with bottle-conditioned beers, the yeast is still active, so the flavors are still developing in the bottle. So what's inside is slightly different than what went in - let's take a look.
It pours very dark, and generates a brown-colored head. Not too much aroma.
Good flavors, though. It's thick, dark, sweet, malty, and a little salty. Perhaps that's where the "dry" part of it comes in. The best way to describe this beer is like a flat, slightly-salty Guinness. There's a thickness to it, with some moderate roasted malt flavors, but with a sea salt flavor to it that's interesting. The finish is sweet and a bit hoppy, with some lingering sweetness and bitterness from hops on the aftertaste.
This was a good beer, but nothing mind-blowing. I like the saltiness (more on salty beer in a few weeks) and I think the biggest attraction is that it is one of the only commercially-available Israeli beers I have seen. I got this in the warm shelf at Whole Foods, and noticed a few days ago that they had a Malka blonde ale, as well. If you like deep, salty stouts, then definitely give Malka a try.
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