My View: Let's sort out whisky terminology

Impressively, the SWA is holding two diametrically opposing views at the same time. On one hand, single malts are being protected by strengthening existing laws, legalising whisky regions, protecting the use of distillery names, and targeting counterfeiters.

On the other, new Trojan horse rules seek to undermine that authority by challenging the credibility of the single malt category. One regulation seeks to introduce new whisky categories. One of which, "Blended Malt Scotch Whisky", is a mix of several different single malts.

Yet this sector is a charter for cheats and marketing departments to exploit gullible consumers: for, extraordinarily, "Blended Malt" will be allowed to look almost identical to a Single Malt, down to the distillery name, label and presentation.

Consumers conned into thinking they are getting a whisky from a famous distillery may find it's a malt cocktail, with barely a drop of what they thought they were buying in the blend at all.

Whiskies in the new category should not be allowed to use the sacrosanct name or presentation of a distillery. End of story. As it stands, consumers - at last protected from counterfeiters - will be ripped off by the industry instead.

Mark Reynier is managing director of Bruichladdich Distillery