Tag: Milk & Honey Distillery

The last of my Milk & Honey samples, and today I am looking at the Milk & Honey Elements Peated single malt whisky. The sample is leftover from my 2020 Milk & Honey tasting hosted by WhiskyBrother, where we got to taste the Milk & Honey Classic and samples from the Elements range including the Elements Sherry Cask.

There was even a Pomegranate wine cask finish sample. Not strictly a whisky, though, as it was only aged for about 18 months. Milk & Honey distillery whisky is available in SA.

Also Read: Firstwatch Whisky

The Milk & Honey distillery was Israel’s first urban single malt whisky distillery and began operating in 2014 in the south of Tel Aviv. The middle eastern climate is hot and humid, and this speeds up maturation.

The distillery hired the late Dr. Jim Swan, one of the world’s most accomplished master distillers, to assist with the recipe and ensure optimal production for warm weather.

Milk & Honey whisky is certified kosher. Tomer Goren is now the current head distiller. The Milk & Honey Elements Peated whisky was matured in ex-peated whisky casks from Islay, as well as ex-bourbon casks.

Milk & Honey Elements Peated Whisky Review

COUNTRY: Israel

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: Honey

NOSE: Soft peat and light smoke drifts from the glass. A honey sweetness with green notes and pine trees underneath. Bits of vanilla spice and lemons. I let the glass stand for a few minutes for some sharp alcohol notes to evaporate. 

PALATE: Citrus and pepper mingling with drying peat. Earthy notes and spice. Mild oak and fruity sweetness. Faint hints of ginger. It is quite spicy and the peat is very light. When you add water, it washes out the peaty notes. The Milk & Honey Elements Peated whisky is better without water. Not a lot of sweet notes.

FINISH: Medium length with spicy pepper and drying oak.  

RATING: VERY GOOD

Of all the Milk & Honey whisky samples that I tried, this Peated expression was my least favourite. The peat is very light and after adding some water, it disappears. It is also spicier when compared to the Sherry and the Classic Edition.

I have a sweet tooth, so prefer a whisky where sweeter notes dominate over the spice. Elements Peated Expression retails for around R980 in South Africa.

Looking at the variety that WhiskyBrother&Co stocks, I see that they stock the Milk & Honey Apex Pomegranate Finish whisky (aged for about 3 years) and the Apex Dead Sea whisky. This innovative release was aged in the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea where temperatures climb as high as 50ºC.

The casks were placed on a hotel rooftop in the Dead Sea zone (±423 meters below sea level) where they matured for a year before being returned to Milk & Honey’s warehouse in Tel Aviv.

Sample disclosure: I received this whisky from the WhiskyBrother team. The review and tasting notes are my own honest, fair and independent thoughts about the whisky.

Also Read: Dunville’s PX Cask 12 yo Whiskey

Today I have the opportunity to try the Milk & Honey Classic single malt whisky. What an exciting opportunity, the chance to try whisky from a new country; Israel. This country is certainly not known for whisky distilling.

Plans for a whisky distillery began in 2012 after a group of entrepreneurs decided to establish the first whisky distillery in Tel Aviv.

The Milk & Honey distillery was Israel’s first urban single malt whisky distillery and began operating in 2014 in the south of Tel Aviv. The distillery’s first products reached the shelves during the first quarter of 2016.

The climate in Israel is certainly as far removed from cold and wet Scotland as possible. Similar to India or indeed South Africa, the hot, humid climate speeds up maturation.

The entrepreneurs hired the late Dr Jim Swan, one of the world’s most accomplished master distillers and an expert in hot climate distillation and maturation, as an advisor. Dr Swan assisted with the recipe and all kinds of specifications to make sure the production was optimal for warm weather.

Also Read: Signature whisky

Other releases from this Israel based distillery include the Elements Red Wine Cask, Elements Peated and the Elements Sherry Cask. They also produce gin, namely the Levantine gin and oak-aged gin and even a young malt aged in pomegranate wine casks.

It is matured in ex-bourbon and red-wine STR (shaved, toasted, re-charred) casks. The Milk & Honey Classic is unpeated, non-chill-filtered with natural colour. It is now available in SA and retails for around R 790. I see that Whisky Brother and Bottega Whiskey club has some bottles available. Milk & Honey Classic single malt is certified kosher.

Milk & Honey Classic Single Malt Whisky

COUNTRY: Israel

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: Rich gold

NOSE: Caramel sweetness, dry oak with hints of vanilla and toffee. An amazingly bold nose for such a young release. I love the creamy caramel sweetness. The Classic has a unique nose. 

PALATE: Dry wood with vanilla and pepper and faint hints of green grass. After the sweet nose, I was expecting a sweeter taste, but the sweetness only comes through after adding a bit of water. Medium body and quite oily. Bit of alcohol heat.

FINISH: Medium body with oak and soft black pepper.

RATING: VERY GOOD

Not the most complex release, but easy drinking and distinctive. The best feature is the nose. It is warming with creamy caramel; I could smell my glass the whole evening.

This Classic edition is one of those releases that leaves a clear picture in my head; eating cream caramel toffees while hiking through an old forest. I enjoyed it, and I am happy that I have a big bottle in my collection to enjoy this again. 

I tried the Classic and a few of the Element releases as part of an online tasting event hosted by WhiskyBrother and Universal Beverages, the importer of Milk & Honey to South Africa. We had the opportunity to listen to the team at the Tel Aviv distillery.

We even had a walkabout in the Tel Aviv distillery. The attention to detail and quality from this distillery shines through in the whisky, and I will extend my collection with more when they become available in South Africa.

Also Read: Ballantine’s Finest vs Teacher’s whisky