Israel's HOPPY craft beer festival will be Kobi Kremer's last after a bruising clash with Health Ministry rules

The HOPPY craft beer festival is scheduled for June 16 to 17, from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., at Beit HaMiklot in Jaffa Port, with more than 50 breweries and over 200 beers from Israel, Europe, North America, and one brewery from South Korea. Organizer Kobi Kremer says this year’s lineup is the strongest yet, including beers that “beer geeks” travel for and breweries never previously poured in Israel.

But Kremer says it will also be his last such festival. In his words, “the state, in its current form, is no longer suitable for events like this.” He says the reason lies in a regulatory change made in February 2025, when oversight of alcoholic beverages moved from the Economy Ministry to the Health Ministry, including import supervision.

Kremer says that under the Economy Ministry he had received four consecutive approvals to import several hundred barrels of beer without costly testing, but those approvals no longer applied. He says that after a year of lobbying with other importers, the Health Ministry initially created a limited framework that would allow international alcohol festivals in Israel, but later reversed itself after the shipment arrived and demanded analyses anyway. According to Kremer, the goods were stuck at Ashdod Port from April until about a week and a half ago, while storage penalties rose to about $100 per day and increased by 150% after 10 days and again after two and a half weeks.

He also says officials demanded irrelevant tests, such as sulfites and mold, which he called absurd for beer. In the end, he says the shipment was released without analysis, but the damage was done. “They totally won,” he said, adding that he will not risk organizing such an event in Israel again.

Despite the financial blow, Kremer said he would still hold the festival because he feels responsible to the audience and to the community that built it. He described the event as driven not by large budgets but by beer lovers and personal relationships with brewers abroad. The Health Ministry had not responded by publication time.