Tour of the Milk and Honey Distillery
Milk & Honey Distillery/Sanahdrink, Walla
You won't believe it, but the first thought that went through my mind after tasting about 30 different types of whiskey was: OK, where's my beer?
I thought, I said and I did: after they completed the souvenir photos and collected all the prizes they won in the intermediate stage, I was also accompanied by the people of the Israeli distillery "Milk and Honey" and together we continued to the "Dickens Inn" (what's up, Charles?), to sip A few pints of Guinness, to cut between the morning whiskey and the afternoon cocktails.
Because that's how it is with us: we follow a varied diet.
I guess you already felt that this text is soaked in alcohol to the extent that you can get dizzy just reading it, but despite a slight hangover, I will try to organize my thoughts and set things straight, or at least list events in their order.
And yet: if there's a bottle within your reach, please pour yourself a small drink, without which you'll have a hard time getting through the (roughly) next thousand words - and we'll be on our way.
Whiskey competitions, a bit like wine competitions, can be misleading.
There are so many of them, that while winning one of the considered ones will be likened to obtaining the Holy Grail, in Kikiuniyya you will receive one or another decoration, guaranteed in advance, only for the payment of the registration fee for the competition.
This competition is the real World Cup, and I'm not writing this just because they gave me the honor of judging at the semi-final stage, but because it is organized by the most important title in the field:
"Whiskey Magazine
" (soon: in the Hebrew version!), and includes hundreds of brands around For the world, thousands of bottles and about five rounds of blind tastings, that is, ones where you have no idea what you are tasting during them.
All you are given is the relevant category.
Last year, the Jaffa distillery kicked the field's Messi and Ronaldo and lifted the prestigious award.
Israeli pride/PR, World Whiskey Award
The history and the hysteria
I'll go into more detail about the different stages shortly, but let's go for a moment to the fact that we have to mention even before we sip the first drop of whiskey: last year the Milk and Honey distillery, two fingers from Bloomfield, stunned the whiskey world when its single malt bottle, from the "Elements" series, which was aged in barrels Sephardi sherry (kosher!) won the title of the best single malt in the world.
For those who are not in the field, it is difficult to explain even how far-fetched it is on paper: a distillery that combines the idea for its establishment and to this day less than 11 years have passed, which in practice is active and produces much less than that, from a warm country that is not known (to say the least) for its alcoholic distillates, with An almost unknown master distiller - and suddenly, such a boom!
Since I'm already tired of the example I gave everyone at the time, because it was a metaphor for Israel winning the World Cup, after a victory in the final over Messi's Argentina - and after knocking out Brazil, Spain, Germany and Italy along the way, then I say it's as if Aden Golan, who was chosen this week to represent Israel at Eurovision, You will receive the Grammy instead of Taylor Swift.
After proving proficient on a variety of topics related to popular culture, I hope you're now comfortable enough to sip on my social media, so let's get started.
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Drink as a religion
Here is a summary of the history of time in one paragraph: the distillation was invented by the Muslims and the missionaries who rubbed shoulders with them in areas of conflict, such as for example Spain, which passed from hand to hand and converted to religion (for the benefit of the Christians and the disaster of the Jews), they learned it from their competitors for the privilege of opening a new branch of divine representation on earth.
While the Muslims are forced to obey the most stupid religious prohibition in history (written by the Chosen People, according to whose Halacha it is forbidden to eat lobster, prosciutto and Saint-Jacques cookies), the one that forbids drinking alcohol even without the exception of Purim, the Christian missionaries realized very quickly that the way to their hearts of millions of new believers passes through the liver - and spread their teachings with the help of sermons with an open bar.
It is not for nothing that even the rich English language does not distinguish between "spirit" in the alcoholic and spiritual sense.
Wherever the knowledge reached, they distilled the surplus agricultural grain: various fruits, honey, root vegetables and of course wheat and barley, everything that yeast could turn the sugar in it into alcohol.
The latter (barley) became whiskey, somewhere about a thousand years ago in Ireland and from there the drink spread to Scotland (I will warn you in advance: there are Scots who will not sign this version).
Let us continue to distill a thousand-year-old history into a few sentences and say that in the 19th century there was a great transformation in the field of whiskey production (the regulation of production, the invention of continuous distillation and an aphid that destroyed most of the vines in the world and prevented competition from brandy) which became the most common alcoholic drink in the world.
Both in terms of quantity and in terms of distribution, when it was carried on the military ships and the merchant fleet of the British Empire on which the sun never set, to the four wings of the world.
The main country of production of the drink was Scotland, which took the lead from Ireland, followed by the United States (did you know that the first American president, George Washington, owned a distillery?), Canada and Japan.
All this was true until about 30 years ago, when they thought A few entrepreneurs around the world who could imitate the Japanese (they outplayed the Scots perfectly, perhaps even surpassing the original) and accurately copy the production to other regions of the world as well, which would perhaps produce different climatic effects on the drink.
The process, which was carried on lazily for about another decade, began to pick up speed about - 20 years and exploded in the last decade with thousands of new whiskey brands every year around the world, from Taiwan to San Francisco, from Finland to South Africa. An impressive wave in its scope and uneven in quality, which fortunately did not pass over Tel Aviv-Jaffa either.
How worth that win of "Milk and Honey" when it surpasses the 30 and 25 year versions of the world-known distilleries? Financially, I don't want to go into the pockets of
Gal Kalkstein, the entrepreneur and CEO
.
After all, this is a private business and an industry where, a bit like football, professional success does not necessarily produce a financial bonanza.
In terms of values, it was enough to see
Tomer Goren, the head distiller of Milk and Honey
and a proud kibbutznik from Emek Hefer, walking among people who are a generation of whiskey distillers, and being received with the respect of kings, or
Tal Hutiner, the distillery's VP of sales in the market the international
(full disclosure: an old friend) when he gets together with colleagues who sell in one day what his distillery in Jaffa will produce for a year, and we will understand how big the impression that victory left.
In London I am better known as a judge, but in Israel there is no need to be formal: you may still address me as Mr. Kipnis/Walla! system, Nir Kipnis
In the whiskey cellars
This time the competition is taking place in East London (slightly east of the Citadel and Tower Bridge), not far from the banks of the Thames, in a basement that looks like an old warehouse, but very hipster and fashionable.
A relatively new complex that at first glance looks a bit suspicious (let's say like the "Hathana" complex in Tel Aviv) being touristic, but at least from the little I sampled in terms of food and drink, really not a "tourist trap".
Understanding something like ten judging tables, each with 12 judges as the number of Scottish tribes (just, I have no idea), I was drawn to table number 2.
Each table has a sort of "team leader" (mine was Juliana from Germany, a consultant to distilleries around the world and organizes tours whiskey, details at reception) who explains the rules and guides in the intricacies of filling out the judging forms.
A seemingly simple matter, but the judge to my left somehow manages to make a mistake.
I won't reveal which distillery it is from, but it is said to be from Ireland, which explains quite a bit.
If you ask me, after a few sips that release the patriot in me.
Go support the Palestinians, they will fly over your whiskey.
There is no prohibition on talking, but only a request not to refer to the rating during them - and there is also a general guideline that asks to make intelligent use of words, less to avoid drunkenness and more due to the need to keep the palate as clean as possible for the advanced assignments.
To further facilitate the latter need, a bottle of mineral water and dry crackers are placed next to each participant to help clean the oral cavity between sips.
Four smoked singles from Ayala Island.
A difficult but pleasant beginning/Walla system!, Nir Kipnis
There is no smoke without a doe
The conditions are not perfect - the whiskey is served to us in thick and simple wine glasses and the lighting in the place does not allow us to get an impression of the color and texture, but since these opening conditions are equal for all, the very competition is not affected.
The first plate we get at table 2 is of single malts from Ayala.
Already a problem - and not because I don't have a deep affection for this whiskey, which gets a smoky flavor due to the use of peat (peat) to roast the barley, but because it is very difficult to go back from it to other styles (except with the help of massively eating crackers, at least in my case).
The glasses of whiskey should be ranked according to the order of satisfaction with them, so for example, whiskey number seven, which will be my second favorite, will receive a score of 2, while whiskey number 11, which turned out to be my favorite, will receive a score of 1. The identity of the whiskey numbered so and so is known only to the organizers The competition - the judges don't even have a chance to guess, except for comments like "Secretary Lagboline" or "Secretary McAllen Pine Oak".
The winner of the round is the whiskey that gets the fewest points after collecting all the judging sheets from all the tables.
After Ayala, we won three more rounds.
In the case of "my" table these were: RYE (that is, rye, a favorite genre of mine personally), WHEAT (wheat, a less favorite genre, to say the least) and single malt whiskey (my plate was not bad at all!).
Right: Tomer Goren, head distiller.
Gal Kalkstein, owner and CEO Vetal Hotiner, VP of Export of the Distillery/Walla! System, Nir Kipnis
York the king
Since I'm a very small spitter, I tried to taste as little as possible to roll the whiskey around in my mouth, which allowed me to both enjoy (or suffer) the taste and remain sober to assess the quality.
After the tasting, it becomes clear who won the intermediate awards, some of which are not necessarily related to the quality of the whiskey, such as "best sales team" (Milk & Honey won, among other things, the award "best production team"), others are in the style of "best single cask" - that is, whiskey bottled from a barrel specially selected by the distillery team.
Along with praise marks and silver and gold medals for some of the whiskey expressions that Mila & Honey sent to the competition, 3 types of whiskey produced by it, each of which won gold in its category, advanced to the grand final which will be held in about three weeks.
The distillery knows that it will be difficult to impossible to repeat the win from last year, but even sub-awards will make it clear to the entire global industry that the extraordinary work continues.
To continue the image from the early stages of this text: unless your name is Real Madrid, you don't get upset if, after winning the Champions League, you "only" qualify for the Europa League final.
Capish?
That's how he will do to people.
The Milk and Honey team is having trouble carrying the winning and excellence certificates/Walla! system, Nir Kipnis
Another day at work
The tasting is over and you can treat yourself to unidentified sandwiches, different cheeses and... you guessed it: all the bottles of whiskey that took part in this stage of the competition (which arrived, let's remember, after three preliminary rounds held around the world for several months), this time when they are visible to all, on their many labels.
This is also the time for mingling, for those who didn't have time to do so before the tasting.
I meet a master distiller from Tasmania (an island in southern Australia), a marketer from Japan, a whiskey journalist from the USA and a "small" distiller from Denmark, over two meters tall.
In the spirit of these days, you probably want to know how the war affects the attitude towards Israel. Well, at least in this forum , where actions are measured and not a political position, it has no effect at all. Certainly not on the tastings, since they are blind anyway - and according to my impression, not on the other derivatives either. Or as Hutiner put it best: "If you don't like our whiskey, you are welcome To try the enemy's whiskey."
In the meantime, the team members are getting ready for the photo shoot: Tomer's jaw is already twitching from smiling at the camera, on a wave of flashing flashes as if his last name is not Kalkstein but Gadot - and all three of them together have difficulty carrying the many awards they won in six hands to present them to the camera.
"How was it?" almost everyone who comes across the photos I uploaded that morning asks me on WhatsApp. I give everyone the same answer: "Listen, it's a bit harsh, but hey, if I'm drinking whiskey and more I can call it 'work', probably That's it
, the semifinals of the "World Whiskey Championship" are behind me, and now I'm ready to do what is recommended to every whiskey lover who has already tasted about thirty or so varieties and condemned himself to a narrow cracker and pressurized water: go drink a beer.
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