Kosher Liquor Stores Remove Grey Goose From Shelves

By COLlive reporter

Salut!

Cases filled with bottles of the French-made smooth Grey Goose vodka were seen being removed from Jewish-owned liquor stores in Brooklyn, New York, due to questions about its Kashrus status.

Grey Goose has been a popular beverage enjoyed in many Shuls, farbrengens and simchas around the world, despite not having a kosher certification on it. Because it is made from just two ingredients – soft single-origin winter wheat and spring water – it was accepted as kosher by default.

A recent investigation by cRc Kosher, a division of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, found high levels of grape alcohol in the non-flavored Grey Goose vodka.

The cRc organization has not included Grey Goose on its recommended liquor list since 2011. It is expected to release a public statement about it later today (Thursday).

Menachem Reich, owner of Wine by the Case in Crown Heights, said he recently received numerous requests about the Kashrus of the product.

Reich says that a senior member of the OK Kosher organization has informed them that “for some reason, Rabbi Don Yoel Levy OBM never gave an approval on Grey Goose.”

“Wine By the Case has removed them from the shelf immediately, as a precaution while we are investigating the matter,” Reich told COLlive.com.

The senior member of the OK said that the product should be removed from the store shelves, as well as from their website, kosherwinedirect.com.