News.Scotland.Org

October, 8

Good news for Scottish whisky lovers, in an initiative to protect the Scottish whisky industry, government has decided to regulate the imitation of Scotch whisky. It is know that many of such whisky’s like Highland, Lowland, Speyside, Campbeltown and Islay will be made illegal. This decision was taken by the Westminister Government yesterday.

Government took this step to conserve the heritage of Scottish whisky; this new law will take over from the Scotch Whisky Act 1988 and the Scotch Whisky Order 1990. It will also permit few labels of Scotch whisky to be added to an EU list of Geographical Indications. The Scottish whisky industry is worth £2 billion a year, which gives the economy a great push and also provides employment opportunities to many.

The new move by the government will also help to check the rapid incidences of foreign distilleries trying to misrepresent Scottish whisky and harming its authenticity in the global market. Many such brands are forged into markets creating a wrong impression of the age old Scottish whisky industry. There has been a long waiting by the Scottish Whisky Association for a revised regulation to safeguard the Scotch whisky.

The association needed to protect the place of Scottish whisky in the export market, said Hilary Benn, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary. He further added “The proposed legislation will make special provisions relating to Scotch whisky. The proposals will define tightly the descriptions applied to Scotch whisky - for example ’single malt’ or ‘blended grain’. They will also tightly define its geographical provenance - such as Highland or Islay - and ensure that if the product uses the name of a distillery then it must also come from that distillery.”

Another benefit of this regulation is that it has widely classified the Scotch whisky into five categories, single malt, single grain, blended, blended malt and blended grain. It also has categorized five geographical areas including Highland, Lowland, Speyside, Campbeltown, and Islay. The regulation mentioned that the whisky will only have the label of these areas if it has been completely made here. Another important point mentioned in the regulation was the whisky exported should be bottled and labeled properly.

Experts says that this move from government will benefit the Scottish whisky industry, to raise the exports which are worth over £2 billion and holds a major part in the economy of the country. This move will help the industry to make its ground firm in the market.

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