What is Scotch whisky?

Scotch whisky must be distilled in Scotland from water and malted barley, distilled to less than 94.8 percent, and matured in Scotland for at least three years.

The rules are set out in the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009. Only whole grains of other cereals may be added to the malted barley. Making the mash, converting starch into fermentable sugars and fermenting with yeast must all take place at the same distillery. The conversion may only use the enzymes found in the grain itself. The maximum distillation strength of 94.8 percent exists to prevent the distillate from becoming so neutral that nothing of the raw material can be tasted in it.

There are five legal categories: Single Malt, Single Grain, Blended Malt, Blended Grain and Blended Scotch Whisky. Every bottle must state exactly one.

Single Malt comes from one distillery, is made exclusively from malted barley and is distilled in pot stills. Single Grain also comes from one distillery, but falls outside the definition of single malt. Blended Malt is a blend of single malts from more than one distillery, Blended Grain the same for single grains. Blended Scotch Whisky is a blend of at least one single malt with at least one single grain.

The law requires at least three years of maturation in oak casks of at most 700 litres. Anything shorter may not be called whisky in Scotland.

The maturation does two things. The wood gives off colour and flavour, and sharp compounds from the young distillate disappear or change. The 700 litre limit keeps the ratio between wood and liquid within bounds: in a larger cask the whisky touches the wood proportionally less. The law prescribes only oak, not which oak or what was previously in the cask.

No. Maturation must take place entirely in Scotland, in a bonded warehouse. Whisky that matures elsewhere loses the name Scotch, even if it was distilled in Scotland.

Bottling is allowed outside Scotland, provided it is done at at least 40 percent. What has not been allowed since 2012 is exporting Scotch in casks to bottle it elsewhere: single malt must be bottled in Scotland itself. For the other categories that requirement does not apply in the same way, but the full maturation remains Scottish in all cases.

Only water and caramel colouring. Nothing else: no sugar, no flavouring, no wood chips. The Scotch Whisky Association confirms that it concerns caramel E150a exclusively.

Water is used to bring the whisky to strength. Caramel is used to keep the colour the same from bottling to bottling, because every cask gives off something different. Anyone who does not use caramel may state this, but that statement is not mandatory. A bottle that says natural colour is therefore a voluntary statement by the bottler.