This is the second part (although first chronologically) of our trip yesterday. Kibbutz Ga’aton is just next to Yehiam and is named after the small river Ga’aton which drains out from the low mountains of the Western Galilee, down the Ga’aton Street in Nahariya and into the Mediterranean Sea.

We had researched about this wine maker just briefly before leaving the house and had to ask for directions once inside the kibbutz. A kind “native” told us to follow him and led us to a humble, ivy-covered building.

The winery

A sign on the front door displayed the winery’s name and logo, a symbol of its first creation, the passionfruit wine.

Front doors

We were eager to open the doors and escape the smell of the cows, sheep, chickens or whatever it was the provided us with the odour that assailed our nostrils so vigorously. Once inside, the delicious smell of passionfruit cleared through us and we eagerly sought out the management. To our intrusion, the management whose name is Gideon happily broke off from his duty and began to give us his short tour and story… And he said it in English. Gideon showed us to his main room where he had a few bookshelves displaying the goods, the fruit of his labour.

Display bottles

Next Gideon asked us if we wanted to see what he was currently making, a passionfruit wine (the one we smelled when we came in). He took us to his “kitchen” and showed us the vat of passionfruit juice.

Vat of passionfruit

He stood there as we inspected his workroom and told us how he used to be an orchard-grower. Now he is retired and decided to make fruit wines as a sort of profitable hobby. But he likes to keep things small. A few years ago he shipped pallets of wines to England, France and the USA but he prefers to sell locally.

Gideon speaks

After a few minutes he took us back to the main room where he offered us to try samples. We were waiting for this! He sat us down and wheeled out a cart with a bottle of each of his wines; passionfruit, cherry, pomegranate, lychee, almond, honey apple, honey orange and some blends.

Sample time!

Gideon then walked away and continued with his work. Shortly after, while we were still sipping on the numerous alcoholic beverages before us at our own little open bar, another family came in and he began the tour over again, in Hebrew. In conclusion, I liked the pomegranate wine the most and the honey wines the least.

Orange Honey wine

We purchased a few bottles, and one to give as a gift to a family we know who just moved into a new house. Gideon wishes us a safe drive back and showed us how to get out, and that is when we went to Yehiam and the Malka Beer plant (see previous post).

Today we took a two-pronged trip. We first headed to Kibbutz Ga’aton where we toured a tiny fruit wine factory. That story will be in the next blog post. This post is about the second part of our trip; to Kibbutz Yehiam where we chanced upon an amazing micro-brewery. Here is our story:

Entrance to Yehiam

We entered Yehiam and drove around. After some driving we got out and looked about. There was an odd aroma similar to that of potato chips. Curiosity got the better of me and I followed the amazing smell around a building to a nice big wooden deck. An open door beckoned and I went in to find a micro-brewery humming away by the name of Malka Beer (Beera Malka which means Queen Beer in English).

Malka Beer

Inside, master brewer Omri was boiling the grain in some sort of process that makes the beer. He had it straining into small buckets and then would decant the boiled beer into another vat. Although he spoke a decent English, we didn’t get the detailed rundown as to how they go about making the beer.

Here are some pictures of the beer brewing process that he explained:

Boiling beer and grain

The vat of strained beer

Omri taking the strained beer from the vat with the blue piece on top and pouring it into the vat with the liquid inside

The bottling was done in a side room. A young man, who helped us take pictures, is inside sorting through empty bottles and putting them somewhere, for reasons that I do not know.

The bottling room

We asked the owner, Assaf Lavi (who speaks a fabulous English), if we could try some beer. He was kind enough to go into the little bar they have and find us a bottle of each of the three; Irish Stout, Pale Ale and English Lager, for us to try. We stepped outdoors onto the deck and sat down around a rustic table for some beer sampling.

The three beers

Assaf brought out glasses and poured us each a generous serving, letting us taste from his stock of cold goodness.

Assaf pouring the rich Irish Stout into eager glasses

As we sat in the cool shade, sipping the cold beer and commenting on the richness, the freshness and the taste, Assaf told us about how he began doing this. He is in the process of selling his current, older equipment and opening a larger plant for wider distribution. For us it didn’t matter, as long as his new factory is still within a 15 minute drive, we’d be happy.

Once all was said and done, and the beer was (almost) all gone, we gathered around for a group picture. The master brewer came out from his toils, a smile plastered on his face as the bottling lad snapped the picture:

Group photo

We then placed an immediate order for 24 bottles; 12 Irish Stout and 12 Pale Ale. Assaf went inside and filled a box for us, another sale for another happy customer.

Our case of beer

But that was not the end. I snuck back inside the plant one last time and snapped a picture of Omri hard at work. Now this is what a “beermeister” looks like:

Omri the Master Brewer

If you’d like to see more about Malka Beer, here is the website: http://malkabeer.co.il/

Truly a good beer!

Today we took a trip to Nachal Amud, a 15-mile long river between the Meron Mountains and Tzfat (Safed).  A popular attraction for hiking and camping, the river was declared a nature reserve in 1972. We parked and showed our yearly membership pass before continuing down to the main trail.

Park's trail entrance

After a little bit of walking, the sun scorching but the wind blowing sufficiently upon us to keep us at a reasonable temperature, we came upon an abandoned building. After reading the pamphlet it became clear to us that this building was the old British Mandate police headquarters for the area back in the 1930s.

British Mandate police building

The south side of the structure was riddled with bullets from some previous battle(s) as were the metal plates that swung down to protect the open windows.

Bullet-riddled window guards

Turning away from the ruins, we headed west to make our descent to the river. This is the view of the Meron Mountains, the highest peaks in all of Israel outside of the Golan.

Meron Mountains

As we approached the water, screams of joy could be heard. We encountered an enormous group of young teens who’d come out to hike and to enjoy the river’s many swimming holes. Here was one that had a waterfall which was illuminated by a direct beam of sunlight (as visible in picture).

Swimming hole with waterfall

Leaving the swimming holes and walking on a slightly higher altitude, we came across a series of old building and structures along with a narrow and surprisingly long aqueduct that brought water to the higher area. The buildings comprised a complex known as the Sheik’s House. It was very nicely built with an orchard and a vineyard on the downward slope back down to the river.

A large basin for bathing or swimming (now a protected salamander breeding place)

Along the path, still in the area built up by some mysterious Sheik, there are these too. The fountain may be more modern, I do not know. As for the arched structure, that may have been a stable or even rooms to sleep or eat in.

Fountain

Arched structure possibly rooms or a stable

As we cleared through the numerous archaic structures, many of which have been overgrown with vegetation, we began the uphill ascent back to the parking lot. The path was far more grueling than we had imagined but for a time the view was great. Here, in the distance, in the famous city of Tzfat (Safed), on a mountaintop between the two hills closer to us.

The ancient city of Tzfat (Safed)

An additional piece of trivia: Archaeologists have done some searching in the area of Nachal Amud after someone in 1925 chanced upon historical findings dating back supposedly thousands of years. We didn’t see anything. Maybe next time!