איך נולדה בירת הקראפט הישראלית

What does “birat craft” mean in Hebrew?

בירת קראפט (birat craft) is a fascinating little Hebrew construction. Bira (“beer”) shifts to birat in the construct state (smikhut), then sits next to a transliterated English noun קראפט without translation. Modern Hebrew does this all the time: native grammar holding hands with an untranslated loanword. Birat chavit (draft beer), birat lager, birat IPA all follow the same pattern.

This Kan News long-form profiles the Israeli craft scene through brewer Gilad Cohen, who started in 2006 when Tempo and Hacherut Hamerkaziet (Coca-Cola Israel) controlled almost the entire market. The piece walks through tap-rights battles, the Shapira and Shikma acquisitions, and how the term birat craft crossed from English into a Hebrew industry word in twenty years.