The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has been condemned by nearly 1,000 signatories to an online petition designed to prevent a new Scotch whisky classification from being enforced.
Proposal for “blended malt” is slammed by malt distillers for damage it could do industry
The petition (www.ipetitions.com) showed around 972 objectors to the SWA's proposal of a blended malt Scotch whisky classification, with one claimant even suggesting that the SWA is “no longer suitable” in its current role.
The petition's creator John Glaser, blender and founder of whisky specialist Compass Box, will present the signatures to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) next month, when DEFRA is due to make a decision on the new category.
“If 1,000 objectors to the SWA's proposals don't convince DEFRA to revise the proposal, then something's seriously wrong here,” Glaser told this week's Harpers magazine out today (Friday).
According to the SWA's critics, the introduction of a fifth, blended malt subcategory will lead to consumer confusion, with drinkers struggling to distinguish between single malts, blends of grain and malts, and blends of single malt whiskies from different distilleries.
According to Neil Boyd, the petition's 910th signatory, the new term will make single malts suffer.
“As a recent global brand director for Dewar's Scotch Whisky, it is clear to me that the term 'blended malt' will do nothing but harm the malt category,” he said.
Marketer's Paradise
Bruichladdich managing director Mark Reynier added: “The term 'blended malt' is ambiguous. It's a marketer's paradise. It seems like a deliberate attempt by the members of the SWA –who constitute only 30% of the total number of whisky distilleries in Scotland – to increase the value of some of their blended whiskies.
One also has to question whether the SWA is still a suitable organisation to propose legislation on Scotland's future when it is not independent.”
However, David Williamson, SWA public affairs manager, said: “At the core of the proposal is ensuring that people receive clear information on what they are buying. One of the objectors to our proposals has sold a malt whisky that was sometimes called a single malt and sometimes blended malt.
"It's this kind of confusion we want to avoid.”
Harpers Magazine is available by subscription only.
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Proposal for “blended malt” is slammed by malt distillers for damage it could do industry
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