Plans to allow English whisky makers to use the term “single malt” have led to a backlash by Scottish distilleries and politicians.
Under proposals being considered by the UK government, “single malt English whisky” could be used for the spirit made by a single distillery in England.
However, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said it “devalues” single malts because, it claims, the English method would be simpler than the process used in Scotland.
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said no decisions had been made and the application process was “ongoing”.
“What Scotch whisky does is it takes the malted barley and it creates the mash, it ferments it and then it distils it at one site,” Graham Littlejohn, SWA director of strategy and communications told BBC Good Morning Scotland.
“What the English proposal would do is to strip away the first two of those three elements and really remove the fundamental connection to place that single malt Scotch whisky has.”
Under the proposal for English single malt whisky, the drink would only be required to be distilled at one site, while mashing and fermentation could take place elsewhere.
The English Whisky Guild said that its distilleries partner with local breweries not on the same site to use “their brewing expertise to create innovative and distinct whiskies”.
The guild said it agreed with the SWA that “provenance and a sense of place is a critical element of whisky” and English whisky distillers’ grain had to be sourced from the UK.
Mr Littlejohn said that allowing the English industry to use the term for its alcohol “would really damage the integrity of the single malt category and with it, the reputation of the Scotch whisky industry.”
The proposal to allow English single malt whisky is part of a wider application to Defra by the guild for geographical indication for English whisky.
This would give it protected geographical status, meaning it could only be used to describe whisky made in England.
Mairi Gougeon, Scotland’s cabinet secretary for rural affairs, said 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”.
She said the industry was “of huge economic importance to Scotland”, and exported £5.4bn worth of goods last year.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney said the Scottish government would “make all necessary representations on this issue to protect the identity and the character of Scotch whisky”.
Opponents of the plans have three months to respond.
The SWA said it would respond formally to the Defra consultation “to robustly defend against any devaluation of the single malt category”.
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