The Scotch Blog

…At least that’s what you might believe if you read this headline: Scotch’s reputation on the rocks as unique taste branded a myth in the April 20th Scotsman.

According to the writer of this article (Andrew Tolmie):

…ONE of Scotland’s top whisky experts has stunned the industry by claiming the taste of single malt has nothing to do with its place of origin, and foreign drams can be as good as Scottish ones.

The honorary research fellow studied the national drink from 94 distilleries from Scotland and around the world, and claims particular regions do not guarantee a whisky’s flavour.

The whisky expert in question is Dr. David Wishart, author of Whisky Classified and frequent contributor to The Scotch Blog.

Disregarding the dire headline, those 2 paragraphs don’t equate to the downfall of Scotch as we know it, do they?

If you’ve read David’s book (as I have), you might not agree with all of his conclusions and categorizations. But think about it – tell me how Bunnahabhain and Ardbeg are similar. Now tell me how they are different. Try the same exercise with The Dalmore and Glenmorangie; now think about Glenfarclas and Glenlivet.

I fully agree that regions are a poor indicator of flavor, and are (for the most part) only useful for geographic assignation – and in the case of Highland whiskies – not a very concise one.

According to the article, David allegedly says:

To say that a flavour is determined by where it is from is to pull the wool over the eyes of consumers. The distilling process can be mirrored all over the world. India and Japan produce excellent whiskies that are the equal of many produced in Scotland. Scotland has no right to be assumed as the place where you get the best whisky.

I have suspicions about the authenticity of this quote.

Also from the Scotsman article:

For example, traditionally, the Islay is thought of as being peaty and strong tasting, like the Laphroig or Ardbeg, but there are now many mild Islays which taste more like traditional Speyside whiskies.

There are also so many types of whisky cask… that the flavours can be completely different from distilleries that are only a few miles apart.

Now that is a statement I believe David would make – and who can argue with that?

The real issue is whether these quotes (and this sentiment) are really the work of Dr. David Wishart.

Via email, David tells me:

Kevin,
Needless to say I am mis-quoted in the Scotsman – I certainly didn’t say that Scotch malts can be replicated all over the world, though I did say that there are good whiskies already from America, Japan and Ireland. You can read my press release here…http://www.whiskyclassified.com/pressrelease.html
I’m sure you will agree it is not reflected in the Scotsman article, and others have not followed this line.

My main argument is that we cannot accurately describe the flavor of, for example, Highland Park whisky by reference to a "Highland Region" style, or an "Island Region" style, or even an "Orkney Region" style. The distilleries of Highland Park and Scapa on Orkney are barely 5 miles apart, they share the same water catchment, but they produce distinctively different malt whiskies. The region they happen to be in, however defined, doesn’t influence or determine their flavor.

Scotland has some great single malt whiskies, but the producers cannot afford to be complacent in a global market. In my opinion they should stop competing on price, and instead focus on the heritage, authenticity and quality of their malts, which make them unique.

By the way, this mastermind of the destruction of the reputation of Scotch is being admitted as a Keeper of the Quaich today.

David also just announced the release of the second edition of Whisky Classified. I, for one, look forward to the new research and updates David has done for this edition.