New Additions To My Kosher Single Malt Whisky List: July 2025

New Additions To My Kosher Single Malt Whisky List: July 2025

A few notes about the Kosher List

People call it my “Kosher Whisky List” but that does not imply that I have the authority to give any kind of hechsher / certification. As it states on the document, it is simply a list of Single Malt Whiskies which have not been matured, even partially in any casks which have previously contained any grape based liquid such as Sherry, Wine, Brandy, etc.

Baruch Hashem, that still leaves Ex-Bourbon, Virgin/New Oak, Charred Oak (also New Oak), Ex-Rum Casks, Tequila Casks and Calvados Casks.

Please note any whisky on this list does not imply any recommendation to purchase these whiskies. Some whisky titles are actual links. Clicking on them will hopefully take you to my reviews of those whiskies.

The list contains only Official bottlings of Scotch Single Malt Whisky. I am often asked why I don’t list independent bottlings. The answer is that there are simply too many of them to research and they don’t stay around for long as they are mostly limited or Single Cask editions.

I am also asked why I don’t include official bottlings of Non-Scotch “World Whiskies”. Again, I do not have time to start researching into Argentinian, Swedish, German, South African single malts. Moreover, I honestly don’t have sufficient knowledge of these countries to know what their cask practices are, as well as distillery contacts.

Having said that, after my recent tour of some distilleries in England, I am planning on listing Single Malts from English Distilleries. I hope to be uploading some reviews soon of bottles I bought at these distilleries.

Lastly, I am sometimes asked why I don’t list Israeli Single Malts. Shouldn’t I be flying the Blue and White Flag? Well, the obvious answer is that they are not Scotch Whisky. But the practical answer is that, as far as I am aware, there are no Israeli official bottlings of Single Malts on the market which are “not-kosher”. *

All Golani and Yerushalmi official bottlings come with an OK certification and the M&H distillery comes with the Star-K, both kashrus organisations are members of the AKO (Association of Kashrus Organisations). So apart from producing a convenient list of Israeli Single Malts, there is not much point at the moment.

So, rather than list the new additions to my list in my Downloads page, I decided to turn this into an article where I’d have more space to make some comments as well.

To download the latest PDF, click here and scroll down to Download No.3.

* There is however, one exception that I am aware of. That’s the Milk And Honey / Cotswolds Jim Swan Edition which contained (Non-Kosher) STR Wine Cask maturation.

Aberlour White Oak (2001-2015)

Aberlour Distillery in the beautiful village of Aberlour in the Speyside region, are known for their light Sherry Cask maturation style Single Malts. The Aberlour 10 and later 12-Year-Old have been available since the 1980s. In the mid-2000s they started bottling the occasional “Distillery Exclusive” or Single Cask Limited Editions which were exclusively Ex-Bourbon Barrel matured. I suppose that they were testing the waters to see how an Ex-Bourbon matured Aberlour would be received by the market.

Then in 2011 they released the “White Oak” with a stated vintage year of 2001 (i.e., it was 10-Years-Old). Despite its Vintage Statement implying a more premium level, it was chill-filtered, coloured, bottled at minimum legal abv of 40% and budget priced. As the name implies, it was 100% matured in American White Oak Bourbon Barrels signalling a change in Aberlour’s (up 'till then),exclusively Sherry Cask bottling practice.

Since then, Aberlour have released a batch of “White Oak” every year with the exact same specifications and with production quantity slowly going up each year. Despite keeping its cute Vintage Statement, the “White Oak” now seems to be part of their core-range as it’s widely available across the world at around £30. I haven’t seen it as yet in Israel, but we live in hope. The latest release is the Vintage 2015 (released 2025).

I haven’t tried any of these expressions but online reviews are what you would expect for a budget level Glenmorangie Single Malt - Mixed. Worth trying if you see it.

Bladnoch 13-Year-Old

A new addition to their core-range “Heritage Collection”, this 13-Year-Old seems to have replaced the 11-Year-Old which replaced the 10-Year-Old before that, presumably using the same stock of high-quality Bourbon Barrels laid down around 2010-2011.

I applaud Bladnoch for not simply issuing a 10-Year-Old every year from stock laid down 10 years previously but instead, upping the Age statement every year using up the stock from the same original casks. That way, we can get to see how their spirit is developing over the years.

Ever since Australian David Prior bought Bladnoch distillery back in 2015, it has gained a reputation for producing consistently excellent Integrity Bottling whisky. All Non-Chill-Filtered, natural colour and bottled at their standard 46.7% abv (or at Cask Strength).

For some reason, I preferred the 10-Year-Old to the 11-Year-Old but will certainly look out for this one. The Bladnoch 13 is being sold in the UK for around £85. I haven’t seen it in Israel as yet but expect it will arrive eventually and be sold through the “Bana Mashkaot” chain of wine stores, the Israel importers for Bladnoch.

Glenmorangie Triple Cask Reserve

Yet another budget release from Glenmorangie, set at approximately the same price as their core-release 12-Year-Old. That’s around £25-30. This one is NAS (Non-Age Statement) so will contain some young spirit (I’d guess around 5-8 Years Old). The talking point about this Tripe Cask Reserve release is its use of three types of casks which go into this Single Malt. Fortunately for us, all three cask types appear to have no kashrus issues. Ex-Bourbon, Charred Virgin New Oak, and to spice things up a little, some of their Ex-American Rye Whiskey casks. Bottled at 40% abv and chill-filtered, it is reported however to be natural colour. I suppose the use of New Charred Oak casks will turn the whisky a dark brown in any case so no need to add any E150a caramel spirit colour.

I haven’t seen this in Israel as yet but wouldn’t be surprised to see it here soon.

Glen Moray Phoenix Rising

Glen Moray has a reputation for producing good quality Entry Level/Gateway budget Single Malt whisky at rock-bottom prices (£20-£30), aimed at the supermarket/ casual drinker. A few years ago, during her brief spell at Glen Moray, Doctor Kirstie McCallum (formerly of Burn Stewart, owners of Deanston, Tobermory and Bunnahabhain distilleries), tried to introduce some more upmarket, integrity bottlings but when she left for pastures new, most of these special releases disappeared. I think that’s a shame as in my opinion, Glen Moray can produce some fantastic whisky given the chance. Only the 18-Year-Old, Non-Chill Filtered and bottled at 47.2% abv (and the occasional Travel Retail Exclusive), remain as a remnant to those brief Kirstie McCallum days.

This Phoenix Rising is yet another NAS Budget Entry Level 40% abv blah blah blah bottling. I’m sure it’s pretty good stuff and at least in the UK, represents excellent value for money. It all depends what price they decide to sell it here in Israel for which will determine whether it will get my recommendation. Some of their other NAS bottlings being sold here have been overpriced for some reason.

Tobermory 12-Year-Old 46.3% abv

Tobermory suffered long periods of closures throughout its 227 years of existence. Being that it was a major employer on the tiny island of Mull, this was no small thing. It finally got some dearly welcomed job security when it was bought up by UK based Burn Stewart Distillers in 1993. The same company also bought Deanston and Bunnahabhain. Burn Stewart began a campaign of massive investment into all three sister distilleries and by the late 1990s they had all gained a very well-deserved reputation for producing medium range priced quality integrity spirits, all releases being non-chill-filtered, natural colour and bottled at what became to be associated with all Burn Stewart bottlings - 46.3% abv.

Being a victim of its own success, Burn Stewart was bought up by international spirits giant Distell Group in 2013. Again, in 2023, the three distilleries were sold on to CVH Spirits UK Ltd (whose parent company is Remgro Limited, a South African investment holding company, based in Stellenbosch). Throughout all these changes, quality does not seem to have been affected and they have kept their reputation intact.

Between 2017 and 2019, Tobermory distillery was closed for refurbishment and modernisation. Up until that time their core-range, the Tobermory 12 and Ledaig 10 (peated Tobermory) Single malts were exclusively matured in Ex-Bourbon barrels and therefore had no kashrus issues. However, due to the closure, Tobermory started making use of other casks such as STR Wine casks for their core-range. Consequently, the Tobermory 12 and Ledaig 10 were removed from my list.

Now, with my newest list, I am glad to inform all you Tobermory fans that the Tobermory 12 is now back on the list (from 2023 and onwards?), as the distillery has reverted back to its previous recipe of exclusively using Ex-Bourbon and Charred Virgin Oak Casks.

I am looking forward to rediscovering this farmyard-y “salty green vegetables” island classic again. It is sold in the UK for around £45 and here in Israel for NIS 280 (but beware of the old pre-2023 versions which may well be still on the shelf of some Israeli wine stores).

Ledaig 10 Year-Old Hebridean Moon (Limited Edition) 58.8% abv

Ledaig (pronounce “Le-Chek” or “Le-Cheg”) is the peated version of Tobermory spirit, rated at around 30-40 PPM. Unusually for a distillery, the peated Tobermory is far more popular than its non-peated version. The core-range Ledaig 10 (as far as I was able to tell) is unfortunately still using a percentage of Ex-STR Wine casks for its maturation and therefore remains off my list. However, they have produced a new Limited Edition Cask Strength version of the 10-Year-Old called “Hebridean Moon”, bottled at a whopping 58.8% abv!

Before they changed the cask maturation recipe of Tobermory and Ledaig (see explanation above), I was a huge fan of the stinky farmyard-y Ledaig 10 and it was indeed one of my early “Permashelf” bottles. (“Permashelf”, a term coined by Roy Duff of YouTube channel “Aqvavitae” for a bottle that you would automatically replace when it started running low).

This Limited Edition 10-Year-Old Cask Strength Hebridean Moon release is however 100% matured in Ex-Bourbon barrels so I am excited to try it to see if it is as good or even better as the old pre-2019 expression. Be’ezrat Hashem, I hope to get my hands on a bottle of this soon. It is sold in the UK for around £80.

Ardnamurchan AD / Rum Cask Release 2023 55% abv

As you can see from the above photo. I bought this bottle, the AD / Rum Cask Release 2023, back in 2024. I was writing up some tasting notes on this whisky this evening, when I realised that I'd totally neglected and forgotten to add it to my Kosher Whisky List. So, I added it tonight, only about 2 years late!!!

This is a real shame as it's the only batch release so far from the much hyped (and deservedly so), Ardnamurchan distillery that meets the criteria for going on my list. All other releases from this distillery are unfortunately either exclusively matured in Ex-Sherry (or another type of wine) Casks or are a vatting of usually 65% Ex-Bourbon and 35% Ex-Sherry. So now, Ardnamurchan distillery gets at least one mention on my list.

All Ardnamurchan batch releases are Limited Batches of around 8000 bottles. This one is bottle No. 486 of 8334 bottles and retails at around £72 in the UK.

Would I recommend it? Well, I could just tell you to wait for the review to come out but that would be cruel. The short answer is yes, but only if you are into rough around the edges, Umami (savouriness) style whiskies. Be warned, this one is definitely not for those who only like the light, sweet, fruity variety Single Malts.