What is Dutch whisky?

For whisky from the Netherlands, Regulation (EU) 2019/787 applies: distilling to less than 94.8 percent, at least three years on wood, and a minimum of 40 percent in the bottle.

The regulation also prescribes the raw material. Whisky comes from a mash of malted grains, optionally supplemented with whole kernels of unmalted grains, saccharified by the malt itself and fermented with yeast.

Those requirements apply throughout the European Union. A Dutch distiller who wants to put whisky on the label must therefore comply with them just as much as an Irish or a French one.

The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 apply only to whisky that has been distilled and matured in Scotland, and prescribe oak casks and maturation in Scotland.

Outside Scotland that no longer applies. The European regulation speaks of wooden casks, not of oak, and sets no requirement on the country where the cask lies. A Dutch distillery may therefore also use other wood, as long as the cask is no larger than 700 litres and the whisky stays in it for three years.

For Scotch it also applies that maturation must take place in an excise warehouse or a designated place in Scotland. That requirement does not apply outside Scotland either.

Yes, if the whisky is distilled exclusively from malted barley in a single distillery, the designation single malt may appear on the label.

That condition is in Annex I, category 2 of Regulation (EU) 2019/787 and is not tied to a country. The Netherlands, Sweden, Taiwan and India have the same provision.

If grain or rye is used alongside malted barley, the addition single malt falls away. The sales name then simply remains whisky.

No alcohol may be added to whisky, and sweetening or flavouring is prohibited; only caramel E 150a is permitted to correct the colour.

That rule is in the same category 2 of the regulation and applies to whisky from any country of the European Union. A bottle with sugar, wood extract or flavouring in it may not call itself whisky.

Caramel for colour is therefore the only additive. Colour therefore says nothing about age or about the cask.

Scotch Whisky is a protected geographical indication; no such indication exists for whisky from the Netherlands.

That means the words Dutch whisky are an indication of origin and not a quality mark. The requirements the bottle must meet come from the European regulation, not from a product file of its own.

What does belong on the label: the sales designation, the alcohol content and, if an age is stated, the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle.