A kiddush pour, a Pesach case and a bottle for your father-in-law are three different problems, so here are the kosher wine brands that matter grouped by the job they do. Under $20: Barkan, Carmel, Kedem, Bartenura and Baron Herzog. The middle ground at $20 to $30: Dalton, Teperberg, Herzog and Binyamina. For when it matters: Yarden, Shiloh and Psagot. Real prices on every one, plus the question that matters more than the brand name - whether you need mevushal.

The frosted bottle with Moses and the Torah on the front is Finnish, not Israeli - the label says Product of Finland plainly. Three bottles: the small-batch vodka at $39.99 under Chug Chatam Sofer and the Chief Rabbi of Helsinki, the date-infused vodka at $34.99 built on a sugar beet base so it sidesteps the grain question, and the arak at $38.99. All three are 700ml at 40%. Both vodkas are Kosher for Passover; the arak's listing records neither, and we say so. Includes the right way to cloud arak - water first, ice second.

Japanese whisky is spelled without the e, follows Scotland rather than Ireland, and the bottle most people are looking for is Hibiki Japanese Harmony at $149.99. Six whiskies from $44.99 to $299.99 compared: Suntory's Hibiki blend and the Hakushu 12 Year single malt, the two Mars Iwai bottles from Japan's highest-altitude distillery, the easy-drinking Sensei, and Kurayoshi Pure Malt from Tottori. What single malt, blended and pure malt actually mean, what Mizunara oak does, how to build a proper highball, and a straight answer on kosher certification.

Cantina Gabriele is the small Italian winery whose whole range is organic, OU certified, mevushal and Kosher for Passover, with nothing over $16.99. Most people find it searching for Dolcemente, the semi-sweet red from Lazio. There are four bottles: Dolcemente Red at 10.5%, the frizzante Moscato at 6% in the blue Trevi Fountain bottle, a 375ml Moscato at $8.99, and a dry Tuscan Sangiovese Chianti. Which to pour, and when.

The matte black hexagon on the shelf is an Irish single malt - 100% malted barley, triple distilled in County Antrim, four years in ex-Oloroso sherry butts, 40%, and $31.99. Dried fruit, honeycomb, dark chocolate and toasted almond, with a sherry sweetness that makes it drink like a dearer bottle. What single malt means next to the Irish blends, how to drink it, and what our listing actually says about the sherry cask and kosher certification.

A standard box of wine is 3 liters - about 20 glasses at a five-ounce pour, the same amount of wine as four bottles. The 1.5 liter box gives about 10 glasses, the 5 liter about 33. Full conversions for boxes, bottles, magnums and cases, why five ounces is the number everybody counts in, what the bladder-and-tap format is actually good at, and how to get box-sized volume out of a mixed case instead.

Sorghum is a cereal grass crushed for syrup, and it is not one of the five grains - so a whiskey distilled from it is not chametz. Ethan's Reserve is distilled by Bruce Boeko at Nashville Craft Distillery from sorghum stalk syrup, bottled at 47 percent, certified OU-P, $58.99. Honeyed and soft with a grassy edge, rounder than bourbon and gentler than rye. What it tastes like, how to drink it, and why to buy it before Nissan.

Cremant is French sparkling wine made by the traditional method - second fermentation in the bottle, same as Champagne - but grown outside the Champagne region. Eight regions make it. The kosher one on our shelf is the Cave de Ribeauville Giersberger Brut from Alsace, KLBD, 12 percent, $24.99. Why it tastes of bread and orchard fruit where Prosecco tastes of pears, how cold to serve it, and what to eat with it.

People search it as Chivas, shiva sigal and shiva segal - all the same Speyside blending house. The Extra 13 is $39.99, thirteen years, matured in Oloroso sherry casks, and our listing says Not Kosher for exactly that reason. The 18 Year Gold Signature is $88.99 and carries no Passover certification. What blended Scotch actually is, why cask history decides the kashrus question, and five blends to consider instead.

Two Israeli araks from a house distilling since 1824. Elite is the standard bottling at 40 percent, $23.99, softer and sweeter. Alouf is triple-distilled at 100 proof, $24.99, drier and with more backbone. Both are Kosher for Passover. Plus how to pour arak so it clouds properly and what else is on the shelf.

Macallan 18 is a Speyside single malt aged eighteen years in sherry-seasoned oak only, bottled at 43 percent, $449.99. Dried fruit, chocolate and clove, dense and very long. Why the sherry casks cost what they do, how it differs from the 12, and three sherried alternatives from $59.99 if the price is the problem.