Seattle Liquor List

Revised: March 28, 2007

Alcoholic Beverage List

The following represents a comprehensive list of alcoholic beverages and their kosher status. The alcoholic beverage industry is complex, and there are numerous pitfalls that can impact the kosher status of products. This industry is highly secretive in terms of what ingredients are actually used; coupled with labeling laws that do not require ingredients to be declared in the same way food products are labeled, it requires expertise in the industry to determine what is kosher and what is problematic.

Where a hechsher is noted, it must appear on the label unless otherwise specified.

Beer

Unflavored Beers

All unflavored beers, domestic and imported are acceptable, even without a Kosher certification. This applies to non-alcoholic and dark beers as well.

For those interested in beer with a hechsher, there are a number of companies who are presently kosher certified:

(Note – flavored drinks like hard lemonades require certification)

Bourbon

Straight Bourbon and Sour Mash, which is a variety of Bourbon, are acceptable.

Some examples of Bourbons (all acceptable) are:

Bakers

Basil Hayden

Bookers

Jack Daniel’s

Jim Beam

Knob Creek

Maker’s Mark

Old Crow

Old Granddad

Old Weller

Wild Turkey

Drink Mixes

Drink mixers require certification; some brands available that are kosher include:

Coco Lopez (OU)

Daily’s (OU)

Goya brand Cream of Coconut or Coconut Milk - when labeled "Product of Dominican Republic"

Holland House (OU)

Mr & Mrs T’s (OU)

Metropolitan Martini (OU) – flavored martini mixers

Rose’s – grenadine and lime (OU)

Sauza Margarita Mixers (OU)

Stirrings (OU)

TGI Fridays Mixers (OU)

Gin

Unflavored Gin is acceptable. (Note: Sloe Gin is a liqueur and requires certification.)

Gordon's Flavored Gin (all flavors) produced in the USA, is Kosher certified by the cRc.

Liqueurs

Liqueurs are flavored beverages that generally have lower alcohol content and are sometimes referred to as an aperitif or cordial. All liqueurs require certification.

Brands that bear certification on the label and may be used (Caution: check each label; some flavors of a particular brand might not be certified, and some may be Dairy)

Amaretto Disaronno (OU)

Bartenura (OU)

Carmel (OU)

Frangelico (OU)

Godiva (OU, some dairy)

Herman Jansen (OU)

Kedem (OU)

Leroux (OU)

Monfort (OU)

Peter Cherry Heering (OU)

Sabra (OU)

Starbucks (OU, some dairy)

B&B Liqueur

Bailey’s Irish Cream

Benedictine

Cointreau

Gold Schlager

Grand Marnier

Kirschwasser

Llord’s

Ouzo

Sambuca

Southern Comfort

Tia Maria

Yukon Jack

Rum

Rum generally requires certification.

Bacardi – unflavored, light colored (white) varieties are acceptable without a kosher symbol on the label.

Cruzan (OU): light and dark

Don Q Rum (OU): 151, Anejo, Cristal, Gold, Grand Anejo, Limon

Rye

No certification required, any may be used.

Sake

Sake (also called rice wine) is not wine at all, but is made by fermenting rice. Unflavored Sake is acceptable without specific certification. Flavored should only be used with a reliable certification.

Kosher certified sake (OU) is available for those who prefer a certified product:

Scotch

There are two types of Scotch: Blended and Single Malt. Scotch aged in wine casks (sherry, port, Madera, etc.) is problematic and should be avoided. If it can be determined that a particular variety has not been aged in wine casks, it would be acceptable to use – in some cases, distilleries known for their wine casks will release specialty bottlings that are not aged in wine casks. Those on this list have been verified to be acceptable for kosher use.

Blended Scotch:

Single Malts

The Speyside and Drumguish single malts are kosher certified (Global Kosher).

All of the labels listed below produce at least one variety of single malt that is aged only in oak and preset no kashrus concerns. Most of these distilleries also produce wine cask products; check each variety’s label for mention of wine casks.

Ballantine's

Balvenie

Bowmore

Cragganmore

Dailuaine

Dalmore

Dalwhinnie

Glen Garioch

Glen Kinchie

Glen Moray

Glen Ord

Glenfiddich

Glengoyne

Glenkeith

Glenlivet

Glenmorang

Highland Park

Inchmurrin

Isle of Jura

Knockando

Lagavulin

Laphroaig

Loch Dhu

Longmorn

Oban

Royal Coachman

Royal Lochnagar

Scapa

Speyburn

Talisker

Tamdhu

The Edradour

Tomintoul

Tullibardi

Tequila

Tequila is made from agave cactus in Mexico. It is common for other types of alcohol, colors, and flavorings to be added – all of which can be problematic.

There are generally three types of tequila:

1) Regular-White (also known as Silver) tequila is recommended. This clear tequila contains either 100% agave alcohol or a mixture of agave and sugar cane alcohol.

2) Gold or Brown tequila is not recommended. This darker tequila is aged for 3 months and may have color and flavoring added.

3) Reposado (“rested”) (also known as Special) tequila is not recommended. It is aged for 6 months and in addition to concerns of color and flavoring, glycerin may be added for density.

For those who wish to use certified tequila, the following are all OU kosher:

Don Bernardo G

Salusa

Casavores Sol Dios Anejo

Herrudura Sol Dios Platinum / Blanco

Vermouth

Vermouth requires certification since it is made from wine. Kedem is the only brand readily available with a kosher symbol.

Vodka

All Domestic (USA) non-flavored vodka is acceptable. This applies only to grain or potato vodka.

Imported vodka requires certification. Some vodkas made from grape alcohol have recently entered the marketplace, and is it common outside of the US to add various problematic ingredients to vodka, including dairy and animal byproducts.

Some imported vodkas with kosher certification:

Provda (now has OU)

Iceberg (now has OU)

The following unflavored imported vodkas are acceptable imports even without certification on the label:

Absolut

Belvedere

Binyamina (OU Pesach)

Canadian Iceberg

Chopin

Finlandia

Grey Goose

Kettle One

Stolichnaya

Three Olives

Vox

Yevreyskaya

Flavored Vodkas

Absolut Flavored Vodka – Apeach, Citron, Kurant, Mandarin, Pears, Pepper, Raspberri, Ruby Red, Vanilla

Putinka Vodka - both Pepper flavor and Limited Edition are kosher even without certification on the label.

Gordon Vodkas - Citrus Flavored, Wild Berry, Orange (cRc)

Stolichnaya Vodkas (with OU on label only) – Cinnamon, Coffee, Imported Russian Raspberry, Imported Russian Strawberry, Lemon Flavored, Orange, Peach, Vanilla Flavored

Whiskey

(including Canadian, Irish, Ryes)

Blended Whiskeys are acceptable only with certification, unless appearing on the list below. Some blended whiskeys have wine and other problematic flavorings added.

Bushmills Irish – (all except Green label)

Canadian Club (regular only - not Classic, Premium or Special Reserve)

Canadian Mist

Crown Royal (all)

Gibsons (MK on label)

Jameson Irish (all varieties)

Seagram’s (VO and 7 Canadian Blend only, not American Blend)

Wiser’s

Wines

All wines require acceptable certification. There are many kosher wines on the market from all parts of the world. Today it is possible to enjoy kosher wines from Australia, Chile, Spain, South Africa in addition to the traditional kosher venues like the US, Israel and France.

Check each bottle for an acceptable certification. Note that some wines are not mevushal and therefore have additional handling requirements (consult your Rabbi or the Vaad office for particulars) Many Israeli and French wines are not mevushal. Also note that there are wines that purport to be kosher but bear marks of unknown or in some cases, nonexistent certifications.

Where a hechsher is noted, it must appear on the label unless otherwise specified.

Revised: March 28, 2007