DramMaster Daily Whisky News — 21 September 2026

By Murray

English Whisky Wins Geographical Indication Status

English whisky has been granted Geographical Indication (GI) status by the UK government, placing it alongside Scotch, Welsh, and Irish whiskies as a legally protected category. The approval was announced on 11 September after a six-year campaign led by the English Whisky Guild (EWG), founded in 2022.

There are now more than 70 distilleries producing English whisky, up from 46 in 2023. Maturing stocks in casks are estimated at around £1 billion, with exports to more than 30 countries.

The specification requires English whisky to be made from UK cereal grain and English water, distilled in England at less than 94.8% ABV, matured for a minimum of three years in wooden casks of no more than 700 litres, and bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV. Plain caramel is the only permitted additive. Two subcategories are defined: Malt English Whisky and Grain English Whisky, with Single and Blended prefixes.

The spec differs from Scotch in two key ways. It requires 100% UK-grown grain, which Scotch does not. But it allows any wooden casks (not just oak), modern still designs, and brewery collaboration for mashing and fermentation while still using the single malt label. The Scotch Whisky Association objected during consultation, calling the flexibility "very damaging" to the reputation of UK single malts. The EWG pointed to the category's roots, when Hicks and Healey used wort from St Austell Brewery to lay down England's first modern whisky in 2003. The full specification publishes 1 October 2026.

Murray's take: This is the biggest legal milestone for English whisky since the category began. The 70-plus distilleries and £1 billion in maturing stock tell you this is not a cottage industry anymore. The SWA's objection was predictable, but the brewery fermentation flexibility is not a loophole. It is how English whisky started. The requirement for 100% UK grain is actually stricter than Scotch on that point. The real test comes 1 October when the full spec lands and producers see what they need to change to qualify.

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NYISC 2026: Eight Single Malts Earn Double Gold

The New York International Spirits Competition has announced its 2026 results, and eight single malt Scotch whiskies earned Double Gold with 96 points each. The competition is judged entirely by trade buyers, who taste blind and assess each entry by category and price. A Double Gold requires a unanimous panel decision.

The winners span £30 to £481 across Speyside, Highland, and Islay. Glen Moray Chardonnay Cask Finish took the under-$40 slot, the only winner at that price. Glenmorangie The Original 12 Years Old, whose age statement was raised from 10 to 12 in July 2024, won the 11-20 year Highland category. Ardbeg Ten Years Old took Islay under-10, matured at 50 ppm peat and bottled at 46% ABV without chill filtration.

Lagavulin 11 Years Old Sweet Peat, released in the US in February 2026 as Lagavulin's first permanent addition in nine years, won the Islay up-to-10 category. All 11 years are spent in first-fill American oak ex-bourbon casks at 43% ABV. Glenfiddich 14 Year Old Bourbon Barrel Reserve won Speyside 11-20, finished in charred new American oak from The Kelvin Cooperage in Louisville. Nc'nean Huntress Malted Teacake, a limited edition of 4,391 bottles at 48.5% ABV, took Highland under-10. The Glen Grant 18 Years Old won the 11-20 UK category. Glenmorangie The Altus 25 Years Old, a permanent range addition from August 2025, took the 25-plus category.

Murray's take: A £30 Glen Moray sitting alongside a £481 Glenmorangie 25 on the same winners list is the point of trade-buyer judging. These are people buying for their bars and shelves, not scoring for a magazine. The Lagavulin Sweet Peat win matters most for what it signals: Diageo putting a permanent Lagavulin release into the US market after nine years and having it validated by trade buyers within months. Nc'nean at 4,391 bottles shows limited production can compete with flagships when the liquid holds up.

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Rosemaund Farm Distillery 10 Year Old: English Whisky from Herefordshire Orchards

Rosemaund Farm Distillery has released its first 10 Year Old English single malt, distilled among apple orchards on the family farm in Herefordshire. Made with Maris Otter barley and limited to 2,700 bottles, it is priced at $170.

Reviewer Phil Dwyer rated it 7 out of 10. The nose offers fresh shortbread, caramel sauce, milk chocolate, orange pith, and raspberry. The palate is fruit-driven: orange, rhubarb, and peach, with black tea, liquorice, and ginger notes that Dwyer compared to the first sip of an Old Fashioned. The finish leans into earthy bitterness with red chilli, coriander seeds, gentian root, and white pepper.

Dwyer's reservation was the price. He noted that other English whisky brands offer similar flavour profiles for about half the cost, and while the whisky is interesting, he did not see collectors rushing to add it despite it being a strong summer pour.

Murray's take: A 10 Year Old from an English farm distillery, made from Maris Otter, limited to 2,700 bottles, and tasting like an Old Fashioned. The liquid is genuinely interesting. The price is the problem. $170 for a first release from a distillery most drinkers have not heard of is a big ask when English whisky's GI was just granted and the category is still building credibility. A 7 is an honest score. The right move for Rosemaund is to let this release establish the distillery's character, then bring the price down on the next expression.

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WhistlePig Boss Hog XIII: Ancient Egypt Meets Vermont Rye

WhistlePig has released the 13th edition of its Boss Hog rye whiskey series: the Golden Pharaoh. Head blender Meghan Ireland discovered a tiger nut cake recipe carved into an Egyptian tomb dating back nearly 3,000 years. Two key ingredients were Egyptian black honey, a type of sugarcane molasses, and tiger nuts, edible tubers that taste like almonds or coconut.

The team made a liqueur from ground tiger nuts rested in rye whiskey, sweetened with black honey. They filled ex-rye casks with the liqueur and let them sit for four weeks. The casks were emptied and mature rye whiskey was placed inside for eight weeks of secondary maturation.

Robb Report's Jonah Flicker scored it 95, noting brown sugar, molasses, honey, and toasted almond on the palate alongside baking spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. The rye's core identity of vanilla, maple, black pepper, and oak held through the finish. Single barrel proof ranges from 102.6 to 105.6. Suggested retail price is $600.

Murray's take: WhistlePig's Boss Hog series has always pushed the cask finish into strange territory, and a 3,000-year-old Egyptian recipe is as strange as it gets. What makes this work, according to Flicker's review, is that the finish enhances rather than overwhelms the rye. At $600 it is priced for collectors, and the gold topper bottles will be even scarcer. The tiger nut and black honey process is genuinely novel. Whether anyone else will copy it is another question. This is the kind of experiment that justifies the Boss Hog series existing at all.

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Radico Khaitan's Rampur Single Malt: Building Indian Whisky for the World

Radico Khaitan's chief marketing officer Kunal Madan has outlined the company's strategy to position Indian whisky as a global luxury category, in an interview with Storyboard18. The company launched Rampur Indian Single Malt roughly a decade ago, when the challenge was not just selling premium Indian whisky but explaining that India produced whisky at all.

Madan said the early years required masterclasses, brand advocacy, and awards to establish credibility. The company has since shifted to what he calls "liquid to lips" — letting the product do the talking. Rampur's portfolio includes Asava, which is finished in an Indian wine cask after initial maturation in American bourbon casks.

Radico Khaitan is now present in more than 100 export markets and 60 duty-free or travel-retail markets. The Indian consumer has become more receptive to premium spirits, Madan said, and the company is increasingly confident launching products domestically rather than internationally first.

Beyond whisky, the premium portfolio includes Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin with 11 botanicals (seven from India), Kohinoor Rum matured in bourbon, vermouth, and cognac casks, and Sangam, a world malt combining Indian and overseas malt.

Murray's take: Indian single malt has moved past the "does India make whisky?" stage and into the provenance argument. Rampur using Indian wine cask finishes is the right kind of story — it ties the product to a place rather than borrowing someone else's cask heritage. The 100-plus export market footprint matters because Indian whisky's credibility was built outside India first. The domestic market catching up is the inflection point. The question for Radico Khaitan is whether Rampur can hold its price position as more Indian distilleries enter the single malt space. Right now, being early is the advantage.

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