Outside of the boutique world of whisky connoisseurship, it takes a minor miracle for a bottle of bourbon to make the mainstream media.

Forbes readers saw the headline, “World’s Best Bourbon Costs Only $40.”

For a business audience, as for a bourbon drinker, that’s mildly interesting news.

But for a Jewish reader looking behind the headlines, there’s a far greater story.

Whisky is chametz (leavened) and therefore must be sold or destroyed prior to Pesach. After Pesach, any chametz that was not sold becomes permanently non-kosher. While New Riff whiskies are all Pesach-compliant, that was not always the case.

New Riff President Mollie Lewis explained that her family-owned business’s transition to Pesach observance began decades ago when her father Ken operated a retail boutique, the Party Source.

“Some of our best customers and close friends are Orthodox Jews. Starting in the early 2000s, Ken would sell all........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)