MILK & HONEY Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv’s creative, cosmopolitan vibe is established by fashion boutiques and rooftop bars dotted with daybeds. By its clubbing scene, contemporary-art galleries and liberal whitesand beaches. By an ever-trendier restaurant scene. And, least expectedly, by Israel’s first whisky distillery.

Occupying an ex-bakery among workshops and warehouses in ancient Jaffa, the city’s original Mediterranean port, Milk & Honey was established in 2014. Under the watch of late master-distiller Dr. Jim Swan—aka the “Einstein of whisky”—it produced premium single malts within a year.

Standard one-hour English tours walk the maze-like facility past 2,000-barrel storage rooms before returning to a small bar and shop. Alternatives factoring in cheese or chocolate-accompanied tastings are also available, as are blending workshops. During all, you’ll also learn about ageing processes conducted elsewhere.

Despite its small size, Israel boasts five climate zones, and Milk & Honey utilises this by taking its barrels to each for results visibly distinct in colour and taste. Particularly noteworthy is Apex, a single malt aged in the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth, where 50°C temperatures conspire to create an intense tipple.

Named after the Old Testament’s description of Israel as “a land flowing with milk and honey”, the distillery further experiments by utilising atypical casts alongside traditional ex-bourbon models. Some have previously housed local pomegranate wine.

Also producing two gins using botanicals from spice-lined Levinsky Market, Milk & Honey is owned by the GKI Group—a company also known for its robotic cocktail-mixing barmaid, Sicily. Innovation, it seems, runs deep here. ■

HIDDEN GEMS