Israel's First Single Malt Whisky

The Milk and Honey Distillery (M&H) at Tel Aviv, Israel, has released the country’s first single malt. The whisky is being brewed in a kibbutz workshop. Kibbutz are a typical agro-based dwelling in Israel’s Sharon region. It has been conceptualised by Tomer Green, M&H’s head distiller and the late Dr. Jim Swan, the distillery’s ex-consultant and the first master distiller.

The brew was first created much before the construction of the distillery. Green had been in consultation with Dr. Swan while he developed whisky recipes. They would often get together and distill small batches of whiskies through malt and yeast experimentation in 225-liter American oak casks. They would be matured for two and a half years and then transferred to a cask room for a month for another round of maturation in barrels that’s been used to age bourbon.

The whisky will be released later this year and a total of 391 bottles have been made available. These will be distributed globally in 2019.

M&H was founded in 2012. Their expression is making a buzz all around by the name of “Israel’s First Single Malt Whisky.” Going by popular claims, the brew matures two-and-a-half times faster than Scotch Whisky. As a natural corollary to that, it is equivalent to a Six Year Old Scottish single malt. The distillery has interesting plans of testing their brew. They intend to age it in mountains, deserts, and even the Dead Sea.

Whisky Auctioneer sold the first 100 bottles. The bottles were up for auction from the 11th of August to the 21st of the month. Traces of malted barley, lemon, marzipan, orange zest, cinnamon, and black pepper-induced spiciness can be found in the “kosher” whisky. The finish is chocolaty, long, spicy, and a little malty.

The single malt whisky has an ABV of 46%. The packaging is impressive to state the least. Every bottle is hand-numbered and wrapped in a box. A personal parchment scroll comes along with it. With the auction closed, the rest are available across select Israeli stores. The single malt is being distributed in stores all over the country by Hacarem.