Milk & Honey Elements Sherry Cask
Official Release | 46% ABV
Don’t hold it against them that their whisky is good
Marketing is a tricky thing. On the one hand, it’s needed to get a message out to the public as to why a certain product is good and should be purchased. On the other, we see marketers go over the top with exaggeration, self-aggrandisement and fluff.
At this latter end, it’s just comedy to me. Advertisements that shout and preen like peacocks declaring their product will save the world or will make you into a Marvel comic hero are just ridiculously amusing. So, we consumers always have to navigate and decipher between simple and direct messaging versus bloated exaggeration bordering on the absurd.
Just as we have to navigate through various layers of advertising fluff for everything from laundry detergent and automobiles to coffee, we also have to do so with whisky. Our beautiful malts and whiskies are not immune to marketing exaggerations, overreach, and flat-out myth telling. I mean, have you ever read the entire front label of a bottle of Oban 14? How many times over the years have you heard one of the larger, more established brands tout themselves/their own whiskies as something to behold and admire as if it were of mythic qualities? Too many times to repeat.
Marketing fluff is just that – fluff. It’s no different than the non-natural additives in foods that we try to stay away from. It’s the blathering verbiage that comes from politicians’ mouths during election season. It is something to avoid.
Avoiding, however, is not so easy. When standing in a store looking for a new whisky to try, we read the bottle labels, canisters or boxes. And, more often than we care to admit, we find ourselves reading the most beautifully crafted nonsense.
Does flowery prose tell you anything about the whisky in the bottle? Does it make you want to purchase the bottle? No.
Sure, hacking through the jungles of overly zealous verbiage and marketing techniques can be amusing. But, humour or not, much time is spent reading bottles not only to translate and decipher what facts are relevant and what are tall tales, but to gauge what kind of whisky experience the bottle will provide.
In my area I have come to notice a newer marketing trend in the whisky aisles. It would seem as if the whisky marketers are now employing a tactic that’s been used for years by wine merchants. I now see laminated cards placed on the front of the shelf, directly below the subject bottle. These have been ubiquitous in liquor stores’ wine aisles for many years and only recently have they been popping up when it comes to whisky. All hail some award, accolade, or grading score from some “professional” sommelier.
Of course, there’s a difference between exaggerated marketing decoration and relaying genuine accolades. If a whisky garners Ralfy’s whisky of the year, for example, that bottle should be celebrated. On the other hand, that a bottle scored 92 points from a survey of monkeys from Seattle Zoo doesn’t move the needle for me. Shocking, I know. Even on these mini cards, we have to decipher what is relevant from what is bloated or fabricated fluff.
And so it was a month or so ago when I went to the store and found one of those cards taped below the row of bottles of Milk & Honey Elements Sherry Cask expression. I saw the blurb and, to the non-whisky geek, it was surely an impressive lure to bite on. Along with a picture of a gold medal in the background, were the words:
“World’s Best Single Malt – World Whisky Awards, 2023.”
Admittedly, I did a double-take. I looked at the bottle. I examined it carefully. Was this the same bottle I bought a few months previously? You bet it was. Was this bottle the best single malt in the world? I don’t think so.
Review
Milk & Honey Elements Sherry Cask, 46% ABV
USD$59 (£47) paid
I purchased my bottle at the beginning of 2023, before news of its coveted victory in the World Whisky Awards competition was announced. I bought it after watching a few reviews on YouTube and after reading a few articles about this relatively new distillery from Tel Aviv, Israel. When I came across the bottle, and remembering the reviews and commentary, I thought taking a chance on it was worth a shot.
I opened the bottle and took a pour. It wasn’t a world-beater, not by any measure. It was a bit sharp, a bit short, and a bit shrill. It wasn’t terrible, but I wasn’t impressed. Not bad, but not something to write home about.
And so, the bottle was returned to my whisky cabinet. Aside from a pour taken between January and April, that’s where it stayed. It made its re-appearance during Passover when a group of us had an informal gathering after a seder. I hoped a little time would have helped things round out, open up, and blossom a bit.
Much to my pleasure, the distillate opened up really well between the time that I first opened the bottle and Passover. Maybe some manna from heaven? Whoa, Charlton Heston! Let’s not get away from ourselves and talk as if it was the best single malt in the world.
Nose
Relatively light. The sherry cask influence is unmistakable, but far from a sherry bomb, although I am still getting a lovely sherry influence on the nose. Plums and pickled ginger. Peaches. Oolong tea. Overripe red apple. Raisins. Going back for a second whiff, cherries and plums come a bit more to the front.
Palate
A lovely and slow build of warmth. Stone fruit flavours are well-rounded and smooth. A bit of spice, and that Oolong tea is present. Dried fruits in sweet sherry. Raisins and a hint of vanilla lay in the background. Orange peel and dark chocolate come and fade as the warmth builds with peppery notes. Finish is of medium length and ebbs back from peppery to that note of dried fruit in sweet sherry.
This is a nice, solid pour. It’s a bit thin but not terribly so. It’s good and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t blow my socks off. Gold medal/best in the world worthy? Without hesitation, no.
The Dregs
I wonder how many non-whisky geeks have been lured to purchase this bottle because of those little placards or because they’ve heard this pronounced to be the best single malt in the world?
Yes, it did win that prize at this year’s World Whisky Awards but can it truly be said that after tasting this people now believe this is the bellwether by which other whiskies are judged? For experienced whisky folk, I don’t have that concern. For others, try an Arran Sherry Cask NAS, a Speyburn 15, or a Bunnahabhain 12 alongside the M&H. Milk & Honey might hold its own a bit, but I’d wager this exercise would cure the thought that Milk & Honey beats all in the world.
I fear that this marketing may, ultimately, hurt this expression. Don’t get me wrong, if I had a distillery that won a gold medal at a well-known event, I’d also be loudly touting that accomplishment. My concern isn’t that Milk & Honey is capitalising on the gold medal, but I wonder about the long-term customer. I may be off-base with this, but stick with me.
No doubt the publicity and gold medal ads will lure a number of people to buy and try it, but as I mentioned in a previous review, expectations are key. Someone buys this bottle after seeing the laminated placard at the store and expectations are set that this is the best in the world. Those expectations are very big shoes to fill. When that person tastes it with those elevated expectations, I think there’s more than a little risk that the purchaser might recoil because their expectations were not met.
It’s not that this is a bad whisky but when you set those expectations and “best in the world” does not come to mind as you sip this, there is inevitable disappointment.
Two of the buddies that sampled this with me both enjoyed it. When they heard that this won such a high-ranking accolade, they thought I was joking. Weeks later, when the topic of the Milk & Honey bottle arose, their first comments were directed to their incredulity that this bottle was deemed best in the world. Only after getting over that hump do they continue on to speak about the whisky, itself. I hope for Milk & Honey’s sake there are relatively few who’ll be turned off because their expectations are not met.
That possible disappointment is unfair to a good whisky and its a great up-and-coming distillery. Milk & Honey is Israel’s first whisky distillery and was started in 2013 and, boosted by more than $76,000 through crowdfunding efforts, it released its first batch of whisky in 2018. Its launch was guided with the direction and advice from the late legendary master distiller Dr. Jim Swan. The hot and humid climate in Israel contributes to the more rapid maturation and barrel interaction and I can certainly taste and appreciate the barrels used in this expression.
This is a bottle that’ll be enjoyed and I hope the weight of its lofty gold medal doesn’t distract folk from appreciating this as a good bottle to share.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. OS