Milk & Honey Apex Pomegranate Wine Cask

As we’ve learned, the Connosr website will become a read-only archive in just over a week. That will happen during the Passover holiday, and as many of you are aware, I seal my cabinet during that time so that the collection remains Kosher all year round (I didn’t make up the rules). So this past week I’ve done as many tasting notes as I’ve been able, posting a number of reviews that I’ve wanted to do while I still can.

It’s become a tradition to do a special review before I lock up my cabinet. In the past it’s been a Japanese whisky or an Israeli whisky. This year, due to the current international strife, it was important to me to review a Milk and Honey expression, and this one was one that I could not quite get to in the series that led up to last year’s holiday. I still have a couple of tasting notes for other whiskies that I will post over the next week as time allows, but this is the last one I tasted, on April 21, before closing up.

I visited the Milk and Honey distillery in 2019, just before they released their first fully-matured single malt ( the “Classic”), and posted my impressions of the operation here (connosr.com/milk-and-honey-israel-the-next…). I have been impressed with a number of their expressions.

This one is part of the Apex series. When I first heard about it I contacted the distillery to see if a relative couls pick up a bottle for me. They told me it was for export only. So when I saw a bottle available in the US I jumped on it and had it shipped to a friend in California. He has since moved around Europe and is currently living in Turkey, but I think he expects to return to his home in SF eventually. When I saw a bottle in Alberta I ordered it. it was picked up by a nephew and brought to me when my in-laws came for a wedding. I opened it with my niece on April 21 2022, the day before I tested positive for COVID-19, and lost my sense of smell and taste for about 2 months.

This is Batch 8 of this expression. Bottled at cask strength, the spirit was distilled on Feb. 25, 2028, matured in ex-bourbon casks and finished in Pomegranate rose wine casks. It’s listed as a small batch, and my bottle is numbered 1 of 2570. The bottle is currently just above half full, and has been gassed after each use.

This expression is reviewed in my usual manner in a Brilliant Highland whisky glass, allowing it to settle after which I take my nosing and tasting notes, followed by the addition of a few drops of water, waiting, then nosing and tasting.

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Nose: 22/25

Sweet fruity rich nose. baking spices. fruit syrup, hint of pomegranate concentrate, orange peel oil. Water brings out the syrup, “thickens” the nose. (22.5/25)

Taste: 21.5/25

Sweet, fruity arrival. Rich. Some dark fruits, and fruit juice in the development. Some vanilla in the background. Slightly spirity. With water the spiritiness becomes more spicy. Slightly thinner mouthfeel, the whisky comes together more, the brighter fruits are more prominent. (22.5/25)

Finish: 22/25

Peppery. Sweet. Pomegranate juice on the exhale.

Balance: 21/25

At full strength it’s a bit overwhelming on the palate. Complementary nose and palate. Water makes this much more accessible. (22.5/25)

Score: Neat - 86.5/100 With Water: 89.5 /100

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This is a very interesting expression. I think it’s well-made and well-presented, with an unusual cask finish that is worth trying. If you don’t like wine finishes, you’re probably best off tasting this from someone else’s bottle. I’m glad I was able to find this in Alberta, because who knows when I’ll see the one that I had shipped to my friend in California.

At the end of the Passover Seder it is customary to say “next year in Jerusalem”. With the sunset of the Connosr website, perhaps we can say “Next year on Discord”.

Happy Passover! !עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי