Making it to the Whisky Advocate Top 20 list four years in a row, what an honor!!!!
Why is this such a great honor you might ask?
Well, their “Top 20 is a selection of whiskies worthy of your attention. The list includes great values that might otherwise be overlooked, whiskies that are best in class for their style, and highly accomplished bottles you should be looking for. Most importantly, each of these whiskies generates excitement and marks a highlight across a year of tasting.”
“An important step in gauging the true merit of these whiskies is blind tasting review by a panel of international reviewers. The review panel tasted the eligible whiskies in a series of blind tasting flights to arrive at the final list. The panel did not know the identity of the whiskies being tasted—not their producer, country of origin, age, nor price. The average rating from the blind tasting panel supersedes the original Buying Guide rating. The individual reviewer rating will remain noted in the Buying Guide for the record. The final decision for placement considers average score, price, and availability.”
This flagship bottling from the core range of M&H Distillery has been turning heads since its launch. This 46% abv expression truly is an instant classic.
Tomer Goren, head distiller at Milk & Honey Distillery in Tel Aviv, excels at warm climate Single Malt production under the intensity of the Mediterranean sun. His ethos is beautifully captured within this kosher-certified flagship bottling, matured in Bourbon and shaved, toasted, and re-charred (STR) casks. It exudes a nose of golden syrup, vanilla, marshmallow, jasmine, dried apple, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper. Flavorful and juicy, the palate has satisfying depth, with caramel, vanilla, shortbread, honey, and orange, daubed with vivaciously spicy black pepper. —Jonny McCormick
We also wanted to take a look back at our amazing whiskies that made it to their list the last few years.
A 48% abv 92 point peaty palate pleaser from Japan, this Matsui marched into the mainstream like a great wave.
The 2018 Kilchoman Loch Gorm at 46% abv earned 91 points and this praise from Gavin Smith:
Penderyn Celt at 43% abv earned 91 points and these words from Jonny McCormick
Scoring 90 points, this 42.8% abv rice whisky from Japan got this review.
But why and how does Whisky Advocate choose the whiskies that make the list?
In their own words:
“Each year, Whisky Advocate Buying Guide reviewers collectively sample hundreds of whiskies. These include rare and extremely limited releases, as well as new and emerging labels that will find their way to shelves across the nation. To determine our Top 20, we begin by looking only at whiskies that rated “outstanding” (90 points or higher on Whisky Advocate’s 100-point scale). However, the Top 20 is not simply a collection of our highest-rated whiskies, because many of those are so limited they would be impossible for most readers to locate or purchase. Therefore, in addition to quality (based on score), our selection also prioritizes value (based on price) and availability.”
Now back to this year…
We couldn’t be more excited about M&H Classic making it to the Top 20 for 2020!
Notably, since the core range launched earlier this year we have seen quite a few amazing mentions in publications across the US.
12/8/20 Liquor.com “Everything You Need to Know About Kosher Spirits”
12/1/20 Insidehook.com/Yahoo Finance “Expand Your Horizons with 7 Great Bottles of New World Whisky”
12/1/20 RobbReport “9 Superb Whiskies Made in Unexpected Places, From Mexico to India”
11/16/20 Departures.com (AMEX) “The World’s Lesser-Known Whiskey-Producing Regions You Need to Know About”,
11/5/20 Imbibe 2020 Holiday Gift Guide
November 2020 Hemispheres Magazine (United Airlines) “Holy Spirits”
10/12/20 Jewish News of Northern California “Israeli Whisky comes to Bay Area”
9/7/20 New York Times Front Burner “A Nip for that New Year’s Toast”
9/6/20 David Broza and Friends Live from NYC The Bowery Electric Concert
9/2/20 The Nosher “Israel’s First Single Malt Whisky is Now Available in the US”
September 2020 New York Beverage Media “Whiskey: What’s New”
8/7/20 RobbReport/Yahoo Life “Israel’s First Whisky Is Coming to America”
Here is Tomer and Tal going through the other Milk & Honey expressions, in case you are curious about the magic they make.
And since you stuck around so far, here is a little teaser for you! They are coming out with their Apex series (hitting US soil in Q1 2021), which is all about crazy combinations and delicious innovation.
We are so excited to see what these folks will produce next!
Will it make it to next year’s Top 20? Only cask-aged time will tell.
If you have any questions or would like any additional information, please don’t hesitate to email us at office@ImpExBev.com.
