A 20 year old - and seemingly long forgotten - agreement between Canada and the EU has recently come into force, introducing a law that spells trouble for European producers of rye whisky.
The law will be enforced from 1st April 2025. Unfortunately for producers and fans of rye whisky, this is no cruel April Fools joke.
The 2004 agreement essentially prevents EU-based distillers from labelling their whisky as ‘rye whisky’. It was originally intended to protect Canadian whisky makers, though rather ironically it seems Canadian producers and politicians had forgotten about the agreement as well.
Even more ironically, a historical quirk in Canadian spirit producing rules mean that a Canadian whisky can be called a rye whisky even if it doesn’t include any rye in the recipe. This is in contrast with pretty much the rest of the world, where rye-grain usually makes up at least half the mash bill in a rye whisky.
When the deal was signed, the production of rye whisky on the continent was virtually non-existent. However, in the years since many distillers - such as Stauning and Thy in Denmark, Kyrö in Finland, and Stork in Germany - have established their brand on the back of producing rye whisky.
European whisky makers have understandably reacted negatively to the news.
Stauning have released a comprehensive statement on their website, calling the enforcement of the trade deal “completely crazy.” The distillery have won a multitude of awards for their rye whisky, and this legislation could prove to be a real threat to their ability to continue doing so.
Their statement goes on to suggest that a better idea would be to “protect the terroir, not the ingredients.” Indeed, this would be in line with the more common rules defining what a can or can’t be called whisky in different countries.
Alex Munch, CMO and co-founder of Stauning Whisky, said: "We are, of course, quite frustrated that a huge mistake has been made in the EU concluding this agreement. Rye, being a raw material used for whiskies in several different countries, should not be trademarked in the EU. Protecting the use of the raw material is a bit like saying that outside of France you can’t use the word 'grape' or 'wine' in your product description.”
He continued: “It's perfectly fine to protect 'Canadian Rye' – that makes sense. We also dream of protecting 'Danish Whisky' in the future. Typically, you protect a specific production method or the region where it’s produced. But the agreement in its current form doesn’t make any sense.”
Rye has a significant place in the Danish culinary tradition and it would be a shame for whisky producers to be unable to capitalise on this heritage. As such, Munch and the Stauning team plan to encourage the Danish government to take up the matter with the EU.
Munch states that Stauning will of course comply with EU naming restrictions. As such, the brand has already primed a ‘Censored’ rye whisky for release.
Elsewhere, Kyrö humorously described the news as “outryegeous” on social media. The distillery have been producing rye whisky since 2014, and in the same post they rue the fact that they have also faced difficulty in branding some of their products as ‘single malt.’
Kyrö are yet to announce their next steps following the EU announcement. The conclude their post by saying that for now “So, we did what we had to do: Reposition ourselves as the whisky born in a sauna.”
Jasmin Haider-Stadler, from Haider Distillery - who have been producing rye whisky in Austria for over 30 years - and chairwoman of the Austrian Whisky Association also vows to fight against the legislation.
She said: “we won't let anyone take away this piece of whisky history – or our tradition… It’s time to define European rye whisky and not let it perish under an agreement that is unjustified.”
In neighbouring Germany, Stork Club’s Bastian Heuser called the rules “absurd”, paying particular attention to the apparent hypocrisy that the Canadian whisky rules for what allows a rye whisky to be called as such are significantly more lax than the laws facing EU producers.
It certainly feels as if the legislation in its current form is unnecessarily restrictive. In the two decades since it was signed, rye whisky has become a corner stone of the wider European whisky industry. The rules as they stand are outdated, and hopefully this is something that can be resolved before European producers suffer any negative consequences.
