Kosher Blog

Would work perfectly at my shul! We’re modern ortho and once a month have a women’s tefilla, but simchat torah night we have have a women’s tequila!

I’m always disappointed by the fact that the OU refrains from making a real kiddush hashem by refusing to certify (or accept money for certifying) products that require no supervision. While some people may be buying unnecessarily supervised products in order to support the certifying company, many others are simply ignorant of the fact that the product does not require a hecksher. I think the certifying agency is taking advantage of those people.

@DebraK: Woo hoo! Count me in!!!

Actually, I knew somebody who mis-heard the words of Shabbat evening kiddush, and thought I said, “ki hu yom tequila…”

@Tracey-

Well, if you’re anywhere near White Plains, New York next Simchat Torah – let me know

Steve, kosher tequilla is perfect for passover.

Anejo Tequila is tequilla that has spent 1 – 3 years aging in an oak cask, and as most of the other spirits (eg, scotch and other whiskeys) that are aged in oak are forbidden during Pesach, hello tequilla.

I know tequila and scotch are very different.

But for the week that you can’t drink scotch, what other spirits do you like besides slivovitz?

what I wanted to add to my previous comment is that more choice and variety is good.

Let me start off by saying that I agree that tequila shouldn’t need certification. But, how is this really different from chalav yisroel? From what I recall, Rav Soloveitchik ruled that it was acceptable (in the US) to drink milk without any special kosher certification. Yet, for those who wanted to be mehadrin min hamehadrin, they should drink chalav yisroel.

So, milk without any special hashgacha is ok, but….

So, hard liquor without any special hashgacha is ok, but…

There are always paranoids who think that it is only because of the vigilance of a mashgiach that some anti-semite isn’t spiking the tequila with pig fat.

White tequila doesn’t require a hechsher, but any other tequila does. You cannot trust anonymous Mexican distillers not to put anything they like into the product.

For that matter, when the OU certified bottled water, they actually check to make sure the equipment isn’t being used for clam juice as well, as was indeed discovered at one plant. That isn’t a common enough occurrence for it to require a hechsher, but with an OU you know it’s been ruled out, and that someone visits every few months to ensure it stays ruled out. And that is work for which the OU needs to be paid.

Re: milk, it was R Moshe Feinstein who came up with the heter for ordinary commercial milk to be considered chalav yisrael. But drinking “classic” chalav yisrael isn’t for “mehadrin min hamehadrin”, it’s for anyone who wants to be considered a “baal nefesh”. And since the purpose of Jewish schools is to educate children to be baalei nefesh, RMF absolutely forbade schools from taking advantage of his heter, no matter how much it cost.

For private people, he set a limit of $100 a year (I’m not sure in what year’s dollars, but he died in 1986); if the added cost of “classic” chalav yisrael is under that, then one should not take advantage of the heter to drink “also” chalav yisrael, i.e. commercial milk.

Despite any comments made by the management of Agave 99, kosher certification is meaningful on any bottled product. Whether you agree with it or not, a hecture does provide an added assurance that a product is indeed kosher. I value this oversight, and if that’s beneficial for the sales of Agave 99, that doesn’t mean it’s a marketing ploy. Just a wise move for increasing sales in the Orthodox community.

Nowadays there is an additional reason for Cholov Yisroel; some common current procedures could render a cow, and therefore its milk, treif.

SMF – please elaborate

I certainly don’t blame them for wanting a hekhsher.. It is commonly believed that some tequilas have a worm in them, or that a worm is used in the making of tequila, so the kosher consumer might be reluctant to purchase tequila without a hekhsher even though they would purchase other hard liquors without certification.

milhouse, Rav Moshe wasn’t the first to allow it, nor was his reasoning unique to himself.

Look at the date on the teshuva (igrot moshe YD 1:47 I believe, but can’t check as on a bus). You’ll see that Rav Soliveitchik had been allowing it for his boston community already at that point.

HB, here’s a lengthy discussion: http://oukosher.org/index.php/common/article/milk_from_a_possibly_treif_cow/

I’ll look for more.

Thanks

HB, another discussion:

http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2009/06/help-solve-treif-cow-issue.html

Please check out kosherwine.com to find kosher liquors and wine.

All Tequila is aged in used Whiskey Barrels! These barrels are where the flavor comes from in the aging! So you are actually drink, Scotch and or Whiskey, when you drink Tequila! I can almost guarantee that Jack Daniels is not certified by the OU! The bottling facility, bottles numerous brands of Tequila through the same facility! There are only a few Distillery’s in Tequila Mexico that can produce those huge numbers being shipped. I doubt a distillery built a separate wing in Mexico, just for Agave 99 and why is it that no one has stated which Distillery it is?

We are lucky in that companies want to use the OU as a marketing tool! In other countries, companies don’t want to advertise that they are kosher and you need a kosher list.