A few years ago I wondered what makes some whiskies - specifically Irish and scotch - not acceptable to some Jews, this scrivener included.
The answer is in the aging, the "maturing" of the liquor.
More precisely, the barrels in which the whiskies are aged/matured.
It turns out that for the "makpedim" - people who (try to) follow minute points of kashrut law - putting whiskies into barrels formerly used to contain wine costs the liquor its "kashrut.'
Of course, if the wine that was in the barrel was a kosher wine, then there would be no problem.
There are those, and they are many and among the accepted "poskim" - decisors of Jewish law - who either (a) ignore the wine issue or (b) contend that there is no issue.
Normally, in the Orthodox world, is something 'falls into" a pot and that something is less than 1/60th of the volume of the pot's content, the "something" that "fell into" the pot is declared null and void. In other words, a drop of milk that accidently fell into a pot of kosher chicken soup would NOT cancel the soup's "kosher-ness."
The problem this scrivener has is that the liquors are aged in former wine casks to deliberately absorb the wine's remnants - color, flavor. There is no accident so the Rule of 1/60 doesn't apply - in my opinion. (Bear in mind that I am not a rabbi and I don't play one on tv.)
Straight, unflavored American Bourbon is kosher "by default." Some American whiskies are not kosher due to added ingredients. (Southern Comfort is unusual in that the Southern Comfort when in Ireland, with a hechser from Badatz Basel and Badatz Beit Yosef is kosher if the kashrut symbols are visible on the bottles, which are parve. Southern Comfort produced in the USA and bottled in Ireland is a whey product and lacks the Badatz and Beit Yosef labels. Southern Comfort produced and bottled in the USA is not authorized, (See http://www.jerusalemkoshernews.com/2010/06/southern-comfort/,)
Several kashrut organization list "kosher" brands. The PROBLEM is that many of the brands have multiple labels, some aged in Bourbon barrels, some aged in wine barrels.
There are - as far as I know - only two ways to determine if the potable is aged in Bourbon or virgin barrels or in old wine barrels:
1: Go to the distiller's Web site, if there is one, and check the aging process for each label
2: Write (email) the distiller and ask: "Is this product aged in Bourbon or virgin casks.
Most distillers will tell you: Aged in Bourbon casks, aged in wine casks, or aged in Bourbon and wine casks. (Chivas Regal, as an example, is blend of scotches aged in either Bourbon or wine casks; only the master blender knows what goes into the bottles that end up in the stores.)
I used to trust the kashrut certifying agencies - most cRc and Star-K in North America - but two things prevent me from blindly accepting the word of any organization.
Thing 1: I don't know (although I could easily ask) if the certifying agency is strict (nothing aged in a wine cask) or lenient (wine casks are OK).
Thing 2: Distillers change their processes.
For example, an email from Ms. Lillian MacArthur of the Burnstewart/Bunnahabhain Distillery tells me that
I am afraid we do not have any bottlings as specified in your e-mail.
We did have a bottling called Darach Ur, however this Bunnahabhain product was only finished in Bourbon wood and was not specifically matured in these casks for the whole of their maturation period.
Our other products 12YO, 18YO and 25YO are a percentage mixture of different wood types made up of refill oak casks, sherry casks and bourbon casks.
Ms. Fiona J. MacDonald of the Dalwhinnie Distillery wrote that only Dalwhinnie's 15 year old product is aged exclusively in used Bourbon barrels.
I have enquired of a number of distillers and almost without exception I have received replies. I'm glad for email; imagine the stamp costs and delays of snail mail.
The bottom line is that if you'd like to try a particular brand of scotch, Irish, and possibly Canadian whiskey, it pays to ask the distiller how the product is matured or aged.
I queried a number of distillers of single-malt scotch whiskys; the results are found at Kosher vs. Kosher, Scotch for a makpeed.
See related entry "Your preferred scotch: Kosher, or not?"
The images above are for illustrative purposes only.
