Producing Single Malt Welsh Whisky

Find out about applying for the Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme, how to submit brand information, fees and making sure your production process is compliant.

If your business is involved in the production or marketing of Single Malt Welsh Whisky, this guidance will help you find out:

The glossary of terms at the end of this guidance will help you understand some of the terms and abbreviations used.

Single Malt Welsh Whisky is a registered Geographical Indication under retained Regulation 2019/787 which requires products to comply with the specifications of their registered Product Specification.

All Single Malt Welsh Whisky produced in the UK must be verified and comply with the Product Specification for Single Malt Welsh Whisky.

We will:

HMRC’s role does not extend to enforcement, which is carried out by food authorities and port health authorities. Where appropriate and permitted, we will pass relevant information onto the appropriate enforcement authorities.

Unless there is a need to carry out verification on a more frequent basis, or we have agreed a longer period, we will verify producers every 2 years.

The following main pieces of legislation are given in respect of geographical indication for Single Malt Welsh Whisky.

The regulations include:

These provide for the enforcement of the other regulations. Under Regulation 5, HMRC are the designated authority responsible for verifying spirit drinks with a protected geographical indication, and making sure products comply with the Product Specification and enforcement authorities (food authorities and port health authorities) are designated under Regulation 6.

The Spirit Drinks (Costs of Verification) Regulations 2013 also applies, providing the legal basis for HMRC’s verification schemes and enabling HMRC to charge a fee in order to recover its verification costs.

You should apply for the Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme if you carry out any of the following production processes for Single Malt Welsh Whisky in Wales:

Single Malt Welsh Whisky producers should select ‘Other Geographical Indicators’ on this form, and type in the appropriate product.

When completing the production processes section of the form, producers carrying out mashing or brewing should select ‘other (please specify)’ and type in mashing or brewing.

Transitional arrangements will be introduced to cover producers who are already in operation when the Product Specification was issued to Defra or started operation shortly after. Subject to those transitional arrangements, producers who do not have their processes assured, or whose products have not been verified by HMRC, cannot legally produce or market their product as Single Malt Welsh Whisky.

Any Single Malt Welsh Whisky producers in operation on 13 August 2021 (when the GI application was submitted), or who commenced production before 21 August 2023 (scheme launch date) will be treated as being verified until 21 August 2024 provided that:

If you start a new business after 21 August 2023, you must apply for verification before you start production as you will only be treated as having verified production processes after those processes have been verified by HMRC as compliant with the Product Specification. However, if the production facility is found to be compliant, HMRC may back-date the verification to the date the application for verification was received. New production facilities should therefore apply for verification before commencing operations.

Whilst the online application form is being updated to include Welsh language, customers can contact the Spirit Drinks Verification Unit (read section: More information) if they require a Welsh language version of the application form.

Once your product has been verified under the scheme, verified bottlers should submit brand information.

If you are a brand owner, and someone else produces or bottles and labels your brand, you do not need to apply for verification. The bottler is responsible for applying for verification and notifying us of your brands.

Verification is required for Single Malt Welsh Whisky being bottled for the first time, or being re-bottled or re-labelled, or both.

Re-labelling is a verifiable process which comes under the verification for bottling and labelling or labelling only. If you carry out this process and are not already verified for bottling and labelling or labelling only, you should apply for verification.

Bottlers and labellers should apply for verification and demonstrate compliance of their processes with the specifications in the Single Malt Welsh Whisky Product Specification in the same way as any other Single Malt Welsh Whisky producer or processor. If these processes are not assured, the final bottled or labelled product cannot be verified and cannot be marketed legally.

Examples of re-labelling or re-bottling which require verification include:

Bottling and labelling including re-bottling and re-labelling can only occur in Wales.

If you are a Single Malt Welsh Whisky producer, you’ll have to pay a standard verification fee before your verification visit.

You’ll need to pay:

Each premise where a production process takes place requires a separate fee.

HMRC review fees annually and publish any changes in this guidance.

Find out how to pay the verification fee.

HMRC will identify non-compliant production processes, and potentially non-compliant (unverified) brands, either:

If your processes are non-compliant, the Spirit Drinks Verification Unit will discuss with you how you can make your processes compliant. HMRC will agree a reasonable period of correction to make your processes compliant. This time will normally be proposed by the Spirit Drinks Verification Unit and agreed with you.

If you do not take corrective action during this agreed period to comply, HMRC will amend, remove from, or not include, your details on the look-up service.

If a production process loses its assured status, any spirits produced afterwards will not be verified and cannot be sold as Single Malt Welsh Whisky. You should ensure your customers are aware of this, so that they can make alternative supply arrangements.

HMRC may also:

Non-compliance could also result in breaches of local laws in countries where Single Malt Welsh Whisky is defined or protected as a Geographical Indication.

We will not publish details of production facilities or brands when:

Where a production facility is not published as having assured processes, this will compromise all brands using processes at that production facility.

If a production facility does not maintain assurance of its production processes, or a brand does not maintain its verified status, the effective date of that change of status will be shown in the details published on the look-up service, rather than details being removed or not published.

Non-compliant products sold, delivered from the production facility or subject to a subsequent production process will not be verified as Single Malt Welsh Whisky. These products cannot legally be sold as Single Malt Welsh Whisky.

If a process stops to be verified, any product delivered from that production facility on or after the date that verification status is removed will be non-compliant.

You should contact the designated enforcement authorities directly. You can find these through the Food Standards Agency website.

This guidance uses terms which can have different meanings depending on the context. For clarity, the terms below should always be associated with the accompanying definitions.

If you have any queries about your application, would like further advice, or need to change your details, email the Spirit Drinks Verification Unit at [email protected].

You can also contact HMRC’s Alcohol Policy team either by email at [email protected] or by post at:

HMRC Alcohol Policy Team Trinity Bridge House 2 Dearmans Place Salford M3 5BS United Kingdom