“It\u2019s been a journey,” says Pressburger, who posts pictures of kosher-certified beers such as Deschutes Black Butte Porter<\/a> and strong Belgian ale La Chouffe<\/a>. In the absence of certification, he contacts breweries for additional information. “There are just too many ingredients,” he says.<\/p>\n Modern craft beer broke free from orthodoxy by resuscitating historical styles, embracing excess, and tinkering with culinary ingredients. The anything-goes approach garnered attention and sales, but experimentalism left many kosher-adherent customers behind.<\/p>\n “When there\u2019s stuff added beyond the four basic ingredients”\u2014water, yeast, grains, hops\u2014”it raises kosher questions,” says Rabbi Zvi Holland, director of special projects for Star-K<\/a>, a kosher certification agency in Baltimore, Maryland. (It\u2019s one of five agencies that certify most of America\u2019s kosher food.) “We\u2019ve had [brewers] use Greek yogurt to make a sour ale, which creates a kosher issue.”<\/p>\n To reach the broadest possible demographic, breweries are embracing kosher certification. Boston Beer\u2019s Truly hard seltzer and Twisted Tea are totally kosher, and breweries both regional (Boulevard Brewing<\/a>, F.X. Matt) and local such as Leikam Brewing in Portland, Oregon, sell kosher beer. Breweries and companies are also turning to kosher beer to celebrate Hanukkah, while New York City rabbinical student Jesse Epstein is reviving the Jewish-themed Shmaltz Brewing<\/a> brand.<\/p>\n Go to any grocery store and grab non-refrigerated items such as bread or ketchup, and the label will likely contain a hechsher<\/em><\/a>, a symbol or stamp signifying a kosher product.<\/p>\n More than 40 percent<\/a> of America\u2019s packaged foods are kosher, an outsize stat when you consider that around 2 percent of the country\u2019s population is Jewish<\/a>. “It makes companies money,” Rabbi Holland says.<\/p>\n Historically, German beer followed another purity law, the Reinheitsgebot, which limited beer to water, hops, and barley. European Jews who immigrated to America in the 19th and 20th centuries would\u2019ve been accustomed to unadorned lagers. “There\u2019s a history of drinking beer without a kosher certification because it wasn\u2019t something that concerned them,” Holland says.<\/p>\n As the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, America was no longer one nation under lager. Breweries began producing assorted beer styles, and “the [kosher] community started to get nervous,” Holland says.<\/p>\n Coors Brewing became the first major brewery to receive its kosher certification, in 1990, <\/a>followed by Miller Brewing in 1999<\/a>. (The breweries are now part of Molson Coors Beverage Company.)<\/p>\n For more than a decade, Spoetzl Brewery<\/a> has brewed kosher-certified Shiner Bock and more at its Shiner, Texas, facility. The brewery requests kosher certifications from suppliers, and a rabbi visits annually to examine paperwork. “It\u2019s always a joyful event,” says director of brewery and distillery operations Tom Fiorenzi.<\/p>\n Fiorenzi has learned to navigate specific kosher guidelines such as avoiding aging a beer in a wine barrel unless the wine is kosher. And the brewery isolated its on-site restaurant, K. Spoetzl BBQ Co., from brewery operations.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s a big traceability exercise,” says Fiorenzi. “I\u2019m concerned every single day about what\u2019s going into the beer. It\u2019s what we practice and preach.”<\/p>\n Securing approvals can feel punitive for breweries. You didn\u2019t fill out this form. Try again.<\/p>\n “Kosher is collaborative,” says Dan Voce, vice president of operations for F.X. Matt in Utica, New York, which has produced certified kosher beer for more than 10 years. A rabbi visits once or twice a month for a facility walkthrough including looking over raw materials and monitoring ingredient staging and production.<\/p>\n F.X. Matt makes its Saranac beers and contract brews for multiple companies, including Brooklyn Brewery. Kosher certification is a selling point for contract production, especially as companies seek competitive advantages and placements in chains such asWhole Foods.<\/p>\n Food-safety certifications such as kosher “used to be nice to have, but I would say now they\u2019re necessary,” says Voce.<\/p>\n Attaining kosher certification won\u2019t immediately draw sales from untapped demographics. Preconceived notions must be rewired, one pint at a time. “Culturally, Jews tend to not be into beer as much as they are into wine and spirits,” says Rabbi Drew Kaplan, founder and publisher of Jewish Drinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s partly due to beer\u2019s perceived cultural status. People willing to spend big on Scotch or wine for an event might also opt for Heineken or Corona, Pressburger says. Lack of access exacerbates the issue. Specialty beer stores are absent from Orthodox neighborhoods. “Generally speaking, there\u2019s a strong lack of education when it comes to beer in the Orthodox community.”<\/p>\n Solving shortcomings requires creating new beer-drinking occasions. In advance of next year\u2019s relaunch of Shmaltz, which closed in 2021, Epstein conducted an event on a synagogue\u2019s rooftop, invited congregants to homebrew, and threw a Purim party that included a drag performance. “I love going to synagogue, but I recognize not every Jew does,” Epstein says. Shmaltz can reach beyond pews to “build our communities through beer.”<\/p>\n In 2015, Sonia Marie Leikam and her husband opened kosher-certified Leikam Brewing<\/a> with a desire to be an inclusive, community-driven space. “We\u2019re also vegan and gluten-reduced, but the market differentiator that folks grabbed onto was that we were kosher,” says Leikam, who is Jewish. (Her husband, Theo, is not.)<\/p>\n The brewery focuses on classic styles such as porters and red ales, which are served during events like drag trivia, comedy nights, and live music. This December, Leikam turned its taproom into a pop-up Hanukkah-themed bar called L\u2019chaim featuring Hanukkah-themed bingo, Manischewitz Jell-O shots, and the Maccabeer IPA made for the holiday.<\/p>\n “For folks who are more culturally Jewish, Hanukkah is a moment where they find pride,” Leikam says.<\/p>\n City Brew Tours<\/a> includes Leikam beer in its Hoppy Hanukkah gift box<\/a>, and founder and CEO Chad Brodsky hosts a nightly Hanukkah livestream with food pairings and Jewish guests. “The livestream gets to the connecting points of Judaism and beer,” says Brodsky, who typically sells around 1,000 boxes annually.<\/p>\n Not every Hoppy Hanukkah beer is kosher, so Brodsky selects Reinheitsgebot-compliant beers that avoid adjuncts like lactose. Star-K used to keep a list of non-certified beers, but it\u2019s since stopped keeping track; the torrent of releases never stops. “We need to significantly expand the amount of certified beer on shelves,” Rabbi Holland says.<\/p>\n One sticking point is that kosher certification is a monetary investment (it\u2019s typically measured in the thousands of dollars, says Rabbi Holland), and craft breweries need to prioritize any expense. “We\u2019ve chosen where to put our financial resources,” says Leikam, adding that the brewery doesn\u2019t spend money submitting beers to competitions.<\/p>\n There\u2019s never been a better or more confusing time to be a beer drinker. Selecting a six-pack can be overwhelming\u2014doubly so for drinkers keeping kosher. Why limit the audience? “When you create something for a Jewish audience, there\u2019s this idea that you\u2019re limiting your product,” Epstein says. “I believe there\u2019s potential to take something that\u2019s Jewish and give it to everyone.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To reach the broadest possible demographic, breweries are embracing kosher certification. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7582,"featured_media":113568,"sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sticky_collection":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"78825,52750,37087,52730,71072,51425","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-full-pour"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKosher Certification: Another “Traceability Exercise”<\/h2>\n
![\"spoetzl](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20231204144952\/spoetzl-brewery-exterior.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nA Conduit to the Jewish Community<\/h2>\n
![\"leikam](\"https:\/\/cdn.craftbeer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20231204144927\/leikam-beers-in-mason-jars.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n