Local brew pubs in one of the most dynamic and exciting cities in the world.
Let me lay down the facts: In Turkey, an empire ruled by tea and Raki, good craft beers are hard to come by. A huge majority of the market – over 80% - is ruled by macro-brewing giant Efes Beverage Group, which aside from its own namesake beers also has contracts to brew Tuborg, Foster’s and Miller, to name a few. As a bartender told me, “Turks drink a lot of beer, but they don’t have a beer culture.” There are just a handful of microbreweries in Turkey, mostly based on an American or German brewpub model.
Taps, which is the first microbrewery in Turkey, was co-founded by American Will Kemper, who also helped design and build Philly’s Dock Street Brewery in the ’90’s. Taps has six locations throughout Turkey, four in Istanbul alone, each with draft and bottled choices, as well as a full menu featuring Westernized pub fare. The location in the ultra-ritzy neighborhood Bebek is my favorite. From tables facing the windows on the second floor you can look out over the Bosphorus and watch ferries and cargo ships pass by lackadaisically as you sip your brews, which are produced in the main brewer facility in nearby Gebze, by South African Head Brewer Daniel Wambua.
The beers we sampled were pleasant, like the Dunkel, which was rather light-bodied but with a nice caramel taste and color, and the equally light-bodied Marzen, which poured pale golden with a great malty nose. The beautiful view and the friendly staff, the professionalism and proficiency of the Taps Company, plus the tres-chic clientele will see me back for more. (www.tapsistanbul.com)
Another microbrewery, Balans Brau (www.balansbrau.com), is a German-influenced brewing company founded in 2001 by a German brewer and a Turkish business man. There are two locations in Istanbulone on the Asian side, and one in Beyoglu, the more well-known and easily accessible of the two. It is tucked between the bustling Istiklal Caddessi, which gets an estimated 1 million people a day in foot traffic, and the more intimate but just as alive Nevizade Street,which is a narrow alley packed with pubs. At almost any hour of the day or night, the outdoor patios of these pubs are filled with a pretty even mix of young locals and tourists alike, nursing giant glass mugs of beer and enjoying the typically fair weather Istanbul enjoys year round.
Balans is simple, clean, and cozy – wood-beamed ceilings and pale stone walls make the perfect backdrop for the two large fermentation tanks in the middle of the main foyer, which feed directly to the taps at the copper-topped bar. There were three beers on tap, all unfiltered– a Pilsner, which was wonderfully toasty and malty, a nice crisp, sour Weiss that left a beautiful lace on my glass, and a Caramel Weiss, a dark, sweet and sour wheat that was light bodied and rather gently hopped. The beers, which are brewed on location and rotate several times a year, really reflect brewer and co-owner, Jost Wachsmann’s German background and training. With a fantastic location and enough space for 350 guests, plus a full bar and a nice pub fare, it’s a great place to cool off with a few pints of fresh beer, listen to live music on weekends, and make a few new friends.
But beer isn’t the only or even most authentic fermented grain beverage on the Istanbul scene - if you think you are brave enough, one of the tastiest and most interesting fermented drinks has about 1% ABV, a thick but slight sandy texture not unlike porridge, and is topped off with a layer of cinnamon dotted with garbanzo beans. Still interested? Boza is a bewitchingly addictive drink first made popular over a thousand years ago by Central Asian Turks, and all the energy-boosting carbs and vitamins it packs made it the beverage of choice of the Ottoman Army – it was basically an old school energy drink. I think the best way to describe the taste is vanilla pudding with a sourness that gives it an apple-like twang, and it is thick – so thick that you almost, almost have to chew it.
Made by boiling millet or wheat, which is then cooled, drained, and mixed with yeast, water and sugar, and fermented for about three days before being served, it is very rich in Vitamins A, B, C and E, and also contains lactic acid, which aids in digestion. And if you are still not convinced to give it a try – many sources, like fermentarium.com, claim that a Bulgarian version of the drink can enhance breast size. There is no official word on whether that is just the beer goggles speaking, but chances are that the high calorie content (100 calories a liter) can be to blame for that one. But hey, it’s worth a try. For a nice cold glass of boza, check out Vefa Bozacisi (www.vefa.com.tr).
I think the lesson to be learned here is that when beer is lacking, you’ve got to be creative. Beer exists here in Istanbul, you just have to look for it, whether it is hidden in a posh waterfront towns, a neighborhood brewery, or in an age-old, bust-enhancing fermented millet drink.