Iranian beer is not an oxymoron. Kennesaw native Zahra Tabatabai, owner of Back Home Beer, wants to change that misconception, one brew at a time.
Inspired by her grandfather’s lager recipe, Back Home Beer is a first-generation, woman-owned beer company based in Brooklyn, where Tabatabai now lives. Founded in 2021, Tabatabai’s beers are sold at restaurants and stores in cities with sizable Persian enclaves, including Atlanta, New York, and Washington, D.C.
From Iran to Georgia to Brooklyn
Tabatabai grew up in Kennesaw and graduated from Georgia Tech in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in business and information technology.
Her family immigrated from Iran to the United States in 1976. Tabatabai was born in Baltimore, before the family relocated to metro Atlanta in the late 1980s. She lived within a few miles of her grandmother, and close by to her khalehs (maternal aunts).
“We would get together very often in the kitchen. Every occasion was spent together and really everything revolved around eating and drinking,” Tabatabai said.
These frequent family gatherings provided Tabatabai with access to her grandfather, who died when she was four years old.
“I’ve always heard stories about my grandfather making beer in Iran. Everything I know about him is through storytelling and through photos,” Tabatabai said.
Her grandfather was a home brewer based in Shiraz. He would ferment beer down in the basement of his home and invite people over to drink it.
The recipes
A year before the COVID-19 lockdown, Tabatabai’s grandmother told her she really missed the taste of his beer. That’s when Tabatabai decided to recreate the brew, taking classes at a Brooklyn home brew shop, watching numerous YouTube videos, and joining a home brew club.
Tabatabai incorporated ingredients her grandfather used: zereshk (barberries), albaloo (sour cherries), sumac, pomegranate, and limu omani (sun-dried limes). Her first successful brew was a recreation of her grandfather’s lager made with blue salt from Semnan, Iran, considered one of the world’s oldest condiments.
Tabatabai mailed the bottles to Atlanta, traveling with a few when she came home to visit family. “I would just take bottles of my latest iteration of the recipe and they would try it.”
Her family served as taste testers, reminiscing about the old beer her grandfather brewed in Iran, while offering suggestions based on flavor memories. Meanwhile, Tabatabai learned about the history of beer making in Iran.
“[Beer making] originated in the region. [Some] of the earliest chemical evidence of beer making was from a vessel found by an archaeologist of the Smithsonian in the Zagros Mountains,” Tabatabai explained.
“The Sumerians were the original brewers, and they were making beer in Mesopotamia. Nobody associates fermentation and beer making or alcohol at all with [Iran] because of what our country has become,” she continued. “I don’t want this history to be forgotten.”
That drive to educate people on Iran’s relationship with beer prompted Tabatabai to bring Back Home Beer to market. During the pandemic, she tinkered with her grandfather’s formula and eventually rented a tank. Back Home Beer’s first flavor, a sumac and sour cherry gose, debuted in October 2021. It sold out within a week. The next beer – Persian Blue lager – also sold out quickly.
Bringing beer to the people
Tabatabai said she originally leaned into marketing Back Home Beer to Iranian-Americans as her core demographic.
“At the very beginning, [the audience] was just people who are really proud that this [was] happening and this represents us,” she said. “We’re Iranian, and we do drink beer, and we do drink alcohol, and so it kind of organically grew from there.”
Word spread, and soon chefs, beverage directors, sommeliers, and cicerones learned about Tabatabai’s beers through social media.
While wine and cocktail pairings with food at restaurants are the norm, Tabatabai said, the beer list is often forgotten. She initially focused on restaurants, as the beer was intended to enjoy with food.
“We always think about what we’re going to eat and drink for the next meal, so it was very intentional that these recipes are developed to go into restaurants and be paired with food,” Tabatabai said.
Back Home Beer features six flavors, with Persian Blue, the homage to her grandfather. It’s the beer company’s bestseller. Tabatabai also launched seasonal flavors, like a Nowruz (Persian New Year) beer and the Yalda Queen, made with watermelon and pomegranate for the winter solstice.
“The first way that many people are introduced to a different culture is through food and drink, right? It’s accessible, it’s affordable, and it’s an easy way to do it,” Tabatabai said. “For me, a lot of the people who follow Back Home Beer, this is their exposure to Iranian traditions and community.”
Finding Back Home Beer in Atlanta
Restaurants and bars
- Atkins Park Restaurant & Bar
- Basil’s Restaurant and Tapas Bar
- Bibi Persian Eatery
- Boxcar at Hop City West End
- Buddy Buddy
- Cafe Efendi Mediterranean Restaurant
- The Chastain
- Delbar (all locations)
- Kitty Dare
- Noosh Kitchen
- Red Light Cafe
- Yakitori Kona
- Yalda (all locations)
- Zakia
