How a Brewmaster Created a Sumac Beer People Are Obsessed With - Vendors

Brewmaster Zahra Tabatabai is the founder and owner of Back Home Beer, where she brews beer inspired and influenced by the flavors of her family’s country of Iran and the surrounding region. She achieves this by using ingredients sourced from Iran, like blue salt and sumac.
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Credits:
Producer: Carla Francescutti
Directors: Carla Francescutti, Murilo Ferreira
Camera: Murilo Ferreira, Carla Francescutti
Editor: Howie Burbidge
Executive Producer: Stephen Pelletteri
Supervising Producer, Operations: Stefania Orrù
Supervising Producer, Development: Gabriella Lewis
Audience Engagement: Avery Dalal
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[@eater]

For more on where to find Back Home Beer, check out: instagram.com/backhomebeer/?hl=en

[@PetraKann]

Free Iran? What does that even mean? The revolution in 1979 "it was widely seen as an act against the U.S. and its influence in Iran, including its perceived attempts to undermine the Iranian Revolution and its longstanding support of the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the same year" Check out the interference of the US in Iran, 1953. The 28 Mordad coup d'état was a U.S and UK instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on 19 August. Without the US/UK backed coup d'etat in 1953 there is no Iranian Revolution in 1979. Lets not re-write the History of the region in a Hollywood fashion. Fantastic beer

[@ultimateform8714]

Came for the beer, stayed for the history. Good luck to her and her dreams.

[@LindsayDaly]

Dang she's super knowledgeable, can't believe it all started from self-teaching and trial and error! Good for her.

[@teosoderholm96]

shes not lol

[@douglasthomas8513]

Heh ya she's fine just dumbed it down. Not a high end brewmaster but a decent homebrewer. And most current craft beer brewers started out self taught making beer in their kitchens or garages. It's a bug and once bit you're not gonna want to do much else 😂

[@tomypreach]

​@@teosoderholm96very true

[@hauntedkunefe5070]

Lady, that was super educating. Both on the history of Iran and of course, beer. I sure wanted to try one. Good luck to you, may you sell more beers with each passing day.

[@bradyb9929]

I really respect her educated views of Iran. Would be hard to not recognize the country of your heritage. This is awesome.

[@Bourbon101LRSD]

Protect this woman at all costs! She’s a visionary.

[@D3adToraX]

Finally beer from the MIDDLE YEAST!

[@cz2301]

hahahaha good one!

[@insaneshadow1]

Wonderful video! I've been homebrewing for 8 years at this point, so It's really cool to see someone brew their traditional beer styles! For anyone wondering, she is doing a technique called "kettle souring" Typically boil happens right after mash, but with Lactobacillus it's soured, then boiled once the PH is correct.

[@brianmoody2549]

Keeping tradition alive,doing the job the right way from the heart,will always lead to helping others understand what you’re trying to do,so when you get more beer out there for everyone to enjoy and drink 🍺 and enjoy.

[@RandomMusingsdpecs]

Really great to see how what might be my favorite beer brewed in NYC get made! Looking forward to exciting new things from Zahra and Back Home

[@Wyntah888]

Loving the vendors series!!

[@nsikanfriday1311]

Major shoutout to the production and post-production team. I must say, the sound design is completely brilliant!

[@rankang2194]

Omg I would love to get my hands on that craft beer…I don’t drink but I would definitely have some for my guests that come to my home…looks delicious!

[@mqasemniksefat4202]

Jeez man! RESPECT! Amazing (more than sad!) to see such fascinating people still fighting for their basic liberty...

[@straightouttagt8976]

I love it. From Guyana South America

[@antonioM6896]

This beer needs to be in every Persian restaurant in the world

[@GCLU]

Have tried a few of these. Their sumac gose is different but delicious with a good sour cherry flavor.

[@barrypoontang]

sumac deez nuts

[@JamesRet]

This brewer is my hero! I want to drive to New York to get this beer!

[@BradenRowan]

Wow I LOVE this beer. I had no idea that this woman was behind it the story she gives us incredible.

[@Vatvachanver]

Love the story, love the passion, love those old pictures. I hope I can try those beers soon.

[@dimoolia]

I remember hearing Zahra on Sporkful. Great guest and top tier series.

[@Sakja]

I love small brewers. Hard to find their brews though.

[@juvedeef2301]

Mee too. She will have a webshop soon. Just checked her website. Hope that she will be shipping to Europe. Very interested in the flavours.

[@TheBrokenEclipse]

I really want to taste her beers, they sound so different! I really hope one day she can brew beer back home and ship it all over the world

[@bjs1130]

Beautiful Story! Thanks for sharing!

[@kingcherubix7064]

Im colombian, and not too into beer but honestly seeing everything that goes into this specific one looks so good, wish i could try some

[@GazpachoSoupDuJour]

Love it! I hope this video increases viability for Back Home Beer so that Zahra can eventually receive funding for a brewhouse of her own. Too often marginalized individuals are overlooked for business loans and we end up with similar beers being brewed by similar people just because they're tried and true. I don't believe any true fan of craft beer wants a completely stagnant scene. Heck, I'm already experiencing burn out with the supersaturation of IPAs.

[@avgperson25]

What an awesome comment!! As a middle eastern living in a far less inviting country, if you said something similar to me IRL, i'd be in tears

[@buffalojoe78]

Tell me about it! I live in Texas and we have a lot of German, Czech and Polish diaspora here. Houston is also a melting pot of many different cultures. Yet all I see are IPA’s. Double IPA. Imperial IPA’s. Hazy NEIPA’s. I wanna see more Czech Lagers, Hefeweizens, Altbiers, Ethiopian Gesho etc.

[@rumbatumblajambomambo6241]

as a German dude, living in Germany: I agree and we have a similar scene issue here in Germany. Luckily Chzech beer is just a train ride away :D @@buffalojoe78

[@TheDd4477]

Next time I drink a beer, I'll appreciate it a bit more 🍺

[@Samuelhgflax]

Posting from Heart of Gold in Astoria - some of the best and most creative beers I've ever had are the Back Homes! I am patiently waiting for BH to be kegged and tapped

[@PAVEL--JAKL]

I love beer 🍺

[@vlagavulvin3847]

That's pretty inspiring, thanx! Talking of 5gal batch -- how much sumac should I add?

[@sorooshmoghimi5494]

RESPECT!!! OMG she is awesome.

[@tomachi21]

Beautiful!

[@PhysiqueFuel]

I gotta try some 🤘

[@barrypoontang]

Just get a bud light add some cat piss and a handful of your granny's potpourri that she keeps in the bathroom, hey presto you've made your own.

[@gab.lab.martins]

“When people think about alcohol, they don’t think about the Middle East” I think of Sumerian beer and Israeli wine. The vineyards of Israel and Judea that had been cultivated for thousands of years were destroyed in the 700s of the Roman calendar by Arab Muslim colonisers, but there were still Jews and Samaritans growing illegal grapes, and smuggling in wine throughout history. And B"H nowadays there are multiple vineyards again in the Negev, Golan, haGalil. Also, there are hieroglyphic mentions of beer in Egypt dating back to the First Kingdom. Again, the industry was only destroyed when the Arabs invaded Egypt, and tried to erase Copts, Nubians, and other indigenous ethnicities of Kemet. It’s uncomfortable for some people, but the Arabian rulers practiced a colonialism as terrible as the Europeans did in the 1500s of the Roman calendar.

[@rankang2194]

Would love to have seen Iran when it was a free society for all. Hoping change will come to Iran for good. Freedom for all.

[@ForAnkhee]

Everything 🔥🔥🔥. 💗

[@livz2laugh]

We need to try! Trader Joe’s needs to stock!!!!

[@DarwinsBeerReviews]

She knows what she's talking about with beer/brewing! Hope Iran one day goes back to the free culture it was before.

[@samwisegamgee2488]

Man I love America. A mixed pot of cultures bringing this to the world!

[@ingilizanahtar644]

Seküler iranlıları seviyorum, Türkiye den selamlar

[@Romafood]

Molto bravi, great video

[@hamburglar83]

How can i get this in Chicago??

[@hamburglar83]

Never get in the way of a Persian woman! How do i get this into Chicago?

[@VinceW187]

This is awesome! Wish I could taste it

[@jon553]

Where can I get!

[@VathSophanin]

Good job 👍

[@blythefair8803]

WHERE can I order?

[@brentbrewer4891]

How long did it take from mash to canning?

[@backhomebeer]

3 weeks

[@DIRIPAPI]

When she mentions wheat, you guys proceded on showing oats instead of the wheat grains 2:07

[@usr604]

Nice work. I hope she gives back to her culture and not only profit off of it.

[@philipph7911]

Honestly thats why I love the German „Reinheitsgebot“. Literally only allowing hops, malt, yeast and water. Being able to make top tier bier just like that is truly and art-form.

[@davevillaire2990]

Under the Reinheitsgebot you couldn't call her beer BEER nor most modern beers since you couldn't introduce CO2 artificially. And the original was barley, hops and water only no added yeast or other grains, spices or fruits. So I don't understand your reference to the Reinheitgebot and this video.

[@Matzes]

​@@davevillaire2990yeast was obviously present in beer. But back in thr 1500s people didnt even know about yeast and how it worked so its not in the original text of thr reinheitsgebot. But clearly yeast need to be in there

[@davevillaire2990]

@@Matzes I wasn't claiming it wasn't.

[@davevillaire2990]

@@Matzes Also you didn't explain what it had to do with her video, since she violates the Reinheitsgebot so thoroughly with all the adjuncts that the law forbids.

[@middleearthtroll6183]

i'd drink this over bud lite thats for sure

[@Bala.the.Baldie]

I really wish Iran goes back to it's original ways like before

[@jackwalker9492]

I would so love to visit Iran. But, I am retired US military and American and the animal regime would lock me up for sure. Such history, the Persian Empire was one of the greatest on earth. Someday, maybe we will have peace and I can visit.

[@nihil0bstat]

They hate Americans for a reason there either way, Ami

[@broman113]

is it a day drinking beer??? no. its the bar inbetween sipper beer. 7.9/10

[@pedramcameronhoss4339]

A true Shire Zan!

[@eedwardgrey2]

The Shannameh Iran's national epic has a rather hilarious chapter where a (pre-Islamic) king bans alcohol after one of his courtiers gets so drunk crows peck his eyes out while he's passed out. Then a woman petitions him that her son needs a drink to get it up on his wedding night and he allows it again in moderation.

[@yenilopez5260]

Dope!

[@johnny9402]

Not really beer but still looks amazing!

[@seannaesseannaes]

It would have been nicer to have the label in cuneiform, the language she used is 2000 years newer and they don’t like alcohol!

[@fritz6130]

jin jiyan azadi

[@faisalshahajat2872]

🙂🙂

[@Rakadis]

For the love of Ægir, the god of brewing, please continue to brew and buy real beer of all styles. If the megacorporation's get their way we will be drinking nothing but watery piss made with whatever can be fermented in to alcohol.

[@JohnDoe-yu5zm]

6:23 "beautiful, free, open", don't forget highly corrupt, and dissention then as now was punished with extreme prejudice. Now by the Gasht-e Ershad (morality police among others) and back then by SAVAK.

[@thedeeprot]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@iamteddy87]

1:05 man that is not how you open a bag of malt. Alot of times these contract brewing don't let you actually brew. You just give them the recipe and they brew for you.

[@Badonicus]

Shes got that up and down tone.....like omg its sooooo sourrrrrr.The hops impart so much of the arooomaaaaaa

[@buhingkalbaryo]

wow i wish i could try that beer here in my country🤤

[@sunilpatel217]

🍺🍻😘😘

[@AhmedHussein-sp9tq]

oh please , don’t put rumi’s poetry as a cover on your beer he was a sufi and a respected muslim scholar which the west turned him into a joke do what you want to do but keep religion and religious stuff out of your business

[@alexje306]

Women empowered.

[@sem6747]

Ridiculous to let somebody platform their incredibly disingenuous and a-hisorical view on the Shah's Iran. Only a handful of rich people lived the lifestyle that look like a "vogue photoshoot", the rest lived under a heavily repressive authoritarian leader.

[@Judge_Magister]

True and now they are “living” under a heavily repressive sharia paria state.

[@DrCogvet]

So…Iran is less repressive and authoritarian today? Where only the spoiled children of the crooked Mullahs can afford luxury vehicles and clothing…

[@jujitsujew23]

Because it’s so much better now…oh wait 🙄

[@flippensweet3]

Right lol i guess that's where culture comes from because all poor people have money for is survival.

[@nihil0bstat]

@@jujitsujew23 Thank you, USA for deposing of the Shah

[@oxvendivil442]

The sad thing is that Beer had its origins in the middle east kinda! but because of Islam that went down the drain.

[@axem.8338]

Isn't alcohol considered haram?

[@BenanaBoy]

Depends on how you practice Islam and your interpretation of what is/isn't haram. Like one interpretation could be against drunkenness rather than alcohol itself, but just like all religions theres a bunch of different interpretations

[@barrypoontang]

and a women owning a business

[@augl2702]

That's why she specified "...One day to brew beer in a FREE Iran"

[@fritz6130]

Did you listen at all?

[@SaltedBadly]

Yes it is, but not all of iran are muslims.

[@jasoncates2944]

It is sad to think of the erosion of progress that religion causes. The muslim peoples had some of the greatest mathematicians and astronomers. They created algebra and they named the stars. They were the center of technology and education and people of different countries would come to share in their knowledge and enlightenment. And then they closed the door on all of that and cast themselves backwards into the bonds and slavery of religion. I hope those wonderful people get their freedom back someday.

[@rosameltrozo5889]

Interestingly enough that was more the continuation of the Persian tradition, it was once that Islam took center stage that the doors closed

[@aniishanooreenwoomed1002]

Muslim be producing beer, damn u zahra💀

[@maxmeier532]

I brew beer to remind myself of the times when my grandad used to get shitfaced.

[@papaversomniferum_89]

But its haram

[@leorospigg4520]

Maybe but without beer civilization wouldn't have been what we know today

[@fransjosephincomio6473]

First

[@jessegarcia2060]

Barely beer makes me break out ..I stay away from any kind of barely beer...Plus to me it taste nasty

[@HankoGaming]

Who asked?

[@wth5468]

Great video but I had to turn it off, why do Americans these days raise the intonation of the end of every single sentence? It's so grating and weird.

[@wth5468]

the beer looks and sounds absolutely delicious though.

[@ICallBullTV]

Middle East and Alcohol, what a great idea

[@Qwertyuiop99833]

What do you mean by this?

[@putumban7738]

Beer was made in those regions since around 4000 BC

[@xrry8428]

@@Qwertyuiop99833 Haram

[@realclassicman]

Make great beer, history and knowlegde and .. label in arabic? I would never buy!

[@vracaze]

This is probably meh at best but she just has a story with it so thats why its here

[@lowfiveghost256]

corny

[@christopherlove6402]

Second

[@jmyd83]

Political Beer

[@grant1133]

"Finest beers in America" Damn that's a low bar.

[@kokoba5084]

متاسفم برات... یه روز باید جواب جدت رو بدی

[@bobfromaccounting93]

Last.

[@boblogiii8869]

Sorry to say, but the bars not very high in the US.

[@gnomebrewing]

American beer is tremendous.

[@Mist3rBaker]

I thought islamic people don't drink alcohol nowadays.

[@12345678abracadabra]

The culture existed before Islam took hold 1979

[@ausnetting]

Beer is considered Haram (forbidden) by Muslims. Not all Iranians are Muslim, but Islamic Law (Sharia) is the law of the land there now, so no one living in Iran is legally allowed to make or drink alcohol.

[@nihil0bstat]

Think a bit more then, you will get it eventually

[@Nonavaila]

I hope this is a joke alcohol from Middle East😂😂!. I’m from Middle East. We don’t sell alcohol we don’t drink alcohol so what is that ! it’s not from Middle East you took our culture and put it into something that we don’t include in our culture at all .

[@nihil0bstat]

Sure thing, but Islam is a novelty religion in the middle east

[@DKHolbrook11]

You mean Islamic culture, not necessarily middle eastern culture.. The are cultures in the Middle East where alcohol isn’t haram. There are Maronite and Coptic Christian’s throughout the region and wine is part of their traditions. Also alcohol was permitted in Iran before the Islamic revolution…Turkey and Lebanon as well.

[@Nonavaila]

@@DKHolbrook11 You are right if we are talking about all the Middle East but you’re wrong if we talk about Muslim that I mean about Middle East some countries and Middle East is not a Muslim countries

[@Nonavaila]

@@voraciousfred please if you don’t know about Islam don’t talk I don’t know who told you that, but this is wrong !

[@Nonavaila]

@@nihil0bstat also you don’t talk

[@PalyRamos]

😂