LEADIN

Israel's first whisky (also spelt whiskey) distillery is preparing to release the country's first Single Malt whisky.

100 bottles are set to be released by auction from The Milk and Honey distillery later this month.

STORYLINE

Smooth, honey-brown whisky (also spelt whiskey) is not the first thing that pops to mind when you think of Israel. But at The Milk and Honey Distillery, rows of casks proudly stamped "Tel Aviv" hold litres of the stuff.

The country's first whisky distillery is preparing to release Israel's first Single Malt whisky.

Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO, describes it as a young whisky with a lot of woodiness and fruitiness:

"It's complex for its age, as I told you the taste feels like more than three years, more like seven or eight and again the story is much more important in this case. This is the first ever single malt whisky that any distillery released from Israel."

While wine has been produced in the Holy Land for centuries with modern day Israeli wines recently gaining international renown, whisky production is new to the country.

Milk and Honey was created in 2012 and began distilling whisky in 2015. One hundred bottles of the Single Malt are set to be released at an online auction starting 11 August 2017, while the remaining 291 will be sold at a later date.

The drink is also "ultra-kosher" according to Attir.

"Kosher is one thing that we do here differently. We are like the ultra-kosher distillery you can find I guess in the world. Because whisky by definition is kosher but here it is much more. We don't work on Saturdays, we don't work on Yom Kippur or Passover and we want to symbolise our being Jewish or Israeli and then we called it the Milk and Honey Distillery," he says.

The Single Malt was made in Israel from start to finish, according to the company's website. The climate in Israel allows for a speedier aging process than for whisky made in colder climes, according to Ran Latowicz, an Israeli whisky connoisseur and bar owner.

"This whisky is unique because of where it comes from. It comes from a warm climate country which is a place that's a lot harder to make whisky. In colder climates like Scotland or Ireland, whisky usually ages for about seven to ten to twelve years before it's even bottled because this is just the way, you know, it gets to its full potential, at least to the beginning of its full potential. The warm climate thing in Israel speeds up the process and actually makes a three year old whisky feel a lot older," he says.

The distillery believes it is well positioned to ride a wave of international interest in new world whiskies and hopes this initial offering whets the appetites of aficionados everywhere.

"There's a huge demand nowadays for whisky from other places around the world, a new world whisky. There's more than 70 countries now with a minimum of one distillery and one of them is Israel. So the demand now is for new things, new stories, new markets, new tastes and I think we're going to be a part of this amazing wave," says Attir.

Israel may have long been known as the land of milk and honey, but now the company which uses that phrase as its name hopes to make it the land of Single Malt whisky.

Tel Aviv - 10 August 2017

1. Whisky (whiskey) being removed from cask and poured into glasses

2. Tilt up of whisky casks

3. More of casks

4. The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO Eitan Attir walking through warehouse

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"It's a young whisky, let's be honest, it's only three years of 3.2 actually but it's a very unique combination between two and a half years in a new American virgin oak, and seven months in an ex-bourbon one so it has a lot of woodiness and a lot of fruitiness inside as well. It's complex for its age, as I told you the taste feels like more than three years, more like seven or eight and again the story is much more important in this case. This is the first ever single malt whisky that any distillery released from Israel."

6. Pan left of casks

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"The Milk and Honey is the first whisky distillery here in Israel and we already set the first ever whisky single malt whisky and we're going to sell it in an auction, numbers 1 up to 100 out of 391 bottles from the single cask series are going for auction in whiskyauctioneer.com."

8. Various of barley and malt on production line

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"Milk and Honey is the name of the distillery actually and also of the whisky that was released because Israel is well known as the milk and honey land. So we are very, very proud of being Israeli. We are very proud of being Jewish. We want to shout it to the world about the Milk and Honey Distillery. Kosher is one thing that we do here differently. We are like the ultra-kosher distillery you can find I guess in the world. Because whisky by definition is kosher but here it is much more. We don't work on Saturdays, we don't work on Yom Kippur or Passover and we want to symbolise our being Jewish or Israeli and then we called it the Milk and Honey Distillery."

10. Various of signs showing production details in English and Hebrew

11. Pan left of warehouse

12. Establishing shot of Ran Latovicz, whisky expert

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ran Latovicz, whisky expert

"This spirit is very complex, very…I call it an intelligent whisky. It's a whisky that develops. A whisky that you can keep it in the glass for 25 minutes and it develops again and I'm very excited, a lot of people all around the world are very excited to see where this spirit and where this whisky is going to be in about three or four, five years from now."

14. Close of whisky in glass

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Ran Latovicz, whiskey expert

"This whisky is unique because of where it comes from. It comes from a warm climate country which is a place that's a lot harder to make whisky. In colder climates like Scotland or Ireland, whisky usually ages for about seven to ten to twelve years before it's even bottled because this is just the way, you know, it gets to its full potential, at least to the beginning of its full potential. The warm climate thing in Israel speeds up the process and actually makes a three year old whisky feel a lot older."

16. Various of whisky production facility

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"There's a huge demand nowadays for whisky from other places around the world, a new world whisky. There's more than 70 countries now with a minimum of one distillery and one of them is Israel. So the demand now is for new things, new stories, new markets, new tastes and I think we're going to be a part of this amazing wave."

18. Whisky being poured from cask to glass

LEADIN

Israel's first whisky (also spelt whiskey) distillery is preparing to release the country's first Single Malt whisky.

100 bottles are set to be released by auction from The Milk and Honey distillery later this month.

STORYLINE

Smooth, honey-brown whisky (also spelt whiskey) is not the first thing that pops to mind when you think of Israel. But at The Milk and Honey Distillery, rows of casks proudly stamped "Tel Aviv" hold litres of the stuff.

The country's first whisky distillery is preparing to release Israel's first Single Malt whisky.

Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO, describes it as a young whisky with a lot of woodiness and fruitiness:

"It's complex for its age, as I told you the taste feels like more than three years, more like seven or eight and again the story is much more important in this case. This is the first ever single malt whisky that any distillery released from Israel."

While wine has been produced in the Holy Land for centuries with modern day Israeli wines recently gaining international renown, whisky production is new to the country.

Milk and Honey was created in 2012 and began distilling whisky in 2015. One hundred bottles of the Single Malt are set to be released at an online auction starting 11 August 2017, while the remaining 291 will be sold at a later date.

The drink is also "ultra-kosher" according to Attir.

"Kosher is one thing that we do here differently. We are like the ultra-kosher distillery you can find I guess in the world. Because whisky by definition is kosher but here it is much more. We don't work on Saturdays, we don't work on Yom Kippur or Passover and we want to symbolise our being Jewish or Israeli and then we called it the Milk and Honey Distillery," he says.

The Single Malt was made in Israel from start to finish, according to the company's website. The climate in Israel allows for a speedier aging process than for whisky made in colder climes, according to Ran Latowicz, an Israeli whisky connoisseur and bar owner.

"This whisky is unique because of where it comes from. It comes from a warm climate country which is a place that's a lot harder to make whisky. In colder climates like Scotland or Ireland, whisky usually ages for about seven to ten to twelve years before it's even bottled because this is just the way, you know, it gets to its full potential, at least to the beginning of its full potential. The warm climate thing in Israel speeds up the process and actually makes a three year old whisky feel a lot older," he says.

The distillery believes it is well positioned to ride a wave of international interest in new world whiskies and hopes this initial offering whets the appetites of aficionados everywhere.

"There's a huge demand nowadays for whisky from other places around the world, a new world whisky. There's more than 70 countries now with a minimum of one distillery and one of them is Israel. So the demand now is for new things, new stories, new markets, new tastes and I think we're going to be a part of this amazing wave," says Attir.

Israel may have long been known as the land of milk and honey, but now the company which uses that phrase as its name hopes to make it the land of Single Malt whisky.

Tel Aviv - 10 August 2017

1. Whisky (whiskey) being removed from cask and poured into glasses

2. Tilt up of whisky casks

3. More of casks

4. The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO Eitan Attir walking through warehouse

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"It's a young whisky, let's be honest, it's only three years of 3.2 actually but it's a very unique combination between two and a half years in a new American virgin oak, and seven months in an ex-bourbon one so it has a lot of woodiness and a lot of fruitiness inside as well. It's complex for its age, as I told you the taste feels like more than three years, more like seven or eight and again the story is much more important in this case. This is the first ever single malt whisky that any distillery released from Israel."

6. Pan left of casks

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"The Milk and Honey is the first whisky distillery here in Israel and we already set the first ever whisky single malt whisky and we're going to sell it in an auction, numbers 1 up to 100 out of 391 bottles from the single cask series are going for auction in whiskyauctioneer.com."

8. Various of barley and malt on production line

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"Milk and Honey is the name of the distillery actually and also of the whisky that was released because Israel is well known as the milk and honey land. So we are very, very proud of being Israeli. We are very proud of being Jewish. We want to shout it to the world about the Milk and Honey Distillery. Kosher is one thing that we do here differently. We are like the ultra-kosher distillery you can find I guess in the world. Because whisky by definition is kosher but here it is much more. We don't work on Saturdays, we don't work on Yom Kippur or Passover and we want to symbolise our being Jewish or Israeli and then we called it the Milk and Honey Distillery."

10. Various of signs showing production details in English and Hebrew

11. Pan left of warehouse

12. Establishing shot of Ran Latovicz, whisky expert

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ran Latovicz, whisky expert

"This spirit is very complex, very…I call it an intelligent whisky. It's a whisky that develops. A whisky that you can keep it in the glass for 25 minutes and it develops again and I'm very excited, a lot of people all around the world are very excited to see where this spirit and where this whisky is going to be in about three or four, five years from now."

14. Close of whisky in glass

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Ran Latovicz, whiskey expert

"This whisky is unique because of where it comes from. It comes from a warm climate country which is a place that's a lot harder to make whisky. In colder climates like Scotland or Ireland, whisky usually ages for about seven to ten to twelve years before it's even bottled because this is just the way, you know, it gets to its full potential, at least to the beginning of its full potential. The warm climate thing in Israel speeds up the process and actually makes a three year old whisky feel a lot older."

16. Various of whisky production facility

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Eitan Attir, The Milk and Honey Distillery CEO

"There's a huge demand nowadays for whisky from other places around the world, a new world whisky. There's more than 70 countries now with a minimum of one distillery and one of them is Israel. So the demand now is for new things, new stories, new markets, new tastes and I think we're going to be a part of this amazing wave."

18. Whisky being poured from cask to glass