Kosher Scotch is Coming

Here's a product we didn't know the world needed. The religious argument for it is tenuous. But it is real Scotch, from a distinguished maker in Speyside, in northeast coastal Scotland, and you don't have to be Jewish to appreciate its quality.

The Scotch is made by The Glenrothes (the last syllable is pronounced), which has bottled single malt Scotches under its own name since the early 1990's. Prior to that, and going back to its founding in 1879, the distillery produced single malts for blending into other whiskies. There is a lot of Glenrothes in Cutty Sark, for example. Both Cutty and Glenrothes are owned by Berry Bros. & Rudd, the venerable English wine merchants. (The story goes, by the way, that the Berry Brothers, who were the wine experts, at one point had to bring in Mr. Rudd, the financial whiz, to keep the business in the black.)

Anyway, last week I had dinner with Ronnie Cox, director of The Glenrothes, and brand director Robin Coupar to taste some of their current vintages. Most whiskys (Scotch) and whiskeys (everyone else) sell by age: 10 years old, 15, etc. The Glenrothes sells by vintage year. Currently available are the 1985, 1991, and soon to be available 1994. Since each bottle also tells you the year the whisky was bottled, you can figure out how old it is. The '94, for example, was bottled in 2006, making it 12 years old, a standard age for good single malts. The '91 was bottled in 2005, making it 14 years old.

Cox says Glenrothes bottles its whiskys when they are mature, not before. Makes me think of Orson Welles intoning in that old TV commercial...."will sell no wine before its time." It also bottles a Select Reserve, a blend of several vintages meant to relfect a house style.

Berry Bros. & Rudd is now preparing to release (at an as yet undetermined date) Alba Reserve, the first Scotch to be certified kosher by a kosher-certifying body, in this case the London Beth Din (literally "house of judgement," or more informally a Jewish court of law.) Back to the question of whether the world needs a kosher Scotch. According to Rabbi Amy Levin, leader of the conservative synagogue Torat Yisrael in Cranston, Rhode Island, the simple answer is no. I can vouch for Rabbi Levin's authority on matters of kashrut, about which she is very strict. She's my sister, you see. Not that I'm prejudiced.

There is nothing in whisky that isn't kosher. But when you are dealing with Jewish law and scholarly opinion, there is always another layer to be peeled from the halachic onion. Some Scotch, as Scotch drinkers know, is matured in oak casks formerly used to age sherry. That's the Aha!

Although none of the ingredients in wine are unkosher, it has been Jewish tradition for ages to certify wine made for Jewish sacramental use as kosher, if for no other reason than to distinguish it from wine produced for secular purposes. (There are other reasons, but that's not germane here.)

Since sherry is not used for sacramental purposes, it is not certified as kosher. So you have the certainty that some Scotch will come in contact with oak that once held sherry, and from that extends the possibility (makes no difference how small) that some sherry residue or renegade sherry molecules from that wood could come in contact with the Scotch. Bingo: Unkosher, if you are inclined to be ultra ultra strict about these things. Most Jews who keep kosher, it can safely be said, feel comfortable drinking Scotch if the mood arises.

But as Berry Bros. & Rudd know, many Jews who keep kosher also feel comfortable using products such as bottled water that have an OU (Orthodox Union) seal of kosherness. So do many banquet halls and restaurants and synagogues that cater kosher events.There is probably less reason to certify water as kosher than there is Scotch.

So for those who insist on the ultimate in kosherness, Berry Bros. is preparing to release 80-proof Glenrothes Alba Reserve, which is aged in American oak barrels that have been used to age bourbon (no problem there) but have never held a drop of sherry.

What's in the name? The company notes that "Quercus Alba is the Latin term for White (or American) oak; and Alba is the Gaelic word for Scotland." So much for my initial hunch that Alba Reserve had something to do with New Jersey's Alba Winery.

With my hosts last week, I tasted both the Alba Reserve and several Glenrothes vintages plus the Select Reserve blend. I would say that the expected oakiness is more present in the Alba than in the others, but I'm no expert, so don't take it from me.

I defer to the Glenrothes Malt Master, John Ramsay, whose tasting notes follow:

                                      ALBA RESERVE                                            SELECT RESERVE

APPEARANCE:    pale, straw, clear and bright                                      pale golden

NOSE:   fresh, floral, coconut, American oak, vanilla                        oak, vanilla and coconut; hint of plums

PALATE:   soft mellow, creme brulee & berry fruits                         full malty flavor, medium sweet, vanilla

                                                                                                               and orange zest

FINISH:                   smooth, sweet, medium length                                 long and slightly spicy

If you're of a certain age, you will remember the ad campaign for Levy's ryebread in the late 1960s and early 1970s. On billboards and magazine pages it showed, say, a picture of a Native American, or an Asian, eating a sandwich made with Levy's rye over the caption, "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's."

I think many Scotch drinkers will be able to say the same about the Glenrothes Alba Reserve.

Tags: Scotch | Kosher Scotch | Glenrothes | Berry Bros. and Rudd