In our whisky journey, we’ve been fortune enough to explore all kind of whisk(e)y’s from all over the globe. We’ve even tasted some drams from New Zealand, Iceland and South Africa (and many more of course…). These countries aren’t your typical picks in a local- or online whisky store. But we still had a country and thereby a specific Distillery on our wishlist:
Israel – Milk & Honey whisky Distillery 🐂🐝🥃
The Distillery is based in Jaffa, Tel Aviv since 2014, but the idea of a Distillery in Israel originated from 2012.
From the quote “Impossible doesn’t exist” to M&H’s 1st on-site distillation in March 2015 a lot happened and they couldn’t have done it without their consultant “THE” Dr. Jim Swan.
300 sunny days ☀️ and a Mediterranean climate makes all the difference for M&H. Their spirit ages rapidly in their casks, but they’ve also got more loss (about 10% a year) comparing to, for example Scotland and Ireland. That’s not uncommon in the world, because we see similar circumstances in India, Taiwan and Australia. That being said, we’re happy to see M&H is following the Scotch Law on making whisky and therefor they won’t release any whisky until it’s 3 years old. Don’t get us wrong, we don’t mind a young “whisky” under the age of 5, or even 3 years old. But we’d like to see more quality over quantity from new upcoming distilleries and country’s, because some of the big brands are releasing to much NAS (mediocre and bad) whisky’s these days…
Some other nice facts about M&H before we’re taking you on our expedition 🥃:
Now you’re all up to speed about this Israeli Distillery. Let’s explore some drams!
Classic 46% ABV
- Nose: Strong vanilla, caramel and some spices like cinnamon and clove.
- Palate: Citrus, some peaches and oily.
- Finish: Short with oaky notes
Score: 75/100
- Nose: Creamy buttery vanilla, caramel and honey.
- Palate: Vanilla custard, coconut and caramel.
- Finish: Slight pepper note and oaky.
Score: 78/100
Elements – Red Wine Cask 46% ABV
- Nose: A complex nose with notes of red fruits, vanilla and anise.
- Palate: Raisins and red fruits. The alcohol balance is a bit off for me.
- Finish: Short.
Score: 73/100
- Nose: Red fruits, a bit oaky with spices and some floral notes.
- Palate: Really smooth with sweetness of red fruits (strawberries and raspberries), vanilla again some floral notes.
- Finish: More red fruits, but dried red fruits and some milk chocolate. A complex and evolving dram.
Score: 84/100
Elements – Sherry Cask 46%
- Nose: Definitely sherry notes, tobacco, vanilla and lemon.
- Palate: Caramel, creamy and Blue berries.
- Finish: Unfortunately a bit short…
Score: 75/100
- Nose: Dark red fruits, oaky, caramel and a whiff of dark chocolate.
- Palate: Almost identical with the nose. Some more sweet red fruits instead of dark.
- Finish: Some spices and dark chocolate.
Score: 82/100
Elements – Peated 46% ABV
- Nose: Slight smoke, oaky, vanilla and caramel.
- Palate: Creamy caramel and smoke.
- Finish: medium finish.
Score: 74/100
- Nose: Sweetness mixed with some smokiness. Vanilla, caramel and some lemon zest.
- Palate: Vanilla, some spices and a gentle peat smoke.
- Finish: Slight spices and lemons.
Score: 83/00
APEX – White Wine Cask 61.2% ABV
- Nose: A nice fresh and light floral nose with some peach sweetness.
- Palate: Waxy, vanilla, white grapes.
- Finish: Again that white wine grapes with a medium finish.
Score: 75/100
- Nose: This is really different and totally what you’d expect of a white wine cask. It’s like smelling fermented white grapes. A bit of citrus zest, but it’s balanced and smooth.
- Palate: More of those white grapes, a bit more bitter. Vanilla and citrus notes.
- Finish: More dried grapes and drie wry sour note.
Score: 80/100
APEX – Cognac Cask 59.4% ABV
- Nose: Really something else, elegant and smooth. Fruits like pear and apricots.
- Palate: Again those pears. A bit sweater than the other releases with a lot of fruit notes.
- Finish: Long, tasty and smooth.
Score: 78/100
- Nose: Strong on the nose with stone fruits and raisins. Dark chocolate and some spices.
- Palate: More fruits, but deeper notes. Some honey and (milk) chocolate.
- Finish: Some cacao, dried stone fruits and spices.
Score: 84/100
We’ve tasted quite some drams from and we liked the fact that they bottle @ 46% ABV, but we’re also a bit anxious that it’s necessary to keep those flavors. It would be interesting on drinking some New Make Spirit to compare, or to drink their Classic @ 40% ABV.
You could see that we’ve got some different tasting notes and scores about these whisky’s. I, @Whiskypeater, must admit, that this wasn’t really my thing. But that’s ok! The whisky’s aren’t bad at all, but I missed some balance and flavors in some. I did notice that those APEX were more my thing. Maybe I’m just a bit spoiled with all those Cask Strength whisky’s these days…
I, @Dramtastic.86, was more into these drams. My favorite was actually the Red Wine Cask from the Elements range, while I normally won’t pick or buy a red wine cask finished/matured whisky. I just liked the fact it was evolving and I could take my time with it to discover.
We hope you enjoyed reading this and it made you curious to explore this Distillery yourself. Please let us know what your thoughts on Milk and Honey are!
Slàinte 🥃
Dutch Whisky Brothers
Dutch Whisky Brothers 
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