Interesting Quote

[Hot Irishman]

On a side note … when interviewed by an author from Cigar Aficionado, an Irishman once said about the English giving in to letting Scotch and Irish whiskeys bear their own names e.g., Scotch Whisky and Irish Whiskey, he said, “It goes to prove that the United Kingdom and Ireland can come to an agreement when it really counts -- something as important as whiskey."

I came across this interesting quote recently and was wondering if anyone knew what the writer means about "the English giving in to letting Scotch and Irish whiskeyss bear their own names e.g., Sctoch Whisky and Irish Whiskey.."

What historical event is this refering to?

Cheers

N

[DavidH]

I'll take a guess... Irish whiskey is made in two different legal jurisdictions but the definition was synchronised between Ireland and the UK. That means that whiskey (Scotch and Irish) has two slightly different definitions within UK law.

I don't know if there were sticky negotiations that led to this. A search in Hansard and the Oireachtas record might yield something.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I think I see what David is getting at here ... in the Irish statute books it is always spelt Whiskey in the UK statute books governing Scotch it is always spelt Whisky.

However I'm not aware of any such agreement to actually differentiate the 2 regions by spelling and reckon it is just pure speculation or a jovial throw away comment.

We well know that there were many an Irish Whisky and Cork of all places was a hot bed for that spelling too not just the North of Ireland.

And we all know how protective the SWA are about their Whisky and I would not be surprised if it has been construed from a comment from them.

Interesting though and worth further investigation.

[DavidH]

No, I wasn't talking about spelling at all. I'm talking about the legal definition of whiskey. "Irish whiskey" has one definition North and South, even though this encompasses two countries and even though this means the UK has two (slightly) different definitions of whiskey in law.

This definitely involved negotiation between the UK and Ireland.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Ahh with you now ... I thought the emphasis was on the spelling

Yes I think you are right

[TheAngel'sShare]

This sounds very strange. I wonder who the Irishman refered to was. I've certainly never heard of any such agreement, other than the legal definition of whiskey/whiskey in both jurisdictions. It sounds like a great answer by the Irishman, to not a great question.

Hot Irishman - love the name, by the way.