The Local Israeli Whisky Market: “You’ve Never Had It So Good!”

The Local Israeli Whisky Market:

“You’ve Never Had It So Good!”

(Harold Macmillan, 1957)

Living in Israel since the late 1980s and having been a Single Malt Whisky lover all this time, it was a no brainer that I would always have to wait for my annual trip to the UK to stock up on my Single Malts. These could be divided into two categories. My regular favourites, which were more than twice as expensive here than they were in London, and more specialist, non-core-range or independent bottlings, which were simply impossible to buy anywhere here in Israel.

Today, things are very different. This is due to a number of factors converging at the same time, making spending your hard-earned cash on buying Whisky here in Israel, a much more palatable option.

SPECIALIST WHISKY STORES

The first factor is that inflation is hitting hard in the UK and prices of Whisky are shooting up. Single Malts which were £50 a few years ago, are £75-£80 today. In contrast, prices here in Israel have been gradually creeping down. This is due in part to healthy competition as more and more specialist Spirits stores, (many of them with a large online presence), are opening up, almost on a monthly basis. Only 5 years ago you could count the number of stores which stocked Single Malts (other than your ubiquitous Glenlivet/Glenfiddich), on the fingers of one hand and still have fingers left over to play a simple tune on the piano. Today, there are around 20+ specialist whisky stores.

I would admit that we will never reach the level of variety found in specialist Whisky shops in the UK but we can very favourably compare ourselves with say, Whisky stores in the United States.

THE DECLINE OF TRAVEL RETAIL

The second factor is the decline of the Travel retail market with less Israelis traveling abroad and those that do, realising (at last) that prices in the “Duty Free” are actually no cheaper (and sometimes more expensive) than in the UK shops! It’s true that you do always get a few Travel Retail “Exclusives” at the airport, but you can very often find these so called “exclusives” listed in the major online stores like “The Whisky Exchange” or Masters of Malt”. Besides, these “exclusives” are almost always in the Non-Age-Statement budget end expressions range and really of no interest to many of us anyway. Frankly, the choice at the airports has become boring.

In Israel however, as the Whisky market here has matured and become more sophisticated with buyers being a lot more knowledgeable, the variety of Single Malts, even in the average Israeli wine store, has simply exploded. Moreover, the connoisseur niche “Independent Bottlings” market, which a few years ago, was completely non-existent here in Israel, has seen a steady increase as more and more of these companies enter the Israeli market.

ISRAEL MARKET EXCLUSIVES

Amazingly, you are also beginning to see something which you wouldn’t have dreamt of seeing a few years ago. That is, Special Editions produced exclusively for the Israeli market. This is a sure sign that the Israeli Whisky market has come of age and major Spirits companies are now taking this segment seriously with heavy investment. Historically, the Middle East Whisky Exports Market primarily consisted of Duty-Free products destined for the international airports in Dubai, Arab Emirates etc. Today, exports to the local Israeli market are gradually taking on more importance.

BLUE AND WHITE SINGLE MALT WHISKY

Lastly, we come to another major factor which is creating substantially more awareness of the qualities of Single Malt Whisky amongst Israelis, which is our local, home grown “Blue and White” flourishing Whisky industry.

Israeli Whisky Distilleries have crafted themselves very much according to the Scottish Whisky Industry model, rather than the American Whiskey industry. We even spell our local products without an “e” and our informal regulations pretty much mirror the Scottish Whisky Association rather the Title 27 United States Federal Codes for Bourbon and Whiskey.

Roles are reversed with tourists to Israel bringing back “home” Israeli Whisky to the UK.

We are now Baruch Hashem, spoilt for choice. Scotch Single Malts at similar prices to the UK, Independent Bottlings, Israel Exclusives and of course, Israeli made Whisky.

As I said at the beginning, “You’ve Never Had It So Good!”