Aug. 12-23

Jewish singles vacation to Europe
- Ireland, Wales and southern
England. Ages 30-49. (617) 782-
3396.

The Chosen Brew

HE'BREW gives young Jews another reason to say "L'Chaim!"

Aug. 17-24

Alaska cruise, Sky Princess,
Anchorage to Vancouver with Pre-
mier Jewish Singles. Cost: from
$1,215. (800) 444-9250.

Aug. 20-23

Sixteenth annual Jewish singles
sun and fun in Virginia Beach.
Cost: from $350. Beach resort
next to a Conservative synagogue;
600 Jewish singles attend. (888)
5SUN-FUN.

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 1-8, 14-21

Bicycling tour, Tuscany, Italy, with
Historical Cycling International.
Moderate ride, rolling terrain, 15-
39 miles per day. (714) 499-0342,
e -mail: cycling@gte.net.

Sept. 4-7

Canoeing down the Au Sable
River with Tamarack Adult
Adventures. (248) 661-0600.

OCTOBER

Oct. 6.13

Morocco — Rabat, Meknes, Fez,
Marrakesh and Casablanca with
Premier Jewish Singles. Cost
$1,695. (800) 444-9250.

Oct. 21-27, Oct 28-Nov. 3

Bicycling tour, the Antebellum
South, Mississippi. Easy ride, flat
with some gently rolling terrain,
15-45 miles per day. Historical
Cycling International. (714) 499-
0342, email: cycling@gte.net.

DECEMBER

Dec. 24-Jan. 4, 1999

Costa Rica --- New Yeais Eve cel-
ebration with Premier Jewish Sin-
gles. Cost: $1,995. (800) 444-
9250.

Jeremy Cowan's HEBREW is taking off

OPHIRA EDUT
Special to The Jewish News

Move over, Manischewitz. Now there's
something hipper, headier. Something
the college kids will love.
It's called HE'BREW, and it's a
gourmet kosher microbrew with the
chutzpah to declare itself "the chosen
beer." Like any good bit of pop cul-
ture, HE'BREW draws its edge from a
bottomless well of wit, blending the
sacred and the secular into something
deliciously different.
The parent company is San Fran-
cisco-based Shmaltz Brewing. And the
Chagall-inspired label features a danc-
ing Chasidic man waving two brews as
he straddles the Holy City and the
Golden Gate Bridge.
Lest you think this is all shtick and
no substance, take a sip. HE'BREW is
a premium-quality brown ale, manu-
factured at one of the world's top
microbreweries. Anderson Valley
Brewing Company, in Boonville,
Calif, was even specially inspected
and declared kosher by an Orthodox
rabbi, Gerschon Horowitz, through

Ophira Edut, 25, is an Oak Park
native and editor-in-chief of HUES, a
national, multicultural magazine for
young women.

the Los Angeles-based Kosher Supervi-
sion of America. (Unlike wine, which
can have ritual uses, beer is almost
always kosher, with kashrut supervi-
sion often unnecessary.)
"The time is exactly right to put
out products that tie into Jewish cul-
ture and tradition, but in a funky,
contemporary way," says HE'BREW
creator Jeremy Cowan. The 29-year-
old California native and Stanford
English grad launched HE'BREW as a
"celebration beer" for Chanukah in
1996.
It was a grassroots operation involv-
ing Cowan, his mom, his girlfriend
and any friend willing to help deliver
cases to Bay Area retailers, or to strate-
gically move HE'BREW bottles to the
front of the liquor aisle shelves.
Like any fine beer, HE'BREW has
grown organically, but steadily. Cowan
now has distributors in San Francisco,
Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapo-
lis-St. Paul. Bottles of HE'BREW have
cameoed on popular sitcoms like
"Friends" and "Veronica's Closet."
Still, Cowan insists that it is ``still
very much a one-man-show." Along
with a part-time assistant, he handles
everything from brewery operations to
distribution to attending Jewish festi-
vals and answering e-mail.
Cowan stresses a commitment to
Jewish activism, aside from business.

HE'BREW has flowed freely at such
functions as the National Foundation
for Jewish Culture.
"People are enormously interested
in being Jewish and finding a relevant,
contemporary meaning in Judaism,"
said Cowan. "It's about spirituality
and struggling with Judaism, in a way
that's more substantial than Jewish fra-
ternities or singles events."
"I wanted to make this very overt,"
said Cowan. "It's like, 'Hey, it's Jewish.
No way around it.' Jewish shtick is
ubiquitous in American humor. It's
everywhere you turn."
By making HE'BREW unapologet-
ically Jewish, Cowan hopes to narrow
the gap between religious and cultural
Judaism. "I want to create a beverage
company for the Jewish community,
aimed at the younger generation. The
plan is to keep putting out products
that are high quality, a lot of fun and
tied to Jewish tradition and text. I also
plan to be endlessly active in the Jew-
ish community — whether it's
through delis or synagogues." ❑

To order HEBREW in Detroit,
call Sam's Liquors at (800) 777-
9137. Or check out the website at

www.shmaltz.com .

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