Just as in to water or not...
Whisky or Whiskey? It All Depends
March 4, 2024 ––––––
Danny Brandon
No matter how well-acquainted you are with our beloved spirit, odds are that you’ve noticed a slight difference in how your favorite brands style their labels. Some distillers call their creations “whiskey,” while others eschew the “e” in favor of “whisky.” This slight difference in spelling has created one of those historical oddities that makes the water of life such a colorful and fascinating subject. As always seems to be the case with whisky, various events throughout generations have created the divide.
To help shed some light on the whisky-versus-whiskey question, we’ve unpacked the story in its various parts. Much of it comes down to where the liquid was made, but again, despite all the great efforts to codify and regulate this great drink, we often find some exceptions to the rules.
Countries That Use Whisky
- Canada
- Japan
- Scotland
- World
Countries That Use Whiskey
So, Which is Historically Correct?
Neither spelling is technically incorrect, whisky, without the “e,” came first, and there’s a lot of history there. The modern art of distillation owes a great deal of its foundation to the early work of alchemists. These trailblazers used early forms of distillation to remove salt and other impurities from water some 2,000 years ago. Though the exact “when” is debated, sometime along the way the alchemists began experimenting by adding different substances to their stills and stumbled into producing a primitive unaged grain spirit which they called
aqua vitae—the water of life.
By the 14th century that spirit had become increasingly popular across the British Isles, particularly in Ireland and Scotland. The Scots and the Irish adored it, but things gravitated toward a more colloquial name. They translated the Latin aqua vitae into their native Gaelic: the Scots ended up with the phrase
uisge beatha, while the Irish spelled it
uisce beatha, pronounced “
Ish-ka
Bah-ha.” Over time, it would be shortened to just uisge (or uisce), which was eventually anglicized to whisky.
Where Does “Whiskey” Come From?
The spelling of “whiskey” is a more recent phenomenon, first cropping up among Irish distillers in the late 19th century. Until that point, everybody labeled their bottles as whisky—including those who spell it whiskey today. All whisky was made using pot stills, and the Irish were far and away the biggest producers while the Scots trailed far behind. The reason for the shift in spelling can be pinpointed to a single event in 1830 which also upset the balance of power in the whisky scene.
That marked the year Irish inventor
Aeneas Coffey patented his eponymous Coffey still. His version of a column still could operate 24 hours a day and was more efficient than pot stills. Scottish distillers quickly latched onto these new stills and used them to make grain whiskies from unmalted cereals like corn and wheat. The grain whiskies, though abundant, didn’t taste like Irish malt whiskey, and thus weren’t seen as a real threat. But that changed when the Scots began blending these grain whiskies with their traditional pot-stilled malt, and that all accelerated when a new law passed in 1860 that permitted the practice. That law pioneered the blended scotch whisky style that exists today.
Ireland’s leading distillers were outraged, viewing this new blended style as a perversion of a long-held whiskey-making tradition cultivated by generations of distillers. Moreover, they were losing considerable market share to the Scots, who could churn out far higher volumes of good-tasting whisky at a much lower cost. As time went on, this Irish-Scottish disagreement grew bitter and was taken to the court of public opinion. Major Irish distillers banded together to publish a book in 1879, entitled “Truths About Whisky,” which denounced these blends as not real whisky. Many histories attribute the difference in the spellings to this issue, saying that some Dublin distillers changed their labels to Irish whiskey, as a way of distancing themselves from blended scotches, a change that was accelerated by a
Parliamentary report in 1909 reinforcing the Scots’ use of the “whisky” spelling. But some dispute that story: Irish whiskey maker
McConnell’s, which uses the older spelling, argues that the difference
predates those events.
Is Scotch Whisky or Whiskey?
Many things in the scotch scene have changed since 1909, but the spelling of whisky has remained the same. Blended scotch whisky brands grew to be global players, led by labels like
Dewar’s,
Johnnie Walker, and
Chivas Regal. Most are still made from both grain and malt whiskies, but there are also blended grain and blended malt whiskies. Blended grain scotches, like
Compass Box Hedonism, are made entirely from grain whiskies. Blended malt scotches, like
Johnnie Walker Green Label, are blended entirely from malt whiskies.
We’ve also seen the rise and continued dominance of single malt scotches. These whiskies are made in a way that production methods of the older Scottish distillers: distilled entirely from malted barley using pot stills. Though these whiskies must be aged for at least 3 years, many sport much older age statements. Whether it's a blend or a single malt, all scotch is labeled as whisky.
Why Does America Spell it Whiskey?
Nearly all American whiskey is labeled with an “e” today, but that wasn’t always the case. American distillers historically used both spellings on their rye and bourbon bottles, influenced by both Scottish and Irish distillers who immigrated to the States over time. Interestingly, some government regulations, including those still used by the TTB today, seem to prefer the more traditional Scottish spelling.
The turning point toward the Irish spelling came about due to Prohibition. By the time the Volstead Act was repealed in 1933, the whiskey industry was largely decimated; powerhouse distilleries were shuttered along with their brands, while the distillers were forced to pick up the pieces and start from scratch. At the time of rebuilding, the popular styles of whisky in the U.S. were Irish imports and Canadian labels that were smuggled in during Prohibition. It’s theorized that the Americans adopted the Irish spelling en masse to associate their new liquid with the higher-quality Irish expressions—or, at least, as a way of distancing it from the lower-quality juice from Canada at the time. Today most American whiskeys—including bourbons, ryes, Tennessee whiskeys like
Jack Daniel’s, and American single malts—still use that spelling.
Why Is Maker’s Mark Whisky and Not Whiskey?
Keen-eyed drinkers have probably noticed that
Maker’s Mark bills itself as a bourbon
whisky. But how is it able to do this? And why? Well, unlike in Scotland where the spelling is a matter of law, distillers in the U.S. are free to use either whiskey or whisky on their labels. Maker’s opts for the Scottish spelling to pay homage to the founding Samuels family’s heritage, which can be traced back to Scotland. Maker’s Mark isn’t alone either. Popular brands like
George Dickel in Tennessee, the Texas-based
Balcones, and a few other producers also opt out of adding an “e”.
Other Global Spellings
Most producers around the world fall on one side of the debate or the other. The majority were inspired to make whisky because of scotch’s influence and thus used the Scottish spelling. A particularly curious example can be found in Wales. The Welsh were also present when whisky caught fire in the British Isles during the 14th century. Over the ensuing centuries, Welsh distillers began making what they called
wisgi Cymreig, though production would eventually flatline in the late 19th century due to widespread pro-temperance movements throughout the UK. In more recent times, the Welsh have returned—led by distilleries like
Penderyn and
Aber Falls—though now they prefer the “whisky” spelling. Other places like
Australia,
New Zealand,
Lebanon, and
Israel also prefer whisky over whiskey. Mexico remains divided on the matter, with
Abasolo going for whisky while
Sierra Norte chooses whiskey.
Indian Whisky
Whisky exploded in popularity in India during the early 19th century, when it was still part of the British Empire, and the whisky back then came from Scotland. Naturally, those scotches would inspire the coming generations of Indian distillers. Today Indian whisky is still emerging on the global stage, and the leading producers—
Rampur,
Amrut,
Paul John, and
Indri—all favor single malts that carry “whisky” on their labels.
Japanese Whisky
When it comes to the newer whisky nations around the world, few are as devoted to the Scottish tradition as Japan. The first leading Japanese distilleries owed much of their success to Masataka Taketsuru, a chemist and the heir to a sake brewing family. He drew inspiration from Scotland, learning to distill at the University of Glasgow and taking apprenticeships at both Longmorn and Hazelburn distilleries; he’d eventually serve in an executive position at
Yamazaki, before founding
Yoichi Distillery and its larger Nikka franchise. Though they were distinctly different, Taketsuru’s whiskies very much echoed their spiritual forebears from Scotland. That’s also the case for many Japanese whiskies today, so it’s no shock that these delicious drams retain the Scottish spelling of whisky.
Canadian Whisky
Canada is another nation that drops the “e” on its whisky labels, being part of the British Empire played a role in that. It’s thought that whisky distillation was brought to Canada very early on by American and European immigrants who favored wheat and rye, not the malted barley typically used by the Scots. While the grains and styles are different, Canada does have some ties to Scotland which also may help explain the similar spelling.
The Molson family, which originally came from England, set up the first commercial whisky distillery in 1801—effectively predating both the introduction of the Coffey still and subsequent adoption of the “e” by Irish distillers. By the time the 1909 Parliamentary report was dropped on the UK, popular Canadian heavyweights like
Seagram’s (then Waterloo Distillery in Ontario) and Hiram Walker (producer of
Canadian Club) were already established.
