Ethan's Reserve Sorghum Kosher For Pesach “Whiskey" review

 Ethan's Reserve Sorghum “Whiskey”

Ethan's Reserve Sorghum	Data Sheet
Owner:	“The River Wine” Company
Barcode:	855357000650
Price:	NIS 280 in Israel, $70 in the USA, £80 in the UK
Available in Israel	Yes
Alcohol:	47% abv, made from 100% American Sorghum.
Volume:	750ml
Age:	1 Year
Cask Types:	Charred American Virgin Oak
Non-Chill-Filtered:	Unknown
Natural Colour:	Unknown
Kashrus Issues:	None
Kosher Certification:	OU-P, MKL

I must start off with an apology. I am over a month late posting this. The review should have been uploaded at least a week before Pesach but it’s not a disaster as Be'ezras Hashem, the review should be just as relevant for next Pesach and no doubt the one after.

Who Makes Ethan’s Whiskey?

Ethan’s currently appears on four products, namely:

Ethan’s Reserve Bourbon Whiskey

Ethan’s Reserve Maple Whiskey

Ethan’s Reserve Honey Whiskey

Ethan’s Sorghum Whiskey

Mystery surrounds this product and its parent company. After some Googling I determined that “Ethan’s Honor Reserve” is a brand of American Whiskey owned by “The River Wine” company, a kosher wine and spirits company with its headquarters in New York, New York. It is difficult to determine what brands the company actually owns and what it simply imports to the USA due to the complete ambiguity on their official website.

Case in point, according to the site, “DS Tayman” is listed as one of their “distilleries”! DS Tayman is not actually a distillery at all but a spirits company and independent bottler owned by Dalkeith Cask Brokerage in Scotland. I would imagine that what they mean to say is that rather than being one of their "distilleries" (sic), that they are simply the importers of DS Tayman products into the USA. Likewise, there are various wineries listed such as the Israeli owned Tishbi winery as well which no doubt, they do not actually own but merely import.

However, it does seem that "Ethan’s" the brand, listed as another of their “distilleries”, is actually owned by Ami Nahari, CEO of The River Wine company. Again, there is no physical distillery called "Ethan’s". The spirit that goes into all four Ethan’s whiskey products has been sourced from an actual whiskey distillery called “Nashville Crafts Distillery” in Nashville, Tennessee.

When I Googled this real distillery, it took me to a website that declares that the distillery was privately owned by a Bruce Boeko (not The River Wine company), but is now permanently closed down as of March 2025. However, looking at the last entries on their news blog, it seems that Nashville Craft products will continue to be made by “Muddy Pond Distillery” in Monterey, TN. Yet, when I looked up Muddy Pond Distillery, it took me to a company called Muddy Pond Mill that (surprise surprise), manufactures Sorghum Syrup. All references to a distillery led me to a Facebook page declaring that it was not open yet but would “open soon”.

(Incidentally, "sourced whiskey" - whiskey brands pretending to be actual physical distilleries, are quite common in the USA. I've even heard of a "distillery" visitors centre in Kentucky where you can visit the facilities, see some (empty) casks and buy the products in their "distillery" shop, yet 100% of the whiskey is sourced from another distillery not even in Kentucky).

So, whether Ethan’s brand series of whiskies will continue to be made elsewhere is still a question. I stopped my research at this point as "Ethan's" was sending me down a very deep rabbit hole and I felt that I'd wasted enough time on it already.

The only reference I found on YouTube to any Ethan’s whiskey products was this short video, with the rather cringy slogan “This year we are free. Not just from Egypt, we are free to have whiskey on Passover!”

https://youtube.com/shorts/W337yXHlnuY?si=3t3XBEPg7g-TQ044

A Kasher LePesach Whiskey?

So, I hear you all asking, “a kosher for Pesach whiskey? Is this a belated April Fool’s joke?”

No, it’s no joke. This “whiskey” has kosher certification from not only the OU, but from the most prestigious “MKL” certification of Rav Akiva Osher Padwa Shlit"a of London.

Is Whisk(e)y Chametz?

It is forbidden to consume or even to own chametz on Pesach. Usually, people associate chametz with bread crackers, cake, Pasta etc, but actually for something to be chametz, it must simply be a mixture of water and one (or more) of the following five grains, left to ferment for at least 18 minutes:

1.	Wheat	חיטה	(chitah)
2.	Barley	שעורה	(se’orah)
3.	Spelt	כוסמין	(kusmin)
4.	Oats	שיבולת שועל	(shibolet shu'al)
5.	Rye	שיפון	(shifon)

So, whisk(e)y is also chametz. (By the way, even whiskey labeled "Corn Whiskey" will in practice have a percentage of malted grain from one of the above five species in it used as a "starter").

This whiskey however, is made exclusively from a plant called Sorghum. Not a grain of wheat, barley, spelt, oats or rye in site!

What is Sorghum?

https://www.poultryworld.net/health-nutrition/nutrition/researchers-aim-to-make-sorghum-more-palatable-for-poultry-diets/

Those in the United States might be more familiar with this plant but for those in Israel and the UK, where it is less well known, I need to explain what Sorghum is.

Sorghum is a tall grass crop grown for its grain (from the seeds) as well as its sweet syrup/juice found inside the stalks. It is also grown as a biofuel.

Sorghum is also a popular ingredient in gluten-free food products.

It belongs to the grass family, like wheat, barley, maize, and sugarcane.

It looks like something between maize and sugarcane, depending on the variety, and grows to a length of some 1 to 3.5m tall.

At the top of the plant grows a large clustered head (called a panicle) filled with many small round seeds. It is from the seeds that most Sorghum products are made, although syrup is made from the sugary sap found inside the stalks, similar to sugarcane. It is mainly found in parts of Africa, India, Australia and the United States, particularly the South and Midwest.

 

Shouldn’t “Whiskey” that’s made from Sorghum be considered Kitniyos?

There are alcoholic beverages that are Kasher lePesach but are labelled as kitniyos. These include, for instance, certain brands of chocolate liqueurs as they contain kitniyos based vegetable oil. Sorghum is categorised as a type of kitniyos but this whiskey is NOT considered kitniyos! But why not?

Note: For those who are already familiar with the term kitniyos, they can skip the next few paragraphs (marked in blue). However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least attempt to explain what this term means for those who are unsure.

Kitniyos (or Kitniyot), is not a simple thing to define. It can be loosely described as an Ashkenazi minhag (custom) not to eat any grain like plant on Pesach that has been used in the past in a similar way to the five grains (as listed above). For instance, if a grain like plant has traditionally been ground up into flour to make bread or cakes from it, then it’s probably considered kitniyos.

To expand the definition slightly, many of these non-chametz grain like items have been classified as kitniyos as they have been traditionally grown alongside chametz grains in the field or have been transported and stored in warehouses alongside chametz grains. As you can see, it’s not an exact science and there are differences of opinion when it comes to certain items.

Plants that are considered kitniyos include grain like items such as Beans (but not potato), Buckwheat, Caraway, Cardamom, Chickpeas, Corn (maize), Fennel Seeds, Fenugreek, Flaxseed (Linseed), Green Beans, Hemp Seeds, Lentils, Millet, Mustard, Peas, Poppy Seeds, Rapeseed, Rice, Sesame Seeds, Sorghum Seeds, Soybean, Sunflower Seeds and more.

Confusingly however, not everything that can be made into flour is considered kitniyos. For example, Potatoes, Cottonseed, Carob, Coriander, Cumin, Coffee, Onion, Garlic and tree‑nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts and cashews, have not historically ever been treated as kitniyos, even though flour can in principle be made from them. The distinction depends largely on how they have traditionally been used over the centuries for food preparation in European Jewish homes and whether it is likely that these items might be confused with actual chametz items.

In addition to this, there are products such as Peanuts that according to most Poskim, are now considered kitniyos even though they don’t strictly meet the criteria described above.

Whenever a new grain like plant enters the food market, there is always much discussion as to whether it should be considered kitniyos. There is general agreement, even though they seem to meet many of the criteria of kitniyos, that Tapioca and Quinoa are not considered kitniyos. That’s why, for instance, you might see “Rice Crackers” made from Tapioca in Chareidi food stores on Pesach. Nevertheless, according to the OU, one would still need Kasher lePesach certification on these products to use them on Pesach.

(See below for a list of halachic sources for the Minhag of Kitniyot*).

OK, back to the original question.

In order to answer the question as to why Ethan’s Sorghum Reserve is not considered kitniyos, I went to the very person who certified this product, namely HaRav Akiva Osher Padwa Shlit”a.

The Rav explained that it is the seeds of the Sorghum plant that are considered kitniyos. Had Ethan’s Sorghum Reserve been made from those seeds then it would indeed fall under the prohibition. However, the whiskey is actually made from the juice of the crushed stalks which is made into a sugary syrup. The head of the stalk which contains the seeds has already been removed during the growing period. This, the Rav explained, is sufficient to prevent it from being considered kitniyos.

This means that the whiskey is actually made from Sorghum syrup, more analogous to cane‑juice or molasses as a sugar source rather than a grain or legume‑like food. This is the reasoning that underlies the OU‑P and MKL kosher‑for‑Pesach certification of Ethan’s Reserve.

 

Can Ethan’s Sorghum Reserve legally be termed “Whiskey”?

The common understanding is that the mash that makes American Whiskey must be made from some type of grain. American Whiskey enthusiasts who, having just heard that this product is not actually made from the Sorghum grain but the syrup found in the stalks, must surely be wondering how this can legally be termed “whiskey”?

So, looking at the regulations, many have argued to me that Ethan’s Sorghum Reserve cannot be legally termed whiskey. The general federal TTB definition in 27 CFR §5.143(a), which defines “whisky” or “whiskey” states the following:

“…distilled spirits that is an alcoholic distillate from a fermented mash of any grain distilled at less than 95 percent alcohol by volume… having the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to whisky, stored in oak barrels… and bottled at not less than 40 percent alcohol by volume.”

However, after clarification with the TTB alcohol committee, their response was that the regulations do not require that the fermentable portion come only from the seed of the grain. This is at least their interpretation of the statement “…fermented mash of any grain,” and indeed, in the past few years the TTB has allowed several sorghum‑based products, distilled from sorghum syrup derived from the stalk, to be labelled as “whiskey”.

So, it seems that a spirit made in the U.S. from sorghum syrup derived fermented mash, even without using any of the seeds, can in practice legally be labelled and sold as whiskey, provided of course that it meets the other requirements for American Whiskey such as the abv/proof and use of oak barrels.

Despite all this, I would personally question the validity of calling this "whiskey", based on the sole criteria that states “having the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to [American] Whisky”. Indeed, without giving too much away before the actual review, in my opinion, it tastes more like Rum or even Brandy rather than like American Grain Whiskey.

 

Doesn’t Ethan’s Sorghum Reserve sound more like a Rum than Whiskey?

The spirit is made from the fermented sugary juice extracted from the stalk. That sounds like Rum, doesn’t it?

Nevertheless, under U.S. federal law, Ethan’s Reserve cannot legally be called “Rum” because the regulatory definition specifies that the spirit must specifically be made from sugarcane, not from a sugary syrup derived from any type of plant juice.

The TTB defines “Rum” in 27 CFR §5.147(a) as:

“…distilled from the fermented juice of sugar-cane, sugar-cane syrup, sugar-cane molasses, or other sugar-cane by‑products… having the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to rum, and bottled at not less than 40 percent alcohol by volume.”

So, Ethan’s Sorghum Reserve does not meet the “sugar-cane” requirement and therefore falls outside the legal definition of Rum. What this means in practice is that when determining the category of alcohol, it seems that the TTB leans heavily towards the raw material and tradition, not just from the final taste and style of the spirit.

Now that I’ve hopefully answered all your halachic as well as "whiskey nurd" questions, we can finally get on with the review….

Ethan’s Sorghum Reserve Whiskey - The Review

I must admit to buying this bottle for the novelty of trying out a whisky for Pesach, not expecting it to actually be any good. After all, it has only spent a single year in Oak Casks, so I was expecting it to be a bit rough around the edges to say the least. However, I have to admit that despite my initial scepticism, It's actually surprisingly good.

Art Work, Packaging and Text

It comes in a simple bottle, similar in style to Elijah Craig Small Batch. Being that it’s primarily produced for the kosher market, I find it strange that they don’t bother even mentioning that this is “Kosher for Passover” on the front label.

All the information (and there's not much of it), about this product is found on a thin transparent plastic label stuck on the side.

The label reads “Sorghum Whiskey...distilled and bottled in Tennessee". Below this is some marketing shmooze:

“The ancient Sorghum plant has been crafted into smooth, rich whiskey”

(They just couldn’t resist inserting the word “smooth” in there somewhere, could they).

“Aged in charred American Oak barrels….” [then more marketing drivel follows].

Only when we get to the very bottom of the transparent plastic sticky label after the barcode, do we see the two kashrus certifications and underneath that, the statement “Kosher for Passover”.

Marketing Train Wreck!

There is no mention of this whiskey being “without kitniyot” which surely would be the first question any Ashkenazi Orthodox Jew would ask himself after having read that it’s made from Sorghum.

This omission is an absolute marketing train wreck, made perhaps by a lack of understanding as to who one of their major target audiences is. Whatever the reason, this is a complete marketing failure, no doubt having cost the company a considerable loss in sales. I suspect that they don’t even realise it, that left with this unanswered question, many if not most Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews would put it back on the shelf and move onto the Kasher LePesach Brandies and Cognacs. Even if they can be bothered to go ask a shop salesperson, only someone both knowledgeable in halacha and this product would be able to give the potential buyer a satisfying answer.

After all, the person picking this bottle up is already sceptical and on guard, seeing that they claim it's “Whiskey for Passover”! Yes, it says “OU-P” on it and as far as I am understand, all products that only state “OU-P” on them are Kasher LePesach without kitniyos. The OU does in fact certify some products that are Kasher Le-Pesach with kitniyos but for these products, they use a separate certification symbol “OU – Kitniyot” for those products.

The point is though, how widely is it known by the average person that OU-P implies "without kitniyot"? I suspect not many!

Moreover, perhaps some might think that the certification is a printing error (especially when it's not made clear on the front label that this is a special Kosher for Pesach product). After all, it’s not the first time that mistakes have been made with kosher certifications. It’s happened before that a graphics designer has taken an existing whisky label blueprint and used it as the bases for a label on a new expression (say Ex-Sherry Cask Matured), without realising that they are also copying a kosher certification.

See here for an actual real-life example:

Surely, one of the first jobs of the marketing guys is to remove any doubts that the punter might have that will make him/her hesitate before buying.

For example, I remember seeing a sticker on the back of a certain French made car claiming that, apart from the yearly service, it would never see the inside of the car company's garage. This was an attempt to counteract the car manufacturer’s long held poor reputation for building unreliable cars.

I hope that the guys at The River Wine Company see this and take note. This marketing mess needs to be corrected as soon as possible.

Appearance

I have no Glencairn Whisky glasses for Pesach, only large Brandy glasses. They do however allow me to give the liquid a real good swirl around in the glass.

Legs are thick and sticky and reflect the fact the whiskey is bottled at 47% abv. According to the TTB Regulations, you are allowed to add colour and flavour to anything marked as “Whiskey”, but not Bourbon. Consequently, I do not know if this is coloured or not. However, I suspect that perhaps it is, due to that extremely rich-burnt caramel brown tint. Yes, I know it’s been matured in charred barrels but even so, I’m not sure that the liquid would have taken on such a deep tint in just 12 months. Perhaps so.

Mouthfeel

It has a lovely syrupy rich mouthfeel that coats the inside of the mouth with sticky toffee like liquid.

Nosing

Despite it being bottled at 47% abv, I wouldn't bother adding much water if at all. I settled on a few drops from a pipette but honestly, it really doesn’t need it.  Adding more than half a teaspoon and you are in danger of drowning it.

On the nose, there’s English Toffee Apples. Creamy Dulce Deleche and Vanilla cake.

The nose is extremely well balanced, even from the neck pour and it only gets better from there.

Lovely rich aromas of wood soaked in wood polish.

After a minute you become aware of a particular aroma lingering in the background. I never managed to quite put my finger on what it is.

The nearest I can get to it is perhaps a hint of spearmint and fruit chewing gum with a slight off-note like the sweet smell of fresh PVC dustbin bags, fresh petrol or white art glue perhaps. However, it's well integrated into the whole nose and adds a certain character (especially for those who like the smell of PVC).

Tasting

The overall taste is, in my opinion far closer to Brandy or Cognac than a grain whisk(e)y. In fact, there’s no grain flavour here whatsoever.

I don't think it tastes anything like any Bourbon I’ve ever tried. It is lighter than Bourbon, lacking that sweet and sour-mash influence that only corn maize can produce in Bourbon. It is far less sweet than Bourbon as well. Again, the sweetness is much more like (a fruit based) Brandy.

Toffee fudge and cooked, gently fermenting stewed fruit like apples, sultanas, pears, banana toffee, cinnamon and a touch of fresh ginger.

What's not there? Any Grain, Herbal, Grassy or Earthy notes usually associated with whisky/whiskey.

Finish

Finish is medium to light with lingering caramel toffee and mild spices. Quite impressive for a spirit only 12 months old.

Conclusion

This Sorghum Whiskey is a welcome change to both French Cognac and Israeli kasher lePesach Brandies. It's great to have another choice when selection has historically been so narrow when it comes to quality spirits on Pesach.

I say it’s "surprisingly good" as in all honesty, I was actually expecting an ultra-sweet and syrupy over-the-top wooded American style whiskey with a green vegetative tone and with a harsh young moonshine spirit kick. I really did half expect this to be awful and it really isn't.

I found myself really enjoying it, despite that strange off-note lingering in the background which I never did identify. Perhaps that strange unfamiliar flavour note is what Sorghum tastes like?

Is it worth it? Comparing this to a Whisky/ Whiskey during the rest of the year then no. It's not worth it. However, that’s an unfair comparison. If you compare this to a kasher lePesach VSOP or XO Cognac then price wise, it fits squarely in between.

I’d say that if you usually buy the under NIS 200 “VS” Cognacs for Pesach then stick to that. However, if you, like me go for the VSOPs (or even XOs), then this is well worth giving a try. I think you’ll like it and it’s sufficiently un-whiskey like not to give you that weird feeling when eating "bread" rolls, "rice" crackers, "pasta" or chocolate "wafers" all marked as "kasher LePeach - Llo Chashash Kitniot" on the label.

You can find this in the Piup wine store in Yerushalayim as well as other places in Israel for around NIS 280.

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* Here is the list of sources for the Minhag of Kitniyos

References in the Gemara

1. Gemara – Pesachim 40b (Rava on lentils / kasisin)

• Pesachim 40b: Rava states that lentil flour (kasisin) may not be used in the beit aveilah (house of mourning) on Pesach, because the resulting bread‑like product can be mistaken for chametz in an unlearned community.
• Later Ashkenazic Rishonim and Acharonim (e.g., the Peri Chadash and those summarized by OU‑style sources) treat this as the earliest halachic model for being strict about kitniyot‑type foods that are cooked or baked like chametz, even though it is not yet called “kitniyot” in the Ashkenazic sense.

2. Gemara – Pesachim 114b (Rava on rice and Johanan ben Nuri)

• On Pesachim 114b, Rava and R. Huna are recorded as putting rice on the seder plate, and the Gemara concludes that the community does not follow R. Johanan ben Nuri, who held rice was so close to the five grains that it could leaven.
• Later Ashkenazic halachists cite this as background: if rice is so close to the grain‑category in the eyes of the Talmud, it is understandable that later communities would develop a minhag to treat rice and similar items as kitniyot, out of caution.

Early Rishonim

• Rabbeinu Peretz on the Semak — one of the earliest sources that expressly discusses the custom.
• Orchos Chaim — cites the practice and gives one of the classic explanations, that kitniyot may be confused with chametz grains or mixed with them.
• Rabbeinu Manoach — discusses the custom and its logic in the medieval period.
• Maharil — a major early Ashkenazic source who records the custom as established practice.

Codification by Rema and later Poskim

• Rema, Orach Chaim 453:1 — the classic codifying source for Ashkenazim; this is the key halachic anchor for the minhag.
• Mishnah Berurah 453:6, 464:5 — cites the main reasons: similarity to chametz processing, milling/baking like chametz, and fear of chametz admixture.
• Vilna Gaon — discusses textual and conceptual sources for the custom.

Important halachic codifiers and expansions

• Terumas HaDeshen 453 — discusses practical consequences of the minhag, such as whether kitniyot may be kept over Pesach.
• Beis Yosef, O.C. 453 — part of the classic background discussion about rice and related items.
• Aruch HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 453:1–4, 453:9 — gives a clear, detailed treatment of the minhag, explains the reasons (confusion with chametz, mixture, and traditional usage), and extends the discussion to practical cases.
• Chayei Adam and later Ashkenazic authorities — contribute to the practical extension of the custom.

Modern halachic references and summaries found on the Internet:

• OU, STAR‑K, Yeshivat Har Etzion, Halachipedia, etc. — give the standard reasons and list common kitniyot items.

https://etzion.org.il/en/holidays/pesach/laws-pesach-kitniyot

https://www.ouisrael.org/content/uploads/2025/04/1607-Vayikra-R.Friedman.pdf

https://oukosher.org/passover/articles/what-is-kitniyot/

https://www.torahmusings.com/2015/04/the-religious-significance-of-not-eating-kitniyot-on-pesach/

https://www.halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Kitniyot

https://www.star-k.org/articles/articles/seasonal/355/understanding-kitniyos/