Why is Maker's Mark whisky and not whiskey?

October 16, 2006 11:07 AM

Why is Maker's Mark labeled whisky and not whiskey?

I thought the absence of the 'e' is only for Scotch Whiskys. Other Bourbons have the e. What gives?

posted by neilkod to food & drink (10 comments total)

It's just a British spelling. The good folks at Maker's Mark are trying to be snooty about their product, which is in all fairness a decent one.
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:13 AM on October 16, 2006

BTW, always check Wikipedia for assistance prior to AskMeFi questions. Their hive mind 'tis bigger than our hive mind.
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:14 AM on October 16, 2006

Scotch Whiskys

Bit of pedantry here, but it's Scotch Whiskies.
posted by matthewr at 11:24 AM on October 16, 2006

From Wikipedia: "A 1968 directive of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives specifies "whisky" as the official U.S. spelling, but allows labeling as "whiskey" in deference to tradition; most U.S. producers still use the latter spelling. . . . International law reserves the term "Scotch whisky" to those whiskies produced in Scotland. Whiskies produced in other countries may not use the terms Scots, Scotch, Scotland, or Scottish. Similar conventions exist for "Irish whiskey", "Canadian whisky", and "bourbon whiskey"."

So according to the ATF, it's "whisky" in the USA, but tradition allows "whiskey." Therefore, Maker's Mark is just following US law. Sort of.
posted by The Michael The at 11:56 AM on October 16, 2006

TMT: Interesting beacuse Maker's Mark is the only American product I've seen (so far) that lacks the e. Do you know of any others?
posted by neilkod at 12:17 PM on October 16, 2006

"whisky": scottish & canadian blends
"whiskey": irish & american blends

Not hard and fast, but generally followed.
posted by Aquaman at 12:53 PM on October 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

According to this article from Whisky Magazine (reproduced on the Maker's Mark website), it is spelled without an 'e' as a tribute to the Scottish-Irish ancestry of the Samuels family. (Bill Samuel Sr started producing Maker's Mark in the 1950s, and the family were distillers before then.)
posted by chrismear at 2:09 PM on October 16, 2006

And almost nobody uses the original spelling (uisge, pronounced "ishka") anymore.
posted by jimfl at 5:54 PM on October 16, 2006

TMT: Interesting beacuse Maker's Mark is the only American product I've seen (so far) that lacks the e. Do you know of any others?

No idea... I drink Scotch and Maker's Mark!


And almost nobody uses the original spelling (uisge, pronounced "ishka") anymore.

Prounounced more like "wishka". And I think I know of 85,000 people that would take offense at being called "almost nobody."
posted by The Michael The at 7:55 PM on October 16, 2006

Prounounced more like "wishka".

Isn't that how everyone says it after a few?
posted by chrismear at 12:27 AM on October 17, 2006