BEER
And Kosher; No Less
Newsweek, October 20, 1997
Just when you thought you'd seen the most shtick-filled of microbrew marketing gimmicks, along comes a beer with all the subtlety of a stand-up act in the Catskills. Genesis Ale, the first beer under the new brand HE'BREW (the self-styled "Chosen Beer") is wrapped in a Chagall-like label that has an Orthodox man straddling the Golden Gate Bridge and the ancient walls of Jerusalem. The founder of (what else?) Shmaltz Enterprises, San Franciscan Jeremy Cowan, 28, sold a couple of hundred cases of the stuff as an experiment last Chanukah. Now it's selling out in the Bay Area and is heading for Los Angeles and New York. "I want this to be a quality brand," says Cowan. "Sort of a hip Manischewitz."