Spirits

Jan 21, 2014

If it’s not Scottish, it’s crap—at least according to an old Saturday Night Live skit.

In an effort to instill that concept in potentially naive drinkers, the British government is compiling a public register of firms that make Scotch correctly—which is to say, aged in oak casks for at least three years in Scotland.

It’s a page from the playbook of France’s Champagne region, which has been popping the bubbles of imposters for decades. Scotch-making shops could begin signing up for a review of authenticity on Jan. 10; consider it a preemptive strike on a rash of startup distilleries.

Read the entire article at Bloomberg Business Week.