Since 2021, Back Home Beer has infused the American beer scene with innovative flavors and unique influences. Founded by Zahra Tabatabai, a journalist-turned-homebrewer born to Iranian immigrants to the U.S, Back Home Beer offers memorable beers inspired by Iran and beyond: cured Turkish sumac gose brewed with tart cherries, lager with Persian blue salt, orange blossom IPA, and more.

Join Tabatabai and Theresa McCulla, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, for a conversation about Tabatabai’s unexpected path to beer and her business’s mission to empower women, support immigrants, and take care of their surrounding communities.

Theresa McCulla is a curator and historian of the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States. Her scholarship investigates how Americans have used material and visual culture to understand race, ethnicity, and gender, especially in the realm of food and drink. Her first book, Insatiable City: Food and Race in New Orleans will be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2024.

McCulla is the Curator of the American Brewing History Initiative at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She earned a PhD in American Studies and an MA in History from Harvard University; a Culinary Arts Diploma from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts; and a BA in Romance Languages from Harvard College. Previously, she worked as an Arcadia Fellow for the Colonial North American Project at Harvard Library; managed the Food Literacy Project for Harvard University Dining Services; cooked in sweet and savory restaurant kitchens in Cambridge, MA, and Washington, DC; and worked as a European media analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. Her writing has been awarded by the James Beard Foundation and the North American Guild of Beer Writers.

Zahra Tabatabai grew up within a family of immigrants – her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins all lived within a few blocks. Stories about life “back home” were often told, including stories about her grandfather brewing beer in Shiraz, Iran. This inspired Zahra to dig deep into the history of beer making in Iran, discovering (to her surprise), that the earliest physical trace of beer dates back to present day Iran. This motivated Zahra to explore the craft of beer making. With the help of her local homebrew shop (the lovely John & Doug at Bitter & Esters), brewing books and online videos, she began to experiment with different recipes. After a few years of tinkering (and brave friends/family tasting her recipes), Zahra is ready to share her beer with the community. Beer inspired & influenced by her Persian/Middle Eastern roots.

Zahra earned her degree in business at The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to founding Back Home Beer, Zahra worked as a news writer in both television and print. An avid animal lover, she has volunteered for a local dog rescue for many years and has fostered hundreds of pups before finding their forever homes. Zahra has lived in New York City for 16 years, and currently resides in Brooklyn with her partner and their son, Milo.