Published November 16, 2009
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms defines “brandy” as, “an alcoholic distillate from the fermented juice, mash, or wine of fruit or from the residue thereof”... The plain word “brandy” or the words “grape brandy” refer specifically to distillates made from wine. “Fruit brandy” on the other hand, may refer to brandies “from the fermented juice or mash of whole, sound, ripe fruit, or from standard grape, citrus, or other fruit wine…” In all cases, the normative, plain sense of the word “brandy” unless otherwise designated, is distilled liquor from grape or grape wine. Clearly… brandy is subject to the laws of Stam Yeinam - as any grape juice based products which are touched or moved by non-Jews prior to becoming mevushal (cooked) fall into this category. Stam Yayin is assur m’dirabanan - rabinically forbidden - and one may not drink it. Poskim discuss whether the Mishna’s ruling (Avoda Zara, 29b) that it is forbidden to benefit from it also applies today. Rama (see Shulchan Aruch 123:1, 114:10 and 155:3) states that one can get benefit from Stam Yayin b’makom hefsed (in a situation of potential financial loss). The Shulchan Aruch (123:1) holds that Stam Yayin is forbidden even if there is significant loss involved.
The production of kosher grape juice and wine is quite involved. In order to assure that the product does not become stam yayin, religious Jews (sometimes the mashgichim themselves) take over some or all of the aspects of production. As stated above, once the juice is mevushal, non-Jews can handle the product without it becoming stam yayin. One innovative method employed is called “hot bricking”, where the juice is immediately pasteurized after crushing. This greatly simplifies the hashgacha. Of course with wine, there can be several more complications, as pasteurization is commonly delayed until later stages or - in the case of non-mevushal wines is never done at all. Here, great care is taken to make certain that the non-Jewish workers do not jeopardize the kosher status of the wine.
Brandy and cognac have several further steps. As the definitions quoted above state, “brandy” is a distillate. This means that the end product is made much the way scotch or bourbon is made - the primary material is distilled. Distillation is, essentially, the process by which liquid mixtures are separated by heat. Water boils at 100C; alcohol at 78.3C Other fractions have other boiling points… For example, if we heat a liquid containing alcohol to 78.3C, the alcohol will vaporize and rise as steam. That steam is then captured and condensed. Done enough times, one can achieve a liquid which is 95% pure alcohol - referred to as “neutral spirits” or “everclear”... There are, as you can imagine, several variations on this theme, including systems that use vacuums and other modifications, all of which effect how the machinery is koshered.
Because alcohol distillation involves cooking at high temperatures, the end product is mevushal. In fact, the word “brandy” comes from the Dutch word brandewijn (burnt wine). While the base materials used to make brandy are subject to the laws of stam yayin, the final product is not. Thus, there is no fundamental problem with having non-Jews handle or pour brandy.
One might ask a simple question - isn’t the distilled product only alcohol - and therefore divorced from the original liquid? Responsa Rivash 255 rules that distilled stam yayin (brandy) remains forbidden because the zei’ah (steam) that rises out of the liquid retains the halachic status of the original liquid. The Mishkenos Yaakov (Y.D. 34) has a novel approach to be lenient about zei’ah in many cases, but seems to agree that we must be machmir regarding stam yayin. The Shulchan Aruch and later Poskim all rule strictly.
Because brandy has a distinct flavor from the original wine, the bracha is shehakol rather than hagafen (see Noda B’Yehuda, Y.D. 26). Nevertheless, there is no question that the original wine is intrinsic to the unique flavor of each brandy. This is, in the end, perhaps the most fundamental reason to be stringent - the brandy may be distinct from the wine, but the flavor and character of the wine are still very much present. Rather than seeking to divorce the flavors of the wine from the brandy, brandy distillation is done at the lowest possible temperatures ensuring that the vapors contain as high a proportion as possible of the congeners, the hundreds of organic chemical compounds in the wine that define its flavor profile. In the end, brandy is approximately 40% alcohol - obviously, much of the substance of the original wine remains - albeit in a concentrated form.
This effective concentration of the wine again affects the Halacha. In their “straight” normal drinking strength forms, stam yayin wine and grape juice have a special halachic status. Unlike other issurim, they are batel b’shisha rather than shishim - one only needs six times the volume of the original to nullify their taste rather than the normative sixty times. When concentrated, it is necessary to nullify the full reconstituted volume of the wine! Clearly, as we have pulled the essence of the wine from the liquid, this is many times the volume of the remaining brandy and so, practically, we require the normative sixty times for koshering.
Like its other distilled cousins, bourbon, scotch and whiskey, brandy is aged in casks to mature its flavor. Here we get into the much discussed issue of wine casks and distilled spirits. When making cognac, for example, the pre-aged “raw” product first mellows in new oak casks. It is then further aged in mellowed or previously used casks from wine production. Clearly, those casks have to be kosher. Interestingly, the fact that brandy is not batel b’shisha (discussed above), leads to a stringency vis-a-vis scotch and whiskey. While many follow the Iggeros Moshe’s leniencies regarding spirits aged in sherry and other wine casks - one of which is that any wine would be batel b’shisha in the second liquor - in the case of brandy casks, it would be necessary to nullify significantly more than sixty times the original volume.
Today, thankfully, there are many reliably kosher certified brandies, cognacs and liquors on the market. As with many questions in food, it is necessary to understand where a food comes from and how it is made. Only then can the kosher issues be grasped and dealt with.
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TAIKU
As I approached Taiku - OU Israel Mehadrin hashgacha - I knew that I was in for a treat. Unlike most restaurants lining Emek Refaim in the German Colony, Taiku is set back from the street in a private, elegant, and inviting location. The ambiance is young, classy, and with an Asian flair. I was greeted by a friendly hostess who showed me to my table and handed me a menu. Now came the hard part - selecting from a wide range of enticing choices. The sushi menu had all the standard options, but I jumped straight to the specials, the most unique and interesting combinations I’ve ever come across. I decided to let the sushi chef surprise me, and a few minutes later I was served the most beautiful and fresh sushi roll that I’ve ever experienced. I followed the sushi with a refreshingly light sashimi salad (seared salmon & tuna strips with avocado, radish, red onion & roasted sesame), and the delicious Taiku Noodles (stir fried egg noodles with beef, spinach, sprouts, shitake, anoki & portobello mushrooms in sweet soy, garlic & ginger sauce). Each dish was a work of art and a culinary masterpiece. I couldn’t escape my curiosity and just had to ask who was behind Taiku. The answer put a smile on my face - three Anglo olim who met in Israel, one from England, one from Canada and one from the USA - a great combination for an excellent restaurant!
Taiku Restaurant, 31 Emek Refa’im, Jerusalem, tel. (02) 566-5262 - http://www.taiku.co.il
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