Single malt whisky labels

Whisky labels carry a handful of words with fixed meanings. For Scotch Whisky, "single malt" is one of them. The age on the bottle and some place names are set in law too.

What makes a whisky Scotch

The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 define Scotch Whisky in regulation 3. It must be distilled at a distillery in Scotland and matured only in Scotland. It must be "matured only in oak casks of a capacity not exceeding 700 litres", and "for a period of not less than three years".

It must have "a minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 40%". The only things that may be added are water and "plain caramel colouring".

What "single malt" adds

The same regulation says Single Malt Scotch Whisky is a Scotch Whisky distilled "at a single distillery". It is made "from water and malted barley without the addition of any other cereals", and distilled "in pot stills".

The other four kinds

Regulation 3 names four more categories.

• Single Grain Scotch Whisky is any Scotch Whisky distilled at a single distillery, other than a single malt or a Blended Scotch Whisky.
• Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is a blend of two or more single malts distilled at more than one distillery.
• Blended Grain Scotch Whisky is a blend of two or more single grains distilled at more than one distillery.
• Blended Scotch Whisky is a blend of one or more single malts with one or more single grains.

The age on the label

Regulation 12 says an age or maturation period on a Scotch Whisky label must be "expressed in years". It points to a rule in Regulation (EC) No 110/2008, under which an age may only be given where it refers to the youngest alcoholic component in the drink.

A label may give the year the whisky was distilled only if all of it was distilled in that year. The year of bottling, the maturation period or the age must then appear "in the same field of vision".

Place names

Regulation 10 protects two localities, Campbeltown and Islay, and three regions, Highland, Lowland and Speyside. A whisky may carry one of those names only if it is Scotch Whisky distilled in that place, apart from some cases set out in Schedule 3.

Scotch Whisky is also on the UK register of protected food and drink names, as a Geographical Indication.

Useful links

• The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Regulation 3: the definitions (legislation.gov.uk)
• Regulation 10: protected localities and regions (legislation.gov.uk)
• Regulation 12: age and year of distillation (legislation.gov.uk)
• Scotch Whisky, protected name (GOV.UK)
• Protected geographical food and drink names: UK GI schemes (GOV.UK)