Türkiye. Beer education. New friends in unexpected places.

Words by Sandro Wirth. Photos by Simona Wirth.

The following article by Sandro Wirth was originally published in May 2026 in Issue 12 of Final Gravity, our print beer zine telling personal, human-centered stories about beer. You can order the print issue here, or subscribe here.

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My wife and I always look up beer tours when we travel. We run one ourselves back home in Switzerland, and it’s our favorite way to understand a new place quickly: through its people, its flavors, its stories. Before our trip to Istanbul, though, I didn’t expect to find a guide to the local beer scene. Rakı, tea, and some of the best food in the world, sure. But craft beer?

Then I found İdil Tan, Turkey’s first and only female Beer Sommelier, who offers tastings and education focused on Turkish beer culture. She had no tastings available during our stay, so I reached out directly, and we agreed to meet in Istanbul. That decision reshaped how I understand beer in Turkey.

We met İdil and her husband for dinner and then moved on to TaproomX, the Galata taproom of SomX Brewery. Walking in with İdil felt like being given access to a scene that usually stays out of sight. A DJ played in the corner while the room filled with conversation and the sound of glassware.

“Istanbul has surprises,” İdil said as we worked our way through nearly the entire taplist, smiling as she watched our reactions. She was right. The Bohemian Pilsner was clean and confident. Oat Yeah!, their XPA, showed the brewery’s bold, more hop-forward side. The Rauchbier was smoky and balanced.

For İdil Tan, beer has always been about understanding how flavors work together. She was drawn to beer through science first.

“Beer attracted me through a combination of my food engineering background and my natural curiosity about flavor creation,” she says. During her university years, traveling around Europe exposed her to a spectrum of beer styles and local brewing traditions. Each beer felt like a cultural artifact as much as a technical product, İdil recalls, describing how those experiences resonated with her inner food scientist. Before long, what began as casual tasting evolved into a calling.

“I realized I didn’t want beer to remain just a hobby,” she says. “I wanted a strong, certified foundation.”

That decision led her to formal training in the UK, where she earned her Beer Sommelier accreditation through the Beer & Cider Academy. She was the first, and—as far as she knows—still the only female Beer Sommelier in Turkey. From there, she went on to become a Certified Cicerone and, later, a WSET Certified Beer Educator.

One of the things I liked most about talking with her was how lightly she carries that expertise. Over dinner, she moved easily between nerdy detail and simple enjoyment. Ask her about a hop variety, and she’ll break down the aromatics. Ask her what she actually likes to drink after work, and she won’t hide behind theory.

“Clear knowledge and technical accuracy matter, but beer should always remain accessible,” she says.

That philosophy shapes her work as an educator. In a predominantly Muslim country where alcohol advertising is banned and beer events face tight restrictions, education becomes the most effective way in.

“When the right opportunities arise—tastings, workshops, trainings—we see real demand,” İdil says, explaining that the interest is real even as the scene looks quiet from the outside. “People are curious. They want to understand what they’re drinking. These limits don’t stop people from enjoying beer, or from wanting to learn. The potential is there.”

This curiosity exists despite the contradictions of beer in Turkey. The land itself holds some of the oldest beer history on Earth. At Göbekli Tepe, archaeological evidence suggests fermented grain beverages were consumed nearly 11,000 years ago. İdil approaches this carefully.

“Reconnecting to ancient beer history can be meaningful when it’s handled accurately,” she says. “Sometimes just knowing beer has roots here changes how people see it.”

She avoids grand claims, instead using history as context, not spectacle. It’s a way to challenge the idea that beer is something foreign, imported, or purely modern.

Turkish beer history resurfaced in the late 19th century with the Swiss-born Bomonti brothers, who built Istanbul’s first modern brewery (as a Swiss beer writer, this was fun to learn). Today, that former brewery complex lives on as Bomontiada, home to cultural spaces and to Torch Brewery at “The Populist”, where İdil sent us the next day. Drinking an American Pale Ale inside a renovated historic brewery felt symbolic. And the mix of modern and traditional beer styles here felt like a statement: Turkish brewers aren’t copying trends; they’re interpreting them.

Today’s beer industry in Turkey is shaped by scale and regulation. Large producers dominate distribution, while small breweries navigate high taxes and limited communication channels. Despite these challenges, a craft scene has quietly grown over the past decade. Even industrial producers have taken note, releasing craft-inspired lines.

“One of the biggest misconceptions is that Turkey lacks diversity in beer,” İdil says. “The community may be smaller, but it’s engaged and evolving.”

Education plays a crucial role here. İdil’s tastings often introduce people to styles they’ve never tried. Sour beers are her favorite test.

“Some people love them instantly. Others are shocked,” she laughs. “Both reactions are valuable.” These moments when someone’s face changes mid-sip are what keep her motivated. “That’s when I think: yes, this is why I’m doing this.”

Despite often being labelled as a pioneer, İdil doesn’t frame her experience through struggle. She resists the idea of beer as a male-defined space, not by ignoring questions of imbalance, but by refusing to let them define the work itself. For her, equality grows through presence, competence, and shared curiosity. She stands out not because of gender, but because of clarity, discipline, and a generosity with knowledge that invites everyone in.

Ask İdil about the future of beer in Turkey, and her vision is grounded. Better service standards. More thoughtful beer lists. Spaces where learning and enjoyment coexist.

“When education, experience, and production work together, the industry can grow sustainably,” she says.

I went to Istanbul expecting history and food. I left with a new understanding of Turkish beer, and new friends. Thanks to İdil Tan, I no longer ask whether Istanbul is a beer city. I ask why more people haven’t realized it yet.

Order Issue 12

Istanbul’s Beer Revolution Has a Teacher: İdil Tan (Sandro Wirth, Issue 12)

Türkiye. Beer education. New friends in unexpected places.

My Father, Lion Lager, and Home (Ruvani de Silva, Issue 02)