Winos love to debate which region should claim the first true example of a geographical indication (GI). Some point to 15th-century Burgundy, while others cite Port, Chianti, or Tokaj, roughly two centuries later. It wasn’t until 1936, however, that the world saw its first official GI, granted to France’s muscular wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
By comparison, whisky’s relationship with GIs is a much more recent development, yet one that has spiralled in recent years. What was once the exclusive domain of a few prestigious regions — most notably Scotch — has become a key ambition for nearly every emerging whisky-producing nation. Welsh whisky obtained its own in 2023, while both Alsatia and Brittany have each held a GI for a decade. Ireland has one, England’s application is under review, and distilleries in both Denmark and France are pursuing their own GIs, too.
This surge of activity around GIs reflects the remarkable vibrancy of today’s global whisky industry, yet these developments do not come without some significant challenges.
A GI is a legally recognised intellectual property right that protects products originating from a specific geographical area and possessing characteristics essentially linked to that place. It reflects an intrinsic connection between a product and its origin. In winemaking, that geographical origins encompass everything from the raw materials to maturation is a widely accepted and rarely contested norm. When it comes to spirits, however, what exactly should fall within the given geographic boundaries is far less consistently understood.
Maturation, for instance, has long been recognised as a crucial factor influencing the final character of brown spirits, and as a result, existing GIs typically require that maturation be confined to its territorial limits.
With raw ingredients, things get trickier. Traditionally, their origin has not played a role within any given whisky GI. This is largely due to the realities of the global grain supply chain, but also the longstanding belief that grain has a relatively minor influence on the liquid’s final flavour — a perspective that’s beginning to shift. As narratives of authenticity take on a greater role in distillers’ storytelling, raw ingredients are increasingly being recognised as key to expressing a spirit’s true sense of place, and their origin is therefore being included in some upcoming GIs.
“Provenance and a sense of place is a critical element of [English] whisky,” says Morag Garden, CEO of the English Whisky Guild, the organisation supporting the current English Whisky GI proposal. “Our GI requires all grain to be sourced from the UK, which is unique across the four British nations and supports our local farmers.”
The origin of the grain will also play a role in the upcoming French whisky GI: “It is poised to be more robust in terms of a set of criteria than [other existent GIs],” says Frédéric Revol of Domaine Des Hautes Glaces. “It will stipulate that a French whisky must be produced from French cereals only.”
Existing whisky GIs typically regulate the type and proportion of ingredients used in the recipe, maturation barrels, production methods, and equipment involved in the process. For newcomer regions, however, agreeing on narrowly defined production criteria can be quite contentious: in an environment where experimentation is increasingly valued more than consistency of flavour, limitations may be perceived as a serious threat to creative freedom and experimentation.
“The new wave of English distilleries can look to the past but are not confined by legacy or traditions and can innovate freely,” says Liam Hirt, co-founder of Bristol-based Circumstance Distillery and founding member of the English Whisky Guild, which he later left in disagreement over the direction of its current GI application. “The GI in its original form would surrender this enviable position.”
Allowing space for experimentation may be crucial for emerging whisky regions, but is also necessary for established ones to stay relevant and competitive. In 2019, for example, the Scotch Whisky Association responded to market pressures by amending the Scotch whisky technical file to allow greater flexibility in cask usage for maturation and finishing, expanding beyond the traditional ex-bourbon and sherry casks.
All these challenges may seem daunting, but are strong reasons for distillers to invest time in reaching consensus. A new GI can provide valuable media exposure, offer validation, and give a significant morale boost to any emerging whisky region. It can even foster a sense of national pride. Most importantly, GIs can create a more profitable environment for international trade (once ratified in export markets).
“By now, we have about 100 active whisky distilleries in France. A GI would help us emerge and establish ourselves as an active whisky nation on a global scale,” says Revol, arguing that GIs also translates into benefits for drinkers. “A GI guarantees the know-how that we implement in production practices and the provenance of the product… This clarity is a guarantee of quality for people.”
Some, however, believe that GIs aren’t strictly necessary to assure consumers of quality. Much like what has recently been done in New Zealand and Japan, strengthening national whisky production standards may indeed achieve this more swiftly and effectively.
“[Before the change in regulations] a large proportion of whisky labelled as ‘Japanese Whisky’ was produced in other countries,” says Hirt. “A very simple definition of ‘English Whisky’ would suffice to prevent this from happening in England… consumer protection laws could be strengthened… the requirement that the whisky be mashed, distilled, and aged in England is enough.”
While critics may regard GIs as somewhat excessive for simply guaranteeing quality to whisky drinkers, the recent surge in GI applications conceals the undeniable value they can represent for producers. Certainly, striking the right balance between enforcing strict regulations (so that all compliant spirits share meaningful common traits) and preserving the creative freedom that’s so essential in today’s vibrant, diverse, and even confusing whisky landscape is no small feat. But it is precisely these challenges that make GIs one of the most intriguing and consequential developments in today’s whisky landscape, worthy of close attention not only because they reveal the industry’s most defining trends, but also because they are set to shape its future for decades to come.
