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Comment by darklajid | Hacker News Reader

I loved your reaction.

But this isn't about your attitude, this is about far more serious things: Beer. Leaving Germany for good end of this month and - well.. Israel's beers are f...ing (well, it's kind of on topic with your app, isn't it?) baaad. So my choice in the future, after being spoiled in a country of beer drinkers, is

* Local brand starts with G (Ugh...)

* Local brand starts with M (Really. Life's too short to drink that)

* Weihenstephan (which seems to be from Germany, but the fact that I never heard about it here gives away how decent it is. Seems like an export-only product)

* Stella

So - rest assured: You're not alone. If you remove all the better alternatives, Stella is really okay. Kind of.

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I actually like G. Also, in Tel Aviv/Herzliya you have good choices (Guinness, Kilkenny, La Chouffe and Mc Chouffe, Bischoff Dopplebock, ...[1]). Pubs that have many kinds of beer in Tel Aviv:

* Norma Jeane - you can find anything there

* Beit Ha'bira ("house of beer")

* James' Beer Factory - this one in Petach Tikva, kosher (opening times wise as well, so no drinking on Friday night) and actually doesn't have much choice. But they serve self brewed beer which is decent.

There are others I can't recall now, but I can ask friends.

If you want to go out for a spree with me and other hackers, make sure to drop me a line here or at maayan@maayank.com! :)

EDIT: Googling for it, Beit Ha'Bira might have closed shop. I suggest as an alternative Norman. I don't recall visiting it, but I've heard (and after googling, read) only good things. For exact addresses google for the names of the pubs with "Tel Aviv".

[1] it's very late here so I'll leave it at that.

First of all - it's not James', it's Jem's Beer Factory, which is indeed very good. The stout there is awesome.

Now a few more if I may -

Mike's Place is nice

Porter & Sons on Haarbaa street has a huge selection - http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=10911&...

Thanks, great additions.

Mike's Place is a good place to meet foreigners. Notice the beer selection is relatively limited: https://docs.google.com/View?id=dfdfk37q_410g7h8vwhf (relative to the other places mentioned here)

Yeah, I guess as a Guiness lover I forgot Mike's doesn't actually have a great selection.

Weihenstephaner is very good and well known (outside of Germany). For example "Hefe" is one of the best Weissbiers in the world (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/weihenstephaner-hefe-weissbier/...) and certainly the best of widely available ones. Absolutely no reason to complain. Stella is only average (gets 18/100 vs Hefe's 99/100 at Ratebeer), but it is also different type of beer - lager.

Do yourself a favor: try different types of beer, not just brands.

I'm an Israeli living in Austria for over 6 years now & I honestly don't see much of a difference between Goldstar/Macabi and any other (Czech, Austrian - supposedly renown for their quality) lagers I can get here.

Seriously, beer is a working-class beverage: find something else to be a snob about ;)

You can get Weihanstephaner in Germany. You shouldn't, but you can.

Don't the Bavarians have a beer-research facility in Weihenstephan?

I have no idea. I do know that Weihanstephaner market themselves as the world's oldest brewery. Not the best. The oldest ;-)

How about Tuborg? It's everywhere here.

Also, plenty of pubs have decent beers these days in Israel.

If you find yourself in the neighborhood, the Golan Brewery (http://www.beergolan.co.il/english_main.php) in Katzrin brew its own, and they are pretty good. You can even buy some bottles to take with.

Is there some kind of Taboo about spelling out the names of the beers?

I live in Israel and it took me a while to guess Macabi, but maybe that's because I don't like lagers (stouts are the real beer anyway :)).

Make sure you taste yourself some rauchbier before you go.

Seriously, try it.

The 'G' and the 'M' are undrinkable, but we also have Leffe and Guinness which I find pretty good. If you want more quality choices in Israel you should consider switching to wine...

Or learn how to homebrew.

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