What is Scotch whisky?

Scotch whisky, or Scotch, is perhaps the most famous whisky of all. While its origins are debated, we know enough about the history of Scotch whisky to trace it back at least as far as 1494, when a certain Friar John Cor of Lindores Abbey in Fife was paid duty on eight bolls of malt to make 500kg of aqua vitae (400 x 70cl bottles) for King James IV. 

What is Scotch whisky?

To create Scotch whisky, you must follow certain rules and regulations. The whisky must be distilled in Scotland from water and grain, whether that’s malted barley, wheat, corn, rye, or oats. 

The mashing, fermentation, and distillation must take place on-site, which means no local brewers producing mash and shipping wort, and only endogenous enzymes (those produced naturally by the grain) are allowed. Just yeast is permitted in fermentation, no sugary or fermented liquid substitutes. 

The spirit must be distilled to less than 94.8% ABV. It is then to be aged in oak barrels of 700 litres or less for a minimum of three years. Only water and/or caramel colour are permitted to be added after maturation and the spirit should be a minimum 40% ABV when bottled. If an age statement is used, that must denote the age of the youngest spirit in the bottle, while the whisky must be bottled in Scotland.

The Scotch Whisky Regulations of 2009 defined both five production styles and five regions where Scotch is made: Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside, Campbeltown, and Islay.

Scotch whisky is the biggest whisky category in the world. Johnnie Walker is the single biggest-selling whisky brand, while there are currently 151 operating Scotch Whisky distilleries across Scotland (as of May 2024). The number of Scotch whisky brands is impossible to truly calculate, so large is the variety out there, and the Scotch Whisky Association says that 43 bottles (70cl @40% ABV) of Scotch whisky are shipped from Scotland to over 160 markets around the world each second, totalling over 1.35bn every year.

The future of Scotch whisky

This is a subject well covered before, so let’s go somewhere more interesting with the topic. Recently we attended the launch for the third edition of Dave Broom’s The World Atlas of Whisky. As you can imagine, it’s a fascinating breakdown of our ever-expanding, evolving world of whisky, going beyond technical definitions and recommendations to understand and attempt to define what is happening in the places where whisky is made and what could be to come. 

For Scotch whisky, there are many questions. Broom describes twenty-first-century Scotch as “a complex beast”. While it remains the biggest global player, it’s now facing the reality that many other countries in the world are not only making whiskey but doing so to a high standard. “Scotch no longer has the world to itself, rather it is feeling the hot breath of its competitors on its neck,” Broom says, not as a warning. It is a challenge, but one that gives Scotch whisky something to rise to. 

Broom takes us through a brief history of the 20th century, detailing how Scotch was able to ride the turbulence of the early part of the century to emerge ahead of American and Irish whiskey. “The world wanted whiskey and Scotland delivered,” Broom says, but in a need to satisfy demand and other commercial pressure, efficiency became the driver of production, not flavour. High-yielding barely varieties, centralised maltings, the removal of the old-school worm tubs for shell-and-tube condensers, the move away from direct-fire stills, shorter fermentations – these were choices taken in the name of productivity and Broom does not judge them, they worked then for Scotch, giving it the foothold required to ensure the people’s glasses were filled with the water of life. 

What is Scotch whisky… and what can it be?

But the whisky world is changing. That’s very much the reason why we even need a third edition of this book. Broom joked that it was an impossible task to truly finish such a work. No sooner do you send the final edits to the publishers, do you get an email revealing the construction of a single malt distillery in Argentina. But diversity is not the only strength of the new whisky world. He revels in the notion that the planet’s new distillers proudly and rightly choose to not make Scotch, but whiskies that reflect location, culture, and personality.

The consequence, however, is an existential crisis for Scotland’s distillers. There are new voices, flavours, and approaches all with their own compelling stories. Scotch can be in danger of being trapped within its own mythos and believing that being the biggest makes it immune to competition. Broom warns that positioning the category towards luxury cannot be the sole solution, as Scotch wasn’t built by luxury brands but by blends that offered a reward to all people and luxury can be shallow, all packaging and opaque messaging with little justification for the price tag. “Ultimately Scotch has to remain democratic, not elitist,” Broom explains.

But Broom is not down on Scotland’s chances. He quotes Emma Walker, Johnnie Walker’s master blender, and her belief that Scotch has been defined by eras. The 19th century was the Era of Business. The Era of Engineering was the 1920s. The Era of Science started in the 1970s. Now it’s the Era of Freedom. “We know the business we know how to make it, and we know the finer chemistry now we can use all of that to play. This is the shape of 21st-century Scotch.”

Scotch whisky can’t turn its back on the importance of blends and there is a reality that their mass production (with 30m cases of blended Scotch made per annum) means that some distilleries need to stay a more even, efficient course. But there’s is a new wave of dedicated single malt distilleries who are helping pull this giant into the modern age. By exploring the past, adapting old techniques, and adopting new ones, these distilleries are putting flavour above yield. We’ve seen yeast strain experimentation, longer ferments, different types of stills, direct fire, new cask profiles, other cereals such as rye… and a wider shift, from the distillery as a factory of spirit to the centre of the community*. The big players have made notable shifts too. 

New whiskies from a new generation, made with new thinking have created “post-punk whisky making” as Broom has it. He believes Scotch is in a good place because of it. The release of The World Atlas of Whisky (3rd Edition) and its probing nature are a timely reminder that the question – What is Scotch whisky? – isn’t answered simply. 

There are technicalities to meet, histories well-recorded, and only one place it can all happen. But Scotch whisky, by its nature, is never one static product. It evolves, and so we must continue to learn and explore ourselves to keep up. 

*Broom has written extensively about whisky’s sense of place, another book of his on the subject is an essential read – A Sense of Place: A Journey Around Scotland’s Whisky. I’d also recommend you pick up a copy of The World Atlas of Whisky (3rd Edition). And buy some Scotch whisky, for goodness sake. It’s bloody brilliant. 

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