First Impressions
Milk & Honey distillery in Tel Aviv starts with 100% pure malted barley mashed in-house and pot-distilled. Juniper and botanicals — hyssop, lemon peel, orange, chamomile, verbena, cinnamon, and black pepper — are hand-sourced from Tel Aviv's legendary Levinsky market and left to rest in the still for 48 hours before a third distillation. The spirit is then rested in red wine barrels in the distillery's cask room, not far from the Mediterranean beach.
Tasting
Levinsky market botanicals triple-distilled and red wine barrel-rested. The nose is gentle juniper with lemon, hyssop, and vanilla from the barrel. On the palate at 46%, medium body with subtle wood, vanilla, citrus, and spices. The malted barley base adds richness. The finish is long lemon with herbs and gentle wood.
The Bottom Line
Milk & Honey Levantine Oak Aged earns an 8 — a gin of extraordinary provenance. Levinsky market botanicals, malted barley base, red wine barrel ageing, Mediterranean climate maturation. The hyssop is the Levantine signature: a biblical herb that grounds this gin in its Middle Eastern terroir. Best neat or in a barrel-aged Negroni. At £43, Tel Aviv's finest spirit.
