The West Coast office of Boozedancing once regularly went on trips all points east and north for whisky festivals. But that nasty Pandumbic put the old kibosh on that. One of those last outings was the inaugural Kiddushfest back in 2019 in New York City. G-LO from the Home Office and this reporter/imbiber had a wonderful time. So when the opportunity came to attend this year’s event back in the Big Apple, we couldn’t pack our bags fast enough. First we had to buy bags.

Kiddushfest is the baby of two Ari’s (and their team): Ari Cohen and Ari White. They work in tandem with Mr. Cohen managing the heavy lifting of the festival, securing vendors and the logistics of the evening. Mr. White aka the WanderingQue aka the caterer aka the barbecue dude fills tummies all night long with his Kosher barbecue and cured fish. For some meshuggeneh reason they think an evening of whisky from all over the world paired with brisket and lox is good idea. God bless them, because it is!

Long ago there was something called the Whisky Jewbilee put on by the independent bottlers, Single Cask Nation. It was a hardcore whisky festival that wasn’t interested in the dopey bells and whistles of many events. After many years and many historic Jewbilees in three states, the SCN boys retired from festival planning to focus on whisky bottling. Enter Ari White who just happened to be the the caterer for those fond New York City Jewbilees. A lightbulb went off: “Hey, I can put on a whisky shindig with fully catered Kosher food to go with!” Uh, sure, Ari. Whatever you say.

And guess what. He did. He really, really did. And now he and Mr. Cohen have a resume of Kiddushfests behind them.

This year’s event was a multi-level affair. Literally. The twentieth floor of a building/event space a few blocks south of the Empire State Building which apparently was not available for Kiddushfest this year. Maybe next year, Ari and Ari. We were welcomed at check-in for the evening by a handy staff which included Mr. Cohen’s daughter. And “we” this year included past contributor to Boozedancing, Sarah-BeautifulTangibleThings, (the New Yorker who loves, food, drink, photography, cats and lots in between!). We were more than happy to stroll around with our NYC friend, catching up while sampling from the many tables. We could see all the aforementioned tables with sunlight illuminating the bottles as early evening approached. This made us very happy. The whisky, not the sunlight. We see sunlight most every day.

The party went skyward as there were even more tables and goings-on one floor up on the rooftop. That Empire State Building which seems to be famous or something was more than evident looming from the north. More brand ambassadors and folks chit chatting in the warm air plus a smoking area for the cigar crowd. Cough, cough.

Scouring this two-level party we saw brands that we knew and brands we’d never heard of. Never let it be said that Boozedancing is opposed to new whisky brands and companies! We’re old, but not stodgy. It was especially exciting to see a few new independent bottlers (IB) like Bellaire & Day, DS Tayman, and Jews and Booze. New and very friendly faces bringing their spin to the IB world.

And there were plenty of seasoned veterans of the whisky festival circuit including author and storyteller, Robin Robinson. We met him out on Fifth Avenue trying to carry copies of his book, “The Complete Whiskey Course“, up to the venue while not getting a ticket or seeing his car towed away. We were happy to help Mr. Robinson avoid the long arm of the NYC parking enforcement law.

We also spent a lovely time with our pal, Joshua Hatton, of ImpEx Beverages and the aforementioned Single Cask Nation. Joshua is one of the great bear huggers in the business and proved it. The list of distilleries in the ImpEx stable continues to grow and Joshua had many of them at his table on the rooftop. Kilchoman, Lochlea, M&H, Ohishi, Penderyn, Port Askaig, Indri, Filey Bay, Glenallachie, Ardunamurchan, Black Tot Fukano, and Isle of Raasay. Yeesh! That’s a lot of distilleries (and keystrokes) and not all of them! Joshua may need a bigger table next year.

There were industry stalwarts too such as Bruichladdich, Westland with their new Solum releadse, Benriach and Barrel Craft Spirits with a kaleidoscope of colors just in case you needed industry stalwarts.

But what we really needed after a few drams was food. And we came to the right place as Kiddushfest is a two star show. Yes, we were not far from the bright lights of Broadway, and whisky may get top billing, but make no mistake about it, the food is more than a worthy co-star. It’s difficult not to get excited (and not drool) over Ari White’s barbecue. The Wandering Cue has a steady workload and fanbase in the tri-state area as Ari takes his mobile kitchen and smoker on the road endlessly. One day we’ll catch Mr. White out on one of his on-the-road stops to see the BBQ maven out in the fresh air feeding the peeps. Luckily we caught him for one night. His team always brings their A-game. No bad shooting nights for these guys. Brisket, salami, sausages, chopped liver, smoked salmon, pastrami salmon, herring, salads, and veggies. All delicious, all kosher, and all attendees very happy. Seconds? Thirds? Yes, have some!

We’d be remiss for not mentioning the good that Kiddushfest does as well in the larger world. This year’s charity was The Gift of Life, a public bone marrow and blood stem cell registry that facilitates transplants for children and adults suffering from life-threatening illnesses, including leukemia, lymphoma, other cancers and genetic diseases. Attendees could stop by the The Gift of Life table to sign up for the registry by filling out a form and leaving a little spit. Normally a joke would be inserted here, but this is serious stuff. An added bonus of the evening was a raffle of some very special bottles donated by the exhibitors and non-exhibitors, all to benefit The Gift of Life. A huge win-win!

You won’t find a better example of the whisky mishpucha than at Kiddushfest. Ari White and Ari Cohen bring people together with whisky and barbecue for a delightful evening that gives one hope that the world is getting back to normal again. The Boozedancing Team has been attending whisky festivals for many years now. And we generally come away happy that we’ve been able to see some old friends and make new ones while sampling an array of whiskies. Kiddushfest was that and more as even we got together for the first time in years, laughing over whisky and brisket. Can’t beat that!