The Significance of Bourbon in Jewish Communities: A Complex History and Practical Implications

In recent years, there has been an increase in the involvement of Jewish individuals and companies in the bourbon industry. However, this trend raises questions about the safety and authenticity of bourbon products. As a result, it's essential to understand the history and current state of the bourbon industry, particularly in relation to its Jewish connections.

The History of Bourbon and Its Jewish Involvement

Bourbon is an American whiskey that originated in the United States, specifically in Kentucky. The industry has a rich history, with many Jewish individuals playing a significant role in its development and distribution. According to experts, bourbon is often made in a country where there are Jewish hands involved in the process of production, whether it's through the distillation, aging, or bottling stages.

The reason behind this increased involvement of Jewish companies is largely due to their familiarity with the industry and their ability to navigate complex supply chains. When companies from other countries want to enter the bourbon market, they often look for established distributors and manufacturers who have a proven track record. In many cases, these companies are owned or operated by Jewish individuals who have experience in the industry.

The Impact of Increased Jewish Involvement on the Bourbon Industry

The increased involvement of Jewish companies in the bourbon industry has had a significant impact on the way it operates. One major consequence is that the industry has become more complex and difficult to navigate. With so many parties involved, it's challenging to ensure the authenticity and quality of the final product.

In recent years, there have been several high-profile cases involving counterfeit or tampered bourbon products. These incidents highlight the need for greater transparency and accountability within the industry. As a result, companies are now required to implement stricter quality control measures and provide more detailed information about their products.

The Role of Jewish Community in Bourbon Production

In many cases, Jewish community members play a crucial role in the production of bourbon. For example, some individuals may purchase barrels from Jewish-owned companies and then age them in their own basements. This practice can lead to inconsistent results, as the aging process is not always done under controlled conditions.

To address these concerns, some companies are now adopting more transparent practices. This includes providing detailed information about the origins of their products and implementing stricter quality control measures. By doing so, they aim to reassure consumers that their bourbon products meet high standards of quality and authenticity.

Practical Implications for Consumers

When it comes to choosing a bourbon product, there are several factors to consider. One key consideration is whether the company is Jewish-owned or operated. While this may not be an insurmountable issue, it's essential to research the company thoroughly before making a purchase.

Some companies may choose to avoid working with non-Jewish owned establishments due to concerns about authenticity and quality. In these cases, consumers can benefit from supporting companies that have a proven track record of producing high-quality products. By doing so, they can enjoy a more authentic bourbon experience while also supporting businesses that prioritize quality and transparency.

The Role of Industry Experts in Bourbon Production

As the bourbon industry continues to evolve, it's essential for experts to play a key role in promoting quality and authenticity. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of industry experts who have joined the conversation around bourbon production.

These experts often come from Jewish backgrounds and bring their knowledge and experience to the table. By sharing their insights and best practices, they can help promote greater transparency and accountability within the industry.

One expert noted that when it comes to buying bourbon, consumers should be aware of the fact that a large amount of bourbon is made in America, specifically in Kentucky, where there are Jewish hands involved in the process. He suggested that this increased involvement has led to a more complex supply chain, with many parties involved in the production and distribution of the final product.

The Importance of Education and Awareness

As we move forward, it's essential to prioritize education and awareness when it comes to bourbon production. By doing so, consumers can make informed decisions about the products they buy and support businesses that prioritize quality and transparency.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of educational programs and initiatives aimed at promoting greater understanding of the bourbon industry. These efforts have helped raise awareness about the complexities involved in bourbon production and the importance of authenticity and quality.

Conclusion

The involvement of Jewish companies in the bourbon industry is a complex issue that raises questions about authenticity and quality. As we move forward, it's essential to prioritize education and awareness when it comes to bourbon production. By doing so, consumers can make informed decisions about the products they buy and support businesses that prioritize quality and transparency.

Ultimately, the key to navigating the complexities of the bourbon industry lies in promoting greater transparency and accountability within the supply chain. By working together with industry experts and supporting companies that prioritize quality and authenticity, we can ensure that the final product meets high standards of quality and consistency.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthank you welcome back to let's talk hashras we are joined today by Rabbi Shalom fishbein cautious administrator of the Chicago rabbinical Council and executive director of acco The Association of cautious organizations thank you Rabbi fishbein once again thank you we're here today to discuss something that's umid Allah parekh something that's very relevant now with the yomte for pesach and that is and the most relevant topic which I think most people grapple with every single year is buying comet's post pesach right what am I allowed to buy where am I allowed to buy what's the answer well I wish there was a short answer uh because every year it changes and uh as we are pre-pay suck at this moment we're in the midst of doing the research for this year and uh we're proud about something called an echo a post-pasa committee the chairman of that committee's Rabbi Yakov luban from the OU and uh there's various members and what what we do with that committee is we look at the the national chains and the national distributors and try to figure out a if they're Jewish owned holy Jewish own then we get into let's say it's partially Jewish shown but the decision makers are are Jewish all of these obviously have huge ramifications in Hawaii and then we look at the practical and um you know I'm going to interrupt you for a moment before we even get into the stores and Distributors yeah perhaps to our viewers here who are watching our conversation who are not familiar Summit that's that was in The Possession of a Jew over pesach right which is forbidden to be eaten right just eaten and it's uh Auxiliary Department that they're running were very strong about it was big it was it was a smearer to make sure that there was uh that pesach which is chorus obviously the Comets who is this current is uh so the common put into this that if you do have it and you didn't take care of it it's Usher it's ulcer to eat you can't do it afterwards and I have to tell you a story there's a many many years ago I'm talking uh maybe 12 years ago we were invited into a factory who wanted to it's a it was a large bourbon Factory and they made other Spirits they were they had a client in Israel for vodka they asked us to come in and say they said to us you know come in and and certifies for Israel what was the pride is interesting because in there it's Australia so was the wheat or whatever was being used to make the Vodka Josh and that was really what we're focusing on and I remember we went through it's it was a typical uh Factory typical at least for those in cautious that go to these factories but for everyone else it's fascinating okay for us it's work you know we don't get to do the Tor part of The Distillery and um I remember you know about I was getting up from us I said oh I forgot to ask you I sit back down say by the way is this Jewish owned he looks at me yeah I said do you know if the owners is it fully Jewish owned and he got like I can't tell you that and um and I said do you know if he sold his comments he had no idea what I was talking about it took six months to research if he was really Jewish not just maybe from his father or culturally Jewish but really Jewish we had a call like Senators because he was a big guy and a very well-known person and you know government whatnot so we had to call various high-level people that knew him as a boy what not and um and we had to do we and we and we had to see is it is it holy Jewish owned is he really Jewish and and come to the conclusion that um that it was a problem and for a while they thought we were talking about The Bushel because they knew that when they donated product to the local Federation it always had to be my voice no no we're not they this this that's so foreign to them they put a rabbi it was cooked like no no anyway so it was a fascinating question I'll walk a question I know this the guys in my office know it some of them are abundant we spoke to them about it but the vast majority doesn't know it sir yes like let me ask you if I know that this is made exaira on it so that you the owner should be careful about but that's for you do I have to tell everybody in in Brisco is it a dinner that was the question and one of the things Echo has is what we call an echo best we have an acoveston we doesn't meet often but when it does meet boys at a serious thing it's the it's the poiskin of the of the major agencies that come together and I remember uh convening the the bezen on this because this was so far-reaching this would change the bars at all the weddings because this guy owns So Many products and they came to the moscana that yes how much of our pesach is so serious in the eyes of hazal that even though it's just officially was a set for the gavra but it is and I have to tell everyone Serbia can you imagine the call I had to make to this Factory yeah I just want to follow up on your request to be kosher not only can you not be kosher but about to tell the world that your entire Factory can't be used for for kosher problems boy did that not go well okay you could imagine you know sometimes they're among some shows that when you do the right thing it works out you know that's for sure a fact we don't always see it all the time right this is one of those times that I don't remember how much longer afterwards the company called us back and said you know what we're so impressed with the authenticity it was such an uncomfortable thing that you did and it could have had legal ramifications as the Reformation and you just stuck to the Jewish law well and he said what can we do to start making kosher products now listen to what what happened because this really will shed light on an entire column I said well you know generally when you have a company that's Jewish shown we sell the comments okay he says tell me how that works so that you come in you sign a document for seven days you sell it over and he says and then at the end he says well the the guy buys it back you know he looks at me he says well according to federal law every time I sell comments or sell I'm sorry every time I sell liquor and I buy liquor if it's a real a real sale I gotta pay a tax on the beginning Anthony so okay so that's going to cost me every Passover 300 million dollars in taxes yeah because if it's a Bonafide if it's a bona fide sale I said well I start throwing some ciphers religious sale listen to this word rabbi is this a real sale or not wow of course it's a real sale how could I do it what a what a great what a great reminder and that by the way let me tell you to the end of the story was he says you know what we're going to do every year we're going to put away a hundred barrels and we're going to do a real and the guy is going to own it all the way until bottling and we're going to mark off the battle that these barrels can't be touched and in 10 years from now are you going to have authentically kosher whatever bourbon you know you can do a lot of stuff with it that that's what happened and that's what we've been doing as a matter of fact last week I went to this Factory and did he have to pay tax on on that I mean no no I remember it was a different type of sale it wasn't like you know they were selling they weren't selling the bottles they weren't it wasn't the company it's a different type of a different type of sale and it was all in-house at this point but I want to bring out of that point is his question to us really sheds light onto the whole commercial because most of the sales out there are indeed this type of thing you know sign here and we'll see you in eight days right now that could be legitimate if it's done right but the problem is if the factories or the distributors or the beer companies stay open on PESA continue to do business as if that little signing did nothing to them it's somewhat of someone right and people they want to stay away from that they take this very seriously so part of the research into where you can and cannot go after pesach is to find out what type of there's there's three different methods of materials that we know about so there's a big part of understanding what type of is done kudos to the okay where they recently uh you know got into one of the big beer distributors in um in New York state areas Tri-State and uh they actually convinced them to do it right sell it right go the CEO should take a vacation which shows that he doesn't have buy list we're always looking for no buy list and now Baruch Hashem because of that the uh the beer and the tri-stead he's one of the main major Distributors has been taken care of but there's a lot more that goes on that that's part of what we're doing when we look into honors so practically speaking where am I going shopping where are you going shopping so I could tell you uh because um you know we don't have our this year's list out and I have in front of me last year's list okay that that's divided into several you know the non-jewish involvement that all like you know the all these of the world and the CVS's and the Sam's Clubs and Wegmans and whatnot and then we have the next category is the the ones that are publicly traded companies of non-jewish owner but some of the Distributors are and you know we have um again this is last year's information so Target actually had the frozen section uh was in one category and the non and the non the non-froze was another because it's two different distributors so the first lesson is don't extrapolate from one year to another 100 just because you're able to buy from Target last year doesn't mean you could buy from Target exactly just because you were able to buy from the target frozen section doesn't mean that you could buy from the produce especially this year where we the disruption of covid is still and the supply chain oh and the scrambling for product has changed everything so great Point don't rely but the but the answer to your question obviously is uh you know like I say in Israel right so um contact us after pesach uh or maybe people want if people want to get the echo of God I'll be able to uh email it to as many people that contact us and um be able to and really the truth is these things are written primarily for the robonim of shul so they can give it over to their response to the respawn and that's really we're going to be focusing on so I would say that go to Europe that might be the smartest thing go to your roof and your love will come to the conscious professional and say what do you know about this year who'll be able to get these documents and he'll be able to help you know his 200 300 um in this way it's a much easier chain of answers so that's the answer now you had mentioned off camera something about bourbon special bourbon with trauma travel over right why is there more of a concern with bourbon than let's say other whiskeys good question the the answer is is that bourbon is um it's it's it's the country where bourbon is American made right um so it happens to be that a large amount of Jewish hands whether in the distribution or in the uh the actual bottling or the storing or behind the scenes where a bourbon company that won't doesn't have the base alcohol he'll buy it from the Jewish guy down the block and and redo it that's if you know all of that it's much more prevalent than maybe Scotch which is not really a jewish-owned industry out in Scotland but it has to be in Scotland or Irish in this Irish whiskey and all of that so bourbon it does have more as I said Jewish involvement and and actually the more you know the less you drink okay and it's one of those things that you know if we got an application for potato chips you come in today you watch them take the potato out of the ground scrub it slice it fry it make sure it's officially just roll off your mockery and the next day it's in a bag ready to snack in uh in your car right and make a mess but um not not with bourbon not with these things are aged so when you walk into a factory you got to figure okay what happened you got to go back in time and one of the things we have you know you have time machines I don't know you got to really create okay what happened eight years ago can I retroactively do this so that's but but particularly with bourbon it's it's uh which is really fascinating it talks to where we've grown as far as our the way we consume things it used to be and you know anyone has cedis would appreciate this bourbon was the safest mosque there was four ingredients nothing's changing it's not as aged as much as you know maybe some of these scotches it was the safest ingredient and um it was the safest mashka and that's the way it was I have to tell you uh it's exploded the industry we've gotten more knowledge about the industry and it's not as postured anymore at all and and as I just said it's also much harder to certify so bourbon is it could be a problem you have to know your things um I remember when that that story I told you where where we found out something was uh was a problem um uh younger man from Lakewood who you know little did I realize that there's an industry of people buy barrels and they age it in their own basement oh really this guy bought several hundred thousand dollars of product in his basement uh from this jewish-owned company that never sold their comets and um boy what a necessing to have do I pour it down the drain and even allowed to give it can you give it away these are real great shylos for a rub not so postured if you're allowed to give it you know how far does Xavier go right now one of the things that became very popular on mitochair is to seek out non-jewish establishments as opposed to buying from your local grocery store people don't want to rely on them I'm not looking to be controversial at all I'm asking a very practical question if you were advising on my spouse of you advising someone what would you advise them to do should they go to their local Jewish grocery store which ostensibly conducted a Bonafide Mahira is it should they go to their local ShopRite or path Market if it's non-jewish owned is that better is there a better Mahalo we're talking about right now before a few days have passed so if it's Bonafide and you really have researched it that it's non-jewish only and there's a there's no shilohs that's better if you don't want to rely on them but on the other hand if it's the subject and there's mesopic and you have the Distributors you're not sure we're not sure if product came up so you might as well go to a place that from a year that did and The Mamas did it the right way you that might be your Better Boy for sure for sure thank youthank you welcome back to let's talk hashras we are joined today by Rabbi Shalom fishbein cautious administrator of the Chicago rabbinical Council and executive director of acco The Association of cautious organizations thank you Rabbi fishbein once again thank you we're here today to discuss something that's umid Allah parekh something that's very relevant now with the yomte for pesach and that is and the most relevant topic which I think most people grapple with every single year is buying comet's post pesach right what am I allowed to buy where am I allowed to buy what's the answer well I wish there was a short answer uh because every year it changes and uh as we are pre-pay suck at this moment we're in the midst of doing the research for this year and uh we're proud about something called an echo a post-pasa committee the chairman of that committee's Rabbi Yakov luban from the OU and uh there's various members and what what we do with that committee is we look at the the national chains and the national distributors and try to figure out a if they're Jewish owned holy Jewish own then we get into let's say it's partially Jewish shown but the decision makers are are Jewish all of these obviously have huge ramifications in Hawaii and then we look at the practical and um you know I'm going to interrupt you for a moment before we even get into the stores and Distributors yeah perhaps to our viewers here who are watching our conversation who are not familiar Summit that's that was in The Possession of a Jew over pesach right which is forbidden to be eaten right just eaten and it's uh Auxiliary Department that they're running were very strong about it was big it was it was a smearer to make sure that there was uh that pesach which is chorus obviously the Comets who is this current is uh so the common put into this that if you do have it and you didn't take care of it it's Usher it's ulcer to eat you can't do it afterwards and I have to tell you a story there's a many many years ago I'm talking uh maybe 12 years ago we were invited into a factory who wanted to it's a it was a large bourbon Factory and they made other Spirits they were they had a client in Israel for vodka they asked us to come in and say they said to us you know come in and and certifies for Israel what was the pride is interesting because in there it's Australia so was the wheat or whatever was being used to make the Vodka Josh and that was really what we're focusing on and I remember we went through it's it was a typical uh Factory typical at least for those in cautious that go to these factories but for everyone else it's fascinating okay for us it's work you know we don't get to do the Tor part of The Distillery and um I remember you know about I was getting up from us I said oh I forgot to ask you I sit back down say by the way is this Jewish owned he looks at me yeah I said do you know if the owners is it fully Jewish owned and he got like I can't tell you that and um and I said do you know if he sold his comments he had no idea what I was talking about it took six months to research if he was really Jewish not just maybe from his father or culturally Jewish but really Jewish we had a call like Senators because he was a big guy and a very well-known person and you know government whatnot so we had to call various high-level people that knew him as a boy what not and um and we had to do we and we and we had to see is it is it holy Jewish owned is he really Jewish and and come to the conclusion that um that it was a problem and for a while they thought we were talking about The Bushel because they knew that when they donated product to the local Federation it always had to be my voice no no we're not they this this that's so foreign to them they put a rabbi it was cooked like no no anyway so it was a fascinating question I'll walk a question I know this the guys in my office know it some of them are abundant we spoke to them about it but the vast majority doesn't know it sir yes like let me ask you if I know that this is made exaira on it so that you the owner should be careful about but that's for you do I have to tell everybody in in Brisco is it a dinner that was the question and one of the things Echo has is what we call an echo best we have an acoveston we doesn't meet often but when it does meet boys at a serious thing it's the it's the poiskin of the of the major agencies that come together and I remember uh convening the the bezen on this because this was so far-reaching this would change the bars at all the weddings because this guy owns So Many products and they came to the moscana that yes how much of our pesach is so serious in the eyes of hazal that even though it's just officially was a set for the gavra but it is and I have to tell everyone Serbia can you imagine the call I had to make to this Factory yeah I just want to follow up on your request to be kosher not only can you not be kosher but about to tell the world that your entire Factory can't be used for for kosher problems boy did that not go well okay you could imagine you know sometimes they're among some shows that when you do the right thing it works out you know that's for sure a fact we don't always see it all the time right this is one of those times that I don't remember how much longer afterwards the company called us back and said you know what we're so impressed with the authenticity it was such an uncomfortable thing that you did and it could have had legal ramifications as the Reformation and you just stuck to the Jewish law well and he said what can we do to start making kosher products now listen to what what happened because this really will shed light on an entire column I said well you know generally when you have a company that's Jewish shown we sell the comments okay he says tell me how that works so that you come in you sign a document for seven days you sell it over and he says and then at the end he says well the the guy buys it back you know he looks at me he says well according to federal law every time I sell comments or sell I'm sorry every time I sell liquor and I buy liquor if it's a real a real sale I gotta pay a tax on the beginning Anthony so okay so that's going to cost me every Passover 300 million dollars in taxes yeah because if it's a Bonafide if it's a bona fide sale I said well I start throwing some ciphers religious sale listen to this word rabbi is this a real sale or not wow of course it's a real sale how could I do it what a what a great what a great reminder and that by the way let me tell you to the end of the story was he says you know what we're going to do every year we're going to put away a hundred barrels and we're going to do a real and the guy is going to own it all the way until bottling and we're going to mark off the battle that these barrels can't be touched and in 10 years from now are you going to have authentically kosher whatever bourbon you know you can do a lot of stuff with it that that's what happened and that's what we've been doing as a matter of fact last week I went to this Factory and did he have to pay tax on on that I mean no no I remember it was a different type of sale it wasn't like you know they were selling they weren't selling the bottles they weren't it wasn't the company it's a different type of a different type of sale and it was all in-house at this point but I want to bring out of that point is his question to us really sheds light onto the whole commercial because most of the sales out there are indeed this type of thing you know sign here and we'll see you in eight days right now that could be legitimate if it's done right but the problem is if the factories or the distributors or the beer companies stay open on PESA continue to do business as if that little signing did nothing to them it's somewhat of someone right and people they want to stay away from that they take this very seriously so part of the research into where you can and cannot go after pesach is to find out what type of there's there's three different methods of materials that we know about so there's a big part of understanding what type of is done kudos to the okay where they recently uh you know got into one of the big beer distributors in um in New York state areas Tri-State and uh they actually convinced them to do it right sell it right go the CEO should take a vacation which shows that he doesn't have buy list we're always looking for no buy list and now Baruch Hashem because of that the uh the beer and the tri-stead he's one of the main major Distributors has been taken care of but there's a lot more that goes on that that's part of what we're doing when we look into honors so practically speaking where am I going shopping where are you going shopping so I could tell you uh because um you know we don't have our this year's list out and I have in front of me last year's list okay that that's divided into several you know the non-jewish involvement that all like you know the all these of the world and the CVS's and the Sam's Clubs and Wegmans and whatnot and then we have the next category is the the ones that are publicly traded companies of non-jewish owner but some of the Distributors are and you know we have um again this is last year's information so Target actually had the frozen section uh was in one category and the non and the non the non-froze was another because it's two different distributors so the first lesson is don't extrapolate from one year to another 100 just because you're able to buy from Target last year doesn't mean you could buy from Target exactly just because you were able to buy from the target frozen section doesn't mean that you could buy from the produce especially this year where we the disruption of covid is still and the supply chain oh and the scrambling for product has changed everything so great Point don't rely but the but the answer to your question obviously is uh you know like I say in Israel right so um contact us after pesach uh or maybe people want if people want to get the echo of God I'll be able to uh email it to as many people that contact us and um be able to and really the truth is these things are written primarily for the robonim of shul so they can give it over to their response to the respawn and that's really we're going to be focusing on so I would say that go to Europe that might be the smartest thing go to your roof and your love will come to the conscious professional and say what do you know about this year who'll be able to get these documents and he'll be able to help you know his 200 300 um in this way it's a much easier chain of answers so that's the answer now you had mentioned off camera something about bourbon special bourbon with trauma travel over right why is there more of a concern with bourbon than let's say other whiskeys good question the the answer is is that bourbon is um it's it's it's the country where bourbon is American made right um so it happens to be that a large amount of Jewish hands whether in the distribution or in the uh the actual bottling or the storing or behind the scenes where a bourbon company that won't doesn't have the base alcohol he'll buy it from the Jewish guy down the block and and redo it that's if you know all of that it's much more prevalent than maybe Scotch which is not really a jewish-owned industry out in Scotland but it has to be in Scotland or Irish in this Irish whiskey and all of that so bourbon it does have more as I said Jewish involvement and and actually the more you know the less you drink okay and it's one of those things that you know if we got an application for potato chips you come in today you watch them take the potato out of the ground scrub it slice it fry it make sure it's officially just roll off your mockery and the next day it's in a bag ready to snack in uh in your car right and make a mess but um not not with bourbon not with these things are aged so when you walk into a factory you got to figure okay what happened you got to go back in time and one of the things we have you know you have time machines I don't know you got to really create okay what happened eight years ago can I retroactively do this so that's but but particularly with bourbon it's it's uh which is really fascinating it talks to where we've grown as far as our the way we consume things it used to be and you know anyone has cedis would appreciate this bourbon was the safest mosque there was four ingredients nothing's changing it's not as aged as much as you know maybe some of these scotches it was the safest ingredient and um it was the safest mashka and that's the way it was I have to tell you uh it's exploded the industry we've gotten more knowledge about the industry and it's not as postured anymore at all and and as I just said it's also much harder to certify so bourbon is it could be a problem you have to know your things um I remember when that that story I told you where where we found out something was uh was a problem um uh younger man from Lakewood who you know little did I realize that there's an industry of people buy barrels and they age it in their own basement oh really this guy bought several hundred thousand dollars of product in his basement uh from this jewish-owned company that never sold their comets and um boy what a necessing to have do I pour it down the drain and even allowed to give it can you give it away these are real great shylos for a rub not so postured if you're allowed to give it you know how far does Xavier go right now one of the things that became very popular on mitochair is to seek out non-jewish establishments as opposed to buying from your local grocery store people don't want to rely on them I'm not looking to be controversial at all I'm asking a very practical question if you were advising on my spouse of you advising someone what would you advise them to do should they go to their local Jewish grocery store which ostensibly conducted a Bonafide Mahira is it should they go to their local ShopRite or path Market if it's non-jewish owned is that better is there a better Mahalo we're talking about right now before a few days have passed so if it's Bonafide and you really have researched it that it's non-jewish only and there's a there's no shilohs that's better if you don't want to rely on them but on the other hand if it's the subject and there's mesopic and you have the Distributors you're not sure we're not sure if product came up so you might as well go to a place that from a year that did and The Mamas did it the right way you that might be your Better Boy for sure for sure thank you\n"