Strength of Scotch gets its measure

The European Court of Justice has sprung to the defence of the whisky drinker and - one must presume - the whiskey drinker, by ruling that whisky must contain a minimum alcoholic strength of 40 per cent.

The case arose from a complaint by the Scotch Whisky Association at the sale in Paris by several retailers of a drink called Gold River on the same shelves as whiskies. Gold River bears the description "blended whisky spirit" and a strength of 30 per cent.

The ECJ was ruling on a point of law referred to it by the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance which had asked for a clarification of a Council of Ministers regulation setting out EU rules on the definition, description and presentation of spirit drinks.

The ECJ held that Gold River, produced by the Compagnie Financiere Europeene de Prises de Participation, was a spirit drink within the meaning of the regulation but could not be described as a whisky because it did not meet the minimum 40 per cent requirement.

While the word whisky could appear without qualification in the list of ingredients it could not appear in or near the name under which it is sold, the court ruled.