DISTILLERY PROFILE
Milk & Honey: the heat is on
A distillery that hails from the hot and humid climate of an Israeli city on the Mediterranean coast in the Middle East is about as far as you can get from a Scottish glen clouded in mist and battered by rain. But the team at Milk & Honey distillery in Tel Aviv finds a way to use the intense heat to their benefit, as Duncan Gorman and Monique ten Kortenaar report
Milk & Honey – more commonly known as M&H – is Israel’s first distillery, which started with trial distillations in 2014. Its first real spirit run took place in 2015 and it released Israel’s first single malt in May 2017.
The founders hired whisky expert (the late) Dr Jim Swan as an advisor, alongside head distiller Tomer Goren. Although the distillery is based in Israel, it follows the same regulations around the production of whisky as Scottish producers, with spirit having to age for at least three years before it’s called whisky.
“In Israel, we have a lack of regulations relating to whisky production, it’s a very small and young market for whisky production,” says Tomer. “That’s why we decided to follow the Scotch rules, which are stricter and the most acceptable rules in the world.”
ABOVE: M&H head distiller Tomer Goren
M&H managed to rescue their traditional 9,000 litre wash still from a Romanian barn, which has now helped the distillery to numerous awards. “The distillery is kosher – so it works with two batches a day over five days, no work on a Friday or Saturday,” says Tomer. “Distillation is in two traditional pot stills. The wash still was saved from a barn in Romania, via a German website, and is 9,000 liters. It was in really good shape and condition, and we still use it, it’s doing an amazing job. The spirit still is 3,500 liters and is from German manufacturer CARL.”
Despite following the same rules as Scotch, being in such a hot climate has forced the distillery to find its own path, overcoming obstacles you certainly wouldn’t have to consider in Scotland. “The temperatures can reach 40°C in the summer, and humidity is very high, sometimes 90%. We take high cut points, from 80 to 70% abv, and the lyne arms are angled down 45°. The high cut point is to avoid loss of feints in the distillate. We want an oily and well-bodied new make or spirit, so the lyne arms are 45° down to achieve that. And that’s one of the things we changed during the process of manufacturing because of the hot climate.”
THIRSTY ANGELS
However, where the heat becomes a real game changer is in the maturation. Maturation plays a huge role in whisky production, and the climate under which the spirit from M&H is matured feels like a world away from the damp, cold dunnage warehouses of the Scottish Highlands. In Israel, the intense temperatures lead to incredibly high levels of evaporation, causing up to a 25 per cent loss in angels’ share per year – a staggering jump from the mere two per cent a year in Scotland.
“An angels’ share of 25 per cent a year is so much. That means that we are not ageing for the full period of maturation at the Dead Sea. Only for one year and a half.”
TOMER GOREN
This simultaneously triggers a rapid maturation. As the spirit condenses down it receives a more intense influence from the wood, leading to a remarkably full-bodied whisky at a very young age. Despite Israel being such a small country, it hosts a remarkable five climate zones, all of which offer a unique influence over the maturation process, as Tomer explains: “Every climate zone has different conditions, and the maturation process is different in each one of them. The Dead Sea, which is the lowest place on earth, we have spent three years maturing there and it can reach 50°C.
“It’s very, very dry and there is also a massive angels’ share. The air pressure is also very high because it is so low, so it reacts differently.” Tomer adds: “An angels’ share of 25 per cent a year is so much. That means that we are not ageing for the full period of maturation at the Dead Sea. Only for one year and a half. Then we send the casks back to the distillery.
“We also do the reverse, start at the distillery and then send it for one and a half years to the Dead Sea. It reacts differently because the casks are part emptied already.”
ABOVE: The Dead Sea claims 25 per cent angels’ share per year
ENDLESS PARAMETERS
Tomer has worked in the whisky industry for roughly 20 years and is fascinated by the endless parameters of the spirits production, something which he says is at the forefront of M&H moving forward. “It’s just fascinating, and this is one thing that we are focused on at M&H. We experiment in every single step; we are experimenting with different barleys, different yeast, different cutting points, different filling points, and of course maturation. And that’s what fascinates me about whisky.
“There are unlimited options, it’s just amazing. There is no single day that I don’t find something new that I didn’t know, or something that I want to try, or a new idea.”
Tomer is particularly fascinated by the nature of the Society’s once-in-a-lifetime single cask releases: “I really love single casks from every independent bottler, because it represent one specific time period from one cask. It’s a unique opportunity to look in a window at this time during the distillery’s life and their distilling process at this time, and that’s amazing. It’s a big honour for us to be bottled by the SMWS.”
Society members certainly reciprocate in their feelings towards M&H, with the distillery’s first SMWS bottling, Cask No. 155.1: The rye pretender having sold out in minutes. However, the next chance to snatch up a Society single cask offering of the Middle Eastern whisky might not be too far away, with SMWS head of whisky creation, Euan Campbell, confirming there is more to come!