Tensions Rise as Australia’s Whisky Industry Receives Warning from US Over Using ‘Misleading’ Term
Australian whisky producers were called out by the national trade association for US distillers. (Photo: AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Friday that some Australian whisky brands are under scrutiny from the U.S. for using the word “bourbon” in reference to their whiskies. The Australian federal government was subject to a stern talking to from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States about some whisky brands from down under wrongly using the word “bourbon” instead of “whisky.”
According to American law, bourbon must be distilled in the U.S. to be called bourbon.
“We are indeed concerned that consumers may be misled by products improperly labeled as bourbon and whiskey,” Palm Valley Spirits Managing Director Lewis Millward informed The Sydney Morning Herald.
DISCUS first wrote to then-Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in 2020 to raise the issue. The American organization claimed Australian whiskies labeled as “bourbon” violated free trade agreements.
Millward appears to agree with DISCUS. He claimed the confusing labels damage the integrity of Australia’s whisky industry.
A complaint to Australia’s Distillers Association cited brands like Old Number Fifteen Bourbon Whiskey as an example of brands inappropriately using the term reserved for America’s native spirit.
The outlet reported Australia’s whisky industry experienced a boom and jumped from 28 distilleries in 2014 to over 700 in 2024. As production dramatically increased, some producers apparently haven’t been following labeling laws, leading to confusion and an illegal whisky trade.
Australia expressed that it intended to draw out more specific labeling laws in order to protect the country’s reputation and avoid even more confusion with whiskeys from the U.S. The outlet reported that these stricter laws might additionally prevent producers mislabeling whiskies against laws which require the spirit to mature in wood for two years.
The country additionally maintains that it understands integrity of specific labels like scotch whisky, Tennessee whiskey and bourbon. It also claims producers like Old Number Fifteen Bourbon Whiskey, a product made by Melbourne’s Edgemill Group, is simply an isolated case, and that most producers do not fly in the face of these labeling laws.
Australia’s Distillers Association agreed that it did not object to the claims of specific spirits brands that were mentioned in the complaint as violating labeling laws. Though it did claim there weren’t “any adequate forms of recourse available under Australian law.”
The Melbourne business behind Old Number Fifteen Bourbon Whiskey objected to the accusations, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We do not believe that our spirit contravenes US law, as our production process adheres to the legal requirements set forth under the Australia-US free trade agreement,” Edgemill Group’s Managing Director Alex Stavrakoulis said in a statement.
The Australian Distillers Association’s President, Paul Maclea, advocated for an entity to promote spirits from the country and claimed it should also be responsible for regulating the category.
On a similar note, Japan has recently push for labeling standards, which went through in April. The country implemented a set of laws to regulate the country’s booming whisky industry, enforcing that Japanese whiskies are exclusively made in Japan with Japanese ingredients.
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