Harar Beer

Let's go back in time to January 2008. The economy was still somewhat good but about to burst, George W. Bush was still president, Michael Phelps was dreaming of eight Gold Medals in Beijing, and in Reno, a new Ethiopian restaurant, called Zagol, opened up. Me, my wife, and my parents-in-law decided to try it out. The food was interesting, the honey wine was fantastic, and the beer was Hakim Stout, what I called a "surprisingly good beer". Some of the commentors agreed, some didn't, but hey, we all have different tastes, and that's why I never bad-mouth a beer.

Now, we come back to the present. Barack Obama is president, Michael Jackson is dead, Alabama won the BCS National Championship game, and the family returned to Zagol for my father-in-law's birthday. Last time, I came with a 1.3 megapixel cameraphone, but this time, I came prepared with a 10 megapixel digital camera. I even knew that I wanted the light beer this time. Problem is, I had no idea what it was called, and neither did our waitress last time. I soon found out it was Harar Beer, a lager from the same brewery as Hakim Stout (thus the brewery info is the same). This beer is brewed in the pilsner style and runs at 4.25% ABV, less than the stout. Like the stout, the name of the beer is printed on the label in English as well as in Ethiopian, with the transliteration of the text being "Harar Bīrā," or (surprise!) Harar Beer.

Unfortunately, also like the stout, there's not a lot of information about the beer itself, so I've decided to include a little more brewery information. Of Ethiopia's four breweries, the Harar Brewery Share Co. is the only one who exports. It gets its brewery equipment from the Czech Republic, so it's no wonder that what is probably their flagship beer is in fact a pilsner. Their hops come from Germany, and the malt comes from the Assela Malt Factory in Assela (it used to be imported before the factory opened up). From what I've read, the brewery seems to be in good working condition, and it draws its water from the Genela Spring located on-property, as well as the Finkile deep well and the Alemaya Pump Station. (The Beverages Sector: The Private Sector)

Here come the stats:

Harar Beer
BREWERY: Harar Brewery Share Co., Harar, Ethiopia
US IMPORTER: NTS Enterprises, Oakland, CA
STYLE: Pilsner
FIRST BREWED:
CALORIES/SERVING:
BITTERNESS:
ABV: 4.25%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY:
MALTS:
HOPS:
SERVING TEMPERATURE:
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: Ethiopian food
AWARDS:

I got this extremely limited information from the bottle. I really need to e-mail the brewery with my questions. Who knows, maybe they'll answer.

This beer poured a golden color with a very nondescript white head that faded away almost instantaneously. The beer had a very malty aroma to it, but I thought it was pleasant. The taste was a little sweeter than I was used to for pilsners and was a nice surprise. I tasted malts, slight hops, carbonation, and a citrus taste reminiscent of a hefeweizen. The aftertaste was a combination of hops and slight metal, but faded pretty quickly. Matching the beer with Ethiopian food like Gored Gored and Ya Doro Wat made the aftertaste non-existant.

I liked this beer better than the Hakim Stout and better than most other pilsners I've had. Some complain that it's too sweet, but I think it's nice to not have a lager that tastes like I'm sucking a penny. Like Hakim Stout, you can find it at your favorite African restaurant or importer.

T'chen chen!

Hakim Stout

After I got home from a long day's work, my wife, her parents, and I went decided to go to dinner, but we didn't want the usual fare. So we decided to hit up Zagol, Reno's new 2-month-old Ethiopian restaurant, for a taste of something a little different. The food was excellent and the honey wine was delicious. But what really intrigued me was the "Ethiopian beer" listed under the drinks menu. I had a choice between a light and a dark (our waitress didn't know the names offhand), and since I've been in the mood for dark beers, I chose the latter.

What arrived at my table was a 330 cl bottle of Hakim Stout, a beer out of Harar, Ethiopia. It is brewed by the Harar Brewery, which also produces a pale lager named for the town and a non-alcoholic beer that is primarily marketed towards the Muslim population. Apparently, this brewery used to be owned by the Ethiopian government along with three other breweries, but they have since been turned over to the private sector. Also, it's the only brewery that sells abroad, which is why I was able to pick one up in the states; it can also be found in Canada, the Netherlands, and neighboring Djibouti. Not much info exists on Hakim Stout, or of the history of the brewery, although I did find an e-mail form I may have to use to ask for additional information. You can too, as I'll provide the link after this sentence. (Ethiopian Privatization Agency: The Beverages Sector, US Embassy in Ethiopia's 1998 Report on Beer Brewing in Ethiopia, Contact Harar Brewery Share Company)

Since I'm a big language nerd, I noticed the bottle had some Amharic (Ethiopia's language) on it. I transliterated it and it says "Hakīm Stāwt", which is pretty straightforward.


Here come the stats:

Hakim Stout
BREWERY: Harar Brewery Share Co., Harar, Ethiopia
STYLE: Stout
FIRST BREWED:
CALORIES/SERVING:
BITTERNESS:
ABV: 5.5%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY:
MALTS:
HOPS:
SERVING TEMPERATURE:
FOODS TO PAIR WITH: Ethiopian food, I assume
AWARDS:

The brewery, style, and ABV came from the bottle. Maybe I can get an e-mail from Ethiopia soon for the rest.

The first thing I noticed about this beer is that it was a lot lighter in color than most other stouts I've had; it looked more like an amber, as it had a dark amber color, but was slightly translucent. It's head was a tannish color, and it's smell was very fruity. The taste also had a hint of fruit in it, but I noticed a pronounced honey taste in the beer mixed in with its carbonation. It was unlike any stout I've ever tasted. The aftertaste was a strong coffee flavor that was a little bitter, but it faded away over the course of a minute or so.

All in all, a surprisingly good beer. Not a great beer, but a good beer to go with maybe some lamb or beef or injera (spongy bread). Pick one up at Zagol (if you're in the Truckee Meadows) or your favorite Ethiopian or pan-African restaurant.

T'chen chen!