In the world of alcoholic beverages, there are countless liquids that adhere to regional designations. Bourbon must come from the U.S., Cachaça has to be made in Brazil, and sparkling wine produced outside Champagne can’t be called Champagne. While these monikers aren’t necessarily indicative of quality, they function as seals of authenticity to let customers know when they’re buying the real McCoy.
The same rule applies to Scotch, the official spirit of Scotland. That said, there are a number of words that are inextricably tied to the Scotch vernacular, such as “Highland” and “Glen,” the latter of which is Gaelic for “valley.” The rivers within many of Scotland’s valleys are used as the primary water sources for Scotch production, so many distilleries pay homage to their respective rivers by adopting the names of these Glens. For instance, The Glenlivet distillery’s title is an ode to “the valley of the Livet river” in Speyside where the distillery gets its water. Similarly, the Glenfiddich distillery is located in the Glen of the River Fiddich.
Although it’s intrinsically linked to the production of some Scotches, it might seem like a stretch that this word is legally protected — especially when it doesn’t relate to a specifically demarcated area (like a DOC) or product (bourbon). But that has been the case since 2022, and one particular German brand got caught in the crossfire.
A ‘Tal’ Order
In 2013, Germany’s Waldhorn Distillery, a.k.a. Waldhornbrennerei, released a single malt whisky dubbed Glen Buchenbach. The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) immediately took the distillery to court on the grounds that using the word “Glen” would mislead customers into thinking that the German whisky is actually Scotch.
According to Scottish publication “The National,” an advocate from the EU initially sided with the distillery, but when the case was presented to a Hamburg court in 2019, the court ruled that the distillery must change the product’s name. Waldhornbrennerei, however, still wasn’t having it. At the time, the distillery’s website claimed that the whisky was named after Buchenbachtal, “tal” being the German word for “valley” and “Buchenbach” the words for “Black Forest.” While it may have been geographically accurate, it doesn’t explain why a German distillery would use a Gaelic word in its branding.
Nonetheless, Waldhornbrennerei disputed the 2019 ruling, and the case was sent to the Hanseatic higher regional court. But to no avail; in February 2022, the distillery officially dropped “Glen” from its whisky’s name.
“Our case against Glen Buchenbach presented clear and compelling evidence to the court that ‘Glen’ is strongly associated with Scotland and Scotch Whisky, and the only reason to use ‘Glen’ for a German whisky is because of its undoubted association with Scotch Whisky,” SWA director of legal affairs Alan Park said in a 2022 statement. “The SWA has consistently taken action in our global markets to prevent the use of Scottish indications of origin on whisky which is not Scotch Whisky.”
The SWA Doesn’t Play
True to Park’s word, this isn’t the only time in recent years that the SWA has cracked down on non-Scottish brands for Scotch-associated words and imagery in their branding. In 2019, the trade association filed a lawsuit against the Virginia Distillery Co. for putting “Virginia-Highland” on the labels of its blended whiskies made with domestic malt whisky and Scotch imported from overseas, claiming that “United States Federal regulations specifically forbid the use of words commonly associated with Scotland to designate any product not wholly produced in Scotland.” Unlike Waldhornbrennerei, the Virginia Distillery Co. was quick to oblige and drop “Highland” from its labels.
Surprisingly, these cases represent just another day in the life of the SWA staff. While the Waldhornbrennerei and Virginia Distillery Co. cases received a fair amount of press, a BBC article from May 2015 reported that the association had “60 to 70 active legal cases in 30 different countries, as well as about 300 trademark oppositions in upwards of 20 nations” at the time of the article’s publication.
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but when money and a coveted spirit’s reputation are on the line, the SWA — perhaps understandably — doesn’t play around. Let’s just hope they don’t come after “the” anytime soon.
*Image retrieved from barmalini via stock.adobe.com
The article Why International Distillers Can’t Use ‘Glen’ in Their Whisky Names appeared first on VinePair.