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About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

A Balblair 17 Masquerading as a Maritime Highlander in an Old Malt Cask

By Michael Bendavid | March 16, 2015

A Balblair 17 Masquerading as a Maritime Highlander in an Old Malt Cask

Continuing with the Old Malt Cask bottling with which we finished the series of the independent bottler masterclass reviews, we now turn to some other OMC bottlings, shared with me by my friend Manny, which will be reviewed over the next few weeks, not as a series, rather sprinkled over that period. If you want…

Balblair, Douglas Laing, Hunter Laing, Independent Bottling, Scotch Single MaltBalblair , Bourbon Barrel , Highlands , Linger , Nose , Palate , Scotch Whisky , Single Malt , Tasting Note , Tasting Notes , Whiskey , Whisky , Whisky Blog , Whisky Guide , Whisky Tasting Notes

Port Ellen 25 from the Old Malt Cask – Starting 2015 With a Bang

By Michael Bendavid | January 3, 2015

Port Ellen 25 from the Old Malt Cask – Starting 2015 With a Bang

Keeping in line with the Broras from the first two days of the year, we now turn to the first of two Port Ellen whiskys, a 25 year old today and a 27 year old in the next post. Another casualty of United Distillers (Diageo’s) 1983 mass closing of distilleries, Port Ellen remained obscure until 1998,…

Douglas Laing, Hunter Laing, Independent Bottling, Port Ellen, Scotch Single MaltClosed Distilleries , Distillation , Islay , Linger , Nose , Palate , Peat , Port Ellen , Scotch Whisky , Sherry , Single Malt , Tasting Note , Tasting Notes , Whiskey , Whisky , Whisky Blog , Whisky Guide , Whisky Tasting Notes