English whisky has been granted protected Geographical Indication (GI) status by the UK government.
The decision “officially recognises English whisky as a distinctive whisky category” alongside Scotch, Welsh and Irish whisk(e)y, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement.
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The status follows an application submitted by the English Whisky Guild (EWG) in 2022. English whisky is expected to be added to the UK GI register on 1 October.
UK Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle said: “It’s a milestone that will be felt far beyond the distillery gates, bringing jobs, investment and pride to communities across the country.”
Single-malt Welsh whisky was the first UK spirit to receive protection under the post-Brexit UK GI scheme, when it was registered in 2023 by the Welsh government.
The designation is intended to protect the provenance and reputation of English whisky by setting production requirements for spirits sold under the protected name.
It will also provide legal protection for the names English Whisky and English Whiskey, according to EWG.
Defra said more than 70 distilleries now produce English whisky, compared with 46 in 2023.
English whisky is exported to more than 30 countries, while industry estimates place the value of maturing stock held in casks across England at around £1bn.
Morag Garden, the CEO of the EWG, said: “This milestone will support future growth and international recognition for English Whisky.”
In a LinkedIn post, Cotswolds Distillery founder and CEO Daniel Szor welcomed the decision, describing it as “a landmark moment” for a category the distillery has helped develop over the past decade.
Szor said English whisky had evolved from “a category … still in its infancy” into a sector in which distilleries across the country are producing whiskies “with a character and identity all their own”.
However, Liam Hirt, founder of Bristol-based Circumstance Distillery objected to elements of the proposed specification.
In a separate statement, Hirt said the definition of single malt English whisky “unnecessarily” followed the Scotch model, including a requirement for double distillation in copper pot stills.
“There were a lot of very, very good things in the English Whisky GI but it could have been a lot better if it had followed the Welsh Whisky GI rather than the Scottish,” Hirt said.
He argued that the rules could create confusion by making distilleries operating within the GI “virtually indistinguishable from Scotch”, while producers outside the designation may be more experimental but unable to use the term “English Whisky”.
“It feels like everyone who uses the term Single Malt English Whisky is a loser in one way or another,” Hirt said.
