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Last spring, judges at the prestigious World Whiskies Awards baffled the world by showering Israeli distiller Milk & Honey with awards such as Craft Producer of the Year, World’s Best Head Distiller (Israel’s first and only recognized master distiller, Tomer Goren), Brand Innovator of the Year, Best Visitor Attraction of the Year, and various second place prizes. The most controversial announcement of all came when they declared M&H Elements Sherry Cask to be the greatest single-malt whiskey on the planet.
M&H, started in 2013 in Tel Aviv by Jewish businessmen with experience marketing The Macallan (a Scotch commonly criticized for being overpriced and overrated), is Israel’s first whiskey distillery. Israel does not produce premium grade barley, Kosher certified barrels are not easy to come by, and it is more or less impossible to age whiskey for as long as in countries with more moderate temperatures due to the Middle East’s climate.
The company’s name is an obvious reference to the Old Testament, but their logo, a bumble bee colored bull, is really stupid. M&H claims to be a craft operation that started on a Kibbutz, yet their products are currently available in 40 countries, bringing into question what the definition of “craft” even is here. The prize-winning bottle claims to have been aged for three years (the bare minimum to be accepted as a Single Malt Scotch) in Kosher sherry casks, but the first kosher casks produced by Bodegas Del Pino were made in 2017 and used to make wine outside of the sherry region, which means they cannot legally be called sherry. M&H’s Sherry Cask expression was first released in the mid-2020s, yet authentic sherry casks blessed by a Rabbi only started being put to use in Jerez in 2021, raising questions as to whether this Kosher whiskey marketed as sherry aged is deceiving consumers. The regional issues don’t stop there. Many barrels of M&H are aged in the Golan Heights, which under international law is Syrian land and should in theory obligate the producer to label these products as Syrian whiskey.
As for their impressive new title, discerning drinkers on social media are in consensus when expressing befuddlement. How did an unaged, unknown Scotch knock-off from a country that has never produced whiskey defeat formidable and excellent contest competitors such as a 31-year-old Rosebank and a 25-year-old Ardbeg? We don’t know, since the WWA, which is a for-profit marketing event hosted by British publication Whiskey Magazine, does not list its criteria for deciding winners. Even if we could speculate that affordability was the main factor in their choice, this M&H expression sells at an audacious $70-80 a bottle, despite not being as complex and intense as single-malts within the same price range, such as the 13-year-old Craigellachie from Speyside, which retails at around $60 dollars.
Taste in whiskey is undoubtedly subjective, but the fact that no independent whiskey connoisseur appears to agree with this panel of supposed experts is highly suspicious. M&H showings, including the one supposedly aged in a sherry cask, have received mixed reviews. Even those who enjoy it don’t consider it good enough to win any award, much less best in the world. Even Jewish social media users have reacted to M&H’s awards with comments like “It is even more insane if you’ve actually tasted the M&H whiskey,” “I was sure this was an April Fool’s joke,” and “How much did it cost? The award that it is.” Both the aromatic notes and palate of these Jewish whiskies have been described with words like “vegetation,” “funky,” and “asparagus.” The sherry barrel version in particular has been criticized as lacking body and needing significantly more work.
The belief that beer and spirits awards are fixed through companies stacking judge panels or even outright bribery is commonly held and supported by evidence. Figures such as Jim Murray, author of the influential yearly Whiskey Bible, have been known to take “consultant fees” from the companies that happen to produce his unusual and sometimes ridiculous whiskey appraisals. Scandals of this sort have for decades followed British multi-national Diageo, who have been caught rigging results on multiple occasions.
In the case of the World Whiskies Awards, their website openly solicits distillers (who must pay to enter the competition) by stating the marketing importance of putting their awards on a bottle. For this year’s competition, they curiously did not officially list their panel of judges, but looking at previous years (where they did list the names of judges), an immediate conflict of interest is present. An unusually high number of individuals who work at M&H, such as Gal Kalkshtein (CEO), Tomer Goren (master distiller), Ron Eldad (production manager), appear to have served as official judges for this award’s group in recent years, which means that unless they recused themselves (there is no sign that they did or are even expected to), they were judging their own product.
Aside from the unfair advantage created by Israelis and diaspora Jews, prompting or incentivizing other judges (who work as unscrupulous marketers and starving freelance journalists) to inflate M&H would not be difficult. According to the body’s press release, the whiskey candidates are unmarked but regionally separated when tasted, making M&H easily discernible on the table as it was the sole Israeli entry.
There is plenty of smoke and enough fire to justify dismissing this award and others like it as a scam. Prize festivals were what took previously ignored American and Japanese whiskies (both which can be objectively great) to the next level of recognition and begin challenging Scotch in the luxury market, and it certainly seems like the Israelis are trying to get in on the racket. Nevertheless, they are hitting a ceiling, as the craftsmanship and whiskey-making heritage needed to produce a dram worthy of the title of “world’s best whiskey” appears to be lacking. Taking home such a prestigious title does not appear to have had much of an impression on the large, overwhelmingly white gentile whiskey drinking community, who reviewed this M&H line years ago and quickly forgot about it, and now are tasting it again and still expressing confusion.
With bottles of whiskey rapidly catching up to art as a preferred speculative asset, we will continue to see the degradation that ruined the art world continue manifesting in the whiskey realm. Bottles of M&H may be covered in gold medals from dubious whiskey appraisers, but most of the world is still taking a pass.
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I wouldn’t touch this yiddish urine with a pole, never mind actually drink it. They can pour it back into their rabbis for me
yet another example of israel trying to buy acceptance on the world stage. like that stupid eurovision competition, where they break their own rules to declare israel part of europe, sure enough they win the whole thing! see what happens when these poor long suffering israelites are finally given a “level playing field”, to demonstrate their true genius.
The jew’s mimicry is even within whiskeys. Is there anything they do originally?
I’ve heard that Whiskey is becoming a money laundering asset bubble too. Enter stage right a Jewish swindler…
This is a better drink https://www.muaddi.com/about/ if you haven’t tried Arak, you ought to.
The WWA is known for crazy pronouncements long before M&H showed up. How does one tell incompetence from malfeasance? It is wise to be suspicious…
M&H does not claim to be Scotch, so in terms of labeling this is a non issue. Also, the bottle does not claim 3 years. That appears to be an incorrect detail in the source material.
According to EU rules the wine produced in the sherry cask would not be saleable as sherry. However, there is no EU rule (that I an aware of) related to cask labelling. Trying to nitpick the difference between “barrel made in the sherry region” versus “sherry barrel” is something that only a EU lawyer would engage with.
M&H would be in much more trouble if it turned out the barrels were not properly kosher. That would annoy local authorities who have actual power over the distillery.
The author underestimates the Asian (especially Japanese) interest in whiskey. However he is correct that the WWA is neither prestigious nor trusted. The true test is, of course, in the tasting. I have not experienced the M&H, however I expect it would fall short.
If I had $80 for a bottle I would kick in the extra $20 to buy the Ardbeg Corryvreckan, bottled @ cask strength. Which I believe is also a WWA award winner. So, they are not “always wrong”.
PEACE 😇
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All Scotch tastes terrible. Drinking Scotch is just a big pretentiousness fest, just like the whole wine culture thing. Any whiskey from Ireland, Canada, Kentucky, or Tennessee is far better tasting than scotch. (Especially Ireland.)
Eurovision Song Contest is open to whichever countries pay the toll to join. It seems like it should be a cultural and geographical expression but it isn’t. Australia is in Eurovision but NZ is not. But it could be.
I hate to say it but in this case; Israel being in is not a matter of rule bending.
This could be a real possibility, just like Hunter Biden’s paintings.
I don’t always drink whiskey. But when I do, I try and avoid jewish scams.
(that’s why i avoid dos equis too. they have a hardcore jew pretending to be a mexican most interesting man in the world as their advertisement campaigns)
I was given a bottle of Lagavulin. It has the taste of peat. It took six months to finish it, during which I slowly grew fonder, like an old friend. I guess this is what is meant by an “acquired taste”.
Canada exports whisky, not whiskey. A world of difference. Or so I’m told– I only use it in coffee.
Oh, come on man, talk sense. I have a bottle of Turkish Arak called YENi RAKI 1937 (no typo in the name). The bottle is still only half empty despite the magic of turning milky.
The drink turns milky when water is added, so big deal. It obviously has some oil dissolved in it. But the bottom line is ‘ANYONE WITH A BRAIN’, it tastes like shit. Maybe your Arak is different.
Since no institution or authority can be trusted, why not listen to your friends or sample the drink and trust your own judgement??
That’s why you should not trust the experts.
Any non-inbred whiskey deniers allowed?
“Candy Is dandy
But liquor Is quicker.”
“Last spring, judges at the World Whiskies Awards baffled the world by showering Israeli distiller M & H with awards”
The judges at the World Whiskies awards were obviously either paid off, compromised (filmed with hookers), or intimidated to give M & H these awards.
I’m sure the Jewish Businessmen who started M & H have researched distilling spirits thoroughly and will no doubt be producing some good ones in the future, but in YEAR 1(!), with 3-year ageing? I wish them luck, but this was obviously arranged.
Apparently, there is no limit to the Jewish distaste for the good, the true, and the beautiful (ruining art wasn’t enough, now it’s whisky).
Different strokes for different folks I guess. my first encounter with Arak was with some mid brow Turkish brand and I liked it.
but there is crappy arak out there and anything that is sweetened you should stay away from. taste fucking terrible.
In my view whiskey is nasty, it taste like wood. I simply do not like it.
It’s aged in sherry barrels and filtered through kidneys freshly extracted from Palestinian prisoners.
Please tell me if the same is true of smoking cigars. I will believe whatever you say, because I agree with what you said about scotch. I have sampled scotch. I will not sample cigars. Of course if you have not tried cigars either, then I must withdraw the question. My favorite drink btw is “schnapps” – just like former U-Boat captain commodore Schrepke in The Bedford Incident. In particular I like Cointreau after dinner, although it has gotten rather pricey.
And again laggy website, I mean funny comment
The “World Whiskies Award” is presented by thedrinksreport.com, a website. I have never heard of either of these entities. I tried looking for an entry in Wikipedia, but found nothing. Even the respective websites revealed nothing as to who was publishing them , or where they were based.
https://www.worldwhiskiesawards.com/
So very opaque. Just the sort of outfit which would accept bribes or favours, or maybe the owners of the website are Jewish themselves. It would not surprise. Obviously, it’s not a whisky, so it’s not worth drinking at all. But kudos for Striker for calling out Jim Murray. But what do you expect – he’s English after all.
Goren looks like a cartoon Ashkenazi Jew like the ones previously published in Mr Anglin’s organ. You wouldn’t want anyone like that promoting your product. Could they not get anyone more presentable ?
When the Eurovision Song Contest started it was all about the technological achievement of having all of Europe connected on the telly at the same time. (It was the same with the now defunct “Its A Knockout”.) Now of course such technology is routine and the programme has lost its point, and has become another means of spreading European globohomo “values”.
Jews using bribes to control the narrative and position themselves as either the perpetual victims or neutral deserving benevolent leaders in a given circumstance… No way. They NEVER do that. (massive eye roll ensues).
Yaaaa, it’s probably laced with poison for the goyim markets. They want us dead more than they need our money since they can just print it.
To parasitize or murder, that is the question… The real Jewish Question, they ask themselves.
The big boys murder, while the lower totem pole Schlomos still need to parasitze.
NEVER FORGET – They lied about the Hollowhoax and Uncle Adolf, and are responsible for 9/11, usurious international banking thievery, infiltrating the Catholic Church long ago, Communism, controlling China, and the global corporatocracy and kleptocracy.
Anything I’m missing here?
This comment aligns well with other recent news about the fine art community strengthening rules against money laundering.
Please tell me if the same is true of smoking cigars.
IMO, cigars don’t taste great, but are more palatable than cigarettes. I smoked cigarettes for 20 years and would have smoked cigars instead if the halfway decent ones weren’t all too expensive. (If none of this stuff tastes good, you might ask why I bothered smoking it. It’s for the same reason junkies inject heroin despite the minor unpleasantness of puncturing their skin with a needle.)
Most American cigar smokers don’t inhale, though, which defeats the whole purpose. That’s pretty pretentious if you ask me.
Quit smoking cigars about 10 years ago. Smoked them for about 27 years. I remember cigar smoking became a fad in the mid to late 1990s with even women joining in. MOST cigar smokers I encountered truly loved their “sticks” but there were posers for sure. One of the most relaxing things I can think of is enjoying a great smoke ( pipe or cigar) after a good meal. I loved to enjoy cigars while taking long drives as well. Might start smoking again. Hehe.
Irish Whiskey is grossly overrated. Robin Redbreast is the best I’ve tasted, and it’s no competition for dozens of Scotch whiskies I’ve tasted, but better than a several single malts.
You don’t drink Scotch (or any other whiskey/whiskey), you sip it, with no more than an equal amount of (preferably spring) water, and no ice. In Canada, “Canadian whisky” is a minimum of 50% corn, like Canadian Club, which has no real taste. Real men up here drink Rye whisky, which is “unrefined” and more like Irish whiskey.
the only thing jews are good at is selling a bill of goods. you couldn’t pay me to drink that shit. I suspect the hebes threatened the judges.
“European” anti-semitism.
Muslims win again.