WHEN IT COMES TO IRISH WHISKEY (and scotch whisky, too) some מקפידים (a person who is strict about things) reject anything aged or “matured” in a former wine cask. This is particularly true of Jews who follow the Maran Yosef Caro’s Shulhan Aruk1. Usually these are Sefardim or Mizrahim. Ashkenazim generally follow the more lenient Rabbi Moses Isserles, a/k/a the REM”A.2
This scrivener happens to appreciate a good Irish whiskey.
A sampling of Irish whiskey options sans concern for kashrut.
NOW THERE IS A SOLUTION to the problem that could, or at least should satisfy the most makpeed – even this scrivener.
Israel has developed a thriving viniculture industry.
Most of the wines produced in Israel are kosher.
Unlike the Israeli products of the past, the new Israeli wines can hold their own in world competition. Besides being kosher, or perhaps in spite of being kosher, Israeli wines are highly marketable and maintain pretty good sales wherever wines are sold.
Which means . . .
Which means that Israel has wine casks to sell to the Irish and Scots whiskey makers.
Which means that the whiskey makers can use the casks to impart both color and taste to the products at least initially aged in used Bourbon barrels.
It seems to me that would be a Win – Win – Win for all concerned.
Win 1 The Israelis could get a little more ROI on the cask investment by selling – at a reasonable price-- to the Irish and Scots.
Win 2 The Irish and Scots could use the Israeli wine casks to color and flavor their products.
Win 3 The מקפידים could enjoy a greater variety of their favorite whiskeys.
An aside
What is the difference between “whiskey” and “whisky” – other than an “e”?
Whiskey – with an “e” – is the preferred spelling for American and Irish whiskeys. (Bourbon is a whiskey, but whiskey is not always Bourbon.)
Whisky – sans an “e” -- is the preferred spelling for the product made in Scotland. (“Scotch” is the potable; Scot is a person who lives in Scotland.) Whisky also is the preferred spelling in Canada.
Heksure, heksure, who’s got the heksure.
I recently was looking for Irish whiskeys that are “certifiable,” that is, they are certified kosher by a recognizable certifying agency, e.g., the Chief Rabbinate of Ireland, OU, Star-K, cRc, or one of the many badatz3 in Israel (it seems every city and town has a badatz to call its own).
What I found was confusion.
One agency listed a product as “approved,” while another disagreed. One agency’s “not recommended” was another’s “recommended.”
Until the wine cask issue is resolved – or the buyer simply doesn’t care – the best way to determine if a product is aged in a wine cask is: ASK THE DISTILLER.
In my experience, most distillers are candid with their answers. Most DO respond to polite email queries. In some cases, the question has to be posed to a corporation (e.g., Pernod Ricard which owns Chivas Regal, a blended scotch, some of which is aged in wine casks). Distiller or corporation, responses have been forthcoming.
לחיים
1. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/joseph-caro/
2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Isserles
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badatz
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
