Plans by the English Whisky Guild to have its own Whisky Geographical Indication have been called “unacceptable” by Scotland’s Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon and slammed by the Scottish Whisky Association
Scotland’s Whisky industry is the UK’s largest food export with the The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) global export figures showing the value of Scotch exports topped £5.6bn in 2023 with the industry’s economic impact report showing that the contribution of the Scotch Whisky sector to the UK economy reached £7.1bn annually, supporting 66,000 jobs across the UK.
A spokesperson for the Scotch Whisky Association said, “The proposal to define ‘Single Malt’ English Whisky only requires distillation at the single distillery location and not the creation of the spirit from malted barley at a single site. This is entirely inconsistent with the reputation of single malt whisky, which is famous for its integral connection to place, and would undermine the Single Malt Scotch Whisky category.
“It would be very damaging for the reputation of single malt whisky from the UK, and by extension Single Malt Scotch Whisky, if English Whiskies were allowed to describe spirit as ‘Single Malt’ despite being produced in a different manner to the established process and long-standing traditions of the Scotch Whisky industry.”
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said, “Scotland’s national drink is one of our greatest exports with unbreakable ties to our culture, history and industry and it is world-renowned thanks to its continued quality and authenticity.
“Any proposal to undermine the reputation or definition of the term Single Malt could have devastating effects on our iconic whisky industry and would be wholly unacceptable.
“The whisky industry is of huge economic importance to Scotland employing around 20,000 full time equivalent staff and exporting £5.4 billion worth of products, that success is built on a reputation hundreds of years in the making.
“If English Whiskies are allowed to dilute the definition of the term ‘Single Malt’ by using it to describe whisky only distilled at a single location rather than being created by malted barley at a single site it would remove the integral connection to place that is so vital in the whisky creation process.
“The long-standing tradition and processes used to create iconic Scotch Whisky cannot be damaged by allowing quicker and cheaper methods of creation to use the same respected terminology to describe a far less involved process and end product.
“Geographical Indications are a reserved area however I intend to raise this issue directly with UK Ministers.”
“We will be responding formally to the DEFRA consultation to robustly defend against any devaluation of the Single Malt category.”
Following Ministerial sign-off the English Whisky Guild intends to take the proposal to public consultation to gain legal protection.
Morag Garden, CEO of The English Whisky Guild, said, “We are excited for English Whisky to gain a Geographical Indication (GI) and this consultation phase with DEFRA is the next step towards achieving this. We are confident that English Whisky will join the three other nations in the UK with a whisky GI and we are delighted that this growing whisky category is heading towards legal protection. This will support sales of English Whisky both in the UK and in over 30 export markets globally.”
The SWA said, “We will be responding formally to the DEFRA consultation to robustly defend against any devaluation of the Single Malt category.”