The Price of Alcohol in Israel

About two weeks ago I had a sudden whim on a Friday afternoon to buy beer for Shabbat. The supermarkets had already closed and so the makolet was my only option. I bought three stubbies (small bottles) of Goldstar Beer at 8 shekels a bottle. It was a bit pricey, but the thought of the kids all having fallen asleep, and me sitting on the balcony downing a coldie or two after a big meal was good justification for the cost. What actually happened was quite different - I nodded off at the table and then crawled into bed, barely able to move after a big meal (at least I predicted the big meal correctly).

I didn't always have the means to buy overpriced alcoholic beverages. When I worked at the Windmill Hotel in 1995 for minimal wages, I always found it a challenge to buy food for Shabbat on such a low budget - but I soon got it down pat. I would go to the Machane Yehudah market and buy half a BBQ chicken and a small tub of red-cabbage salad, all for not very much money. I found a tiny makolet in Aggripas Street that sold kiddush wine for 5 shekels a bottle. I don't know exactly how they ever justified describing this drink as "wine". It was more like an alcoholic sweet grape-flavoured syrup. But it was only 5 shekels for a 750ml bottle (which I would finish either on Shabbat or during the course of the week).

I have since moved up in the world. This week we bought a lovely bottle of Yarden Muscat 2003. A very smooth, white 31-shekel sweet dessert wine. You know it's good because it has the year of manufacture as part of its name, "Ah," you say, "2003, a good year, that." I would be seriously looking forward to enjoying its delicate nose and rich pallate, but it is going to a cause far worthier than my gullet. It's a gift.

Now that's a far-cry from my Kibbutz days when during the hot evenings we used to sit around on the mirpeset of the ulpan builiding drinking 11 shekel arak. In the 11 intervening years between then and now, the same 11 shekel arak is being sold for 13 shekels. Frankly, I'm surprised that they could justify putting up the price even over such a long period. That stuff was lethal. It wouldn't put hairs on your chest, it would burn your stomach from the inside out. Boy, was it good. Some time ago I bought a bottle for old times sake. It is sitting virtually untouched in my liquor cabinet, waiting for me to have a weak nostalgic moment.