Sir, – The recent article in your newspaper regarding the labelling of Irish whiskey raises further issues about the use of location labelling in this industry ("Mislabelling of whiskey products could damage industry, says Irish Whiskey Association", Business, August 27th).
In Scotland, it is illegal to use a locality or regional geographical name in relation to a Scotch whisky which has not been distilled in the locality or region in question.
There are many whiskey brands already in existence in Ireland which consist solely of a bought-in whiskey labelled with a well-known Irish locality, falsely implying that the product has its origin in that locality.
As well as being abuses of the essential concept of provenance in Irish whiskey, these are also abuses of important tourism brands. Irish law needs to replicate the Scottish regulations. – Yours, etc,
AIDAN FORDE,
Director,
Torc Brewing Ltd,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.