The Scotch whisky industry has launched a formal challenge against new rules governing English whisky amid a growing row over what can be called a single malt.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) lodged an appeal yesterday (8 October) against the UK Government’s decision to grant English Whisky protected Geographical Indication status.
The dispute centres on the definition of “single malt” contained within the new rules.
Under the regulations governing Single Malt Scotch Whisky, the whisky must be made from water and malted barley at one distillery, with the production process taking place there.
The SWA argues that the new English definition is different because it requires the whisky to be distilled at a single distillery but allows earlier stages of production to take place elsewhere.
The SWA believes allowing the resulting spirit to be marketed as a single malt risks weakening a term which has become closely associated with whisky produced entirely at one distillery.
Its appeal has the backing of the Irish Whiskey Association and Welsh Whisky Association, which joined the Scottish body in issuing a statement following the challenge.
The three organisations said they had hoped to find a compromise which would allow English Whisky to receive GI protection while maintaining what they regard as the established meaning of single malt.
They said: “We hoped that a mutually beneficial resolution could be found to both protect the integrity of the Single Malt category and allow the English GI to proceed.”
They added that they remained concerned about “inconsistencies” in the way the English Whisky GI had been approved and the potential implications for future production standards.
The row has already reached Westminster. During an urgent Commons debate last month, North East Fife MP Wendy Chamberlain said her objection was not to the creation of an English Whisky GI but specifically to the definition of English single malt.
The UK Government has rejected suggestions that the new designation weakens the protection enjoyed by Scotland’s industry.
Environment minister Stephen Morgan told MPs that the protected status and production requirements of Scotch Whisky remained unchanged and said the English specification had gone through the statutory GI process.
English Whisky formally became a protected Geographical Indication on 1 October after the application was approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The English industry has expanded rapidly. There are now more than 70 distilleries producing whisky in England, compared with 46 in 2023, while English whisky is exported to more than 30 countries. The value of whisky currently maturing in English casks has been estimated at around £1 billion.
Scotch Whisky exports were worth £5.3 billion in 2025, with the equivalent of around 1.34 billion bottles shipped to more than 160 markets around the world.
The SWA’s concern is that the issue goes beyond competition between Scottish and English distillers.
Its argument is that “single malt” has developed an internationally understood meaning and that allowing different production methods to use the same description could eventually make it harder to defend that definition in overseas markets.