K A S H R U T . C O M_©

The following alert has been sent out by the Association of Kashrus Organizations (AKO) on May 6, 2010.

AKO Executive Committee has reason to believe that there are large liquor companies in the United States which may be owned in whole or part by Jews. We are concerned that such companies may not have arranged for the sale of their chametz (mechiras chametz) during Pesach. These companies primarily manufacture bourbon, cordials, and American whiskey, and also deal in a small amount of Scotch and vodka. Chametz-containing liquors owned, produced and/or aged by Jewish-owned companies over Pesach are forbidden as chametz she'avar alav haPesach. Since many liquor products are aged for many years before they are sold to the public, it cannot be assumed that these beverages are acceptable for kosher use even if they are purchased a long time before or after Pesach.
Accordingly, we recommend that Kashrus Agencies and consumers change their policies and only consume those alcoholic beverages which [are free of standard kosher concerns and] are known to (a) be produced by a non-Jewish company or a Jewish-owned company which arranged for the sale of their chametz, (b) not contain any chametz, including not having chametz secondary grains or malted barley (bourbon and cordials are examples of items that may have these forbidden items), and/or (c) were not aged over Pesach (e.g. vodka).
A list of liquors can be found at /www.crcweb.org/Whisky%20Alert%20_May%202010_%20Final%20Version.pdf. For updated information or questions regarding this notification, please email AKO at liquor@akokosher.org.