Established in 2014, Golani Distillery, also known as the Golan Heights Distillery, creates their flagship single malt whiskies by combining high-quality local spring and well water with locally grown barley and wheat, with finishing in cabernet oak barrels from Yarden’s well-regarded cabernet sauvignon wines.
“Sukkot is a Yom Tov of water. Shavteh mayim b’sasson, you know the song. A speciality of this distillery is excellent water, so this scotch is a perfect drink to enjoy in the sukkah,” said Mendel, of Red Garden Wines.
A family-owned and operated craft distillery established by former Montrealer David Zibell in Katzrin, the distillery benefits from its location near Mayanot Eden, a spring in the same region as Golan Heights Winery. Golan Heights is renowned in the kosher world for its beautiful winery and visitors center and for distributing the wine brands Yarden, Gilgal/Gamla and Hermon.
Golani Distillery makes their single malt whiskies from the finest ingredients and with the finest local casks they can get their hands on. Each cask is hand selected by the master distiller. As with all quality scotch whiskies, Golani abides by Scottish standards and ages their whiskies for a minimum of three years, though the warm Israeli climate renders the aging process more quick than traditional scotch whiskies. This is evidenced by the fact that the “angel’s share,” the amount of whisky lost from casks due to evaporation, happens more rapidly with Golani’s casks. The distillery also produces arak, gin and absinthe crafted with house-made beet and cane sugar alcohol and using only the best locally grown and imported botanicals.
Red Garden Wines is bringing three Golani single malts to the U.S. kosher market. Two of them are already available in Filler Up Wines: Golani Vino ($58) is cabernet wine cask-matured. “It gives the whisky a fruity and strong wine influence,” said Zibell. The second offering is Golani Black, which is a bit pricier and will be available in the U.S. later this fall. “This is casked in new charred American oak casks, so it is closer to American whisky [bourbon], with caramel, vanilla influences and sweeter than the Vino,” he explained.
And the Golani Double Wood (also $58) is “a mix of the Vino and the Black,” and is already available, like Vino, at Filler Up.
Filler Up is located at 174 West Englewood Avenue in Teaneck. For orders, call 201-862-1700.
By Elizabeth Kratz
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