English Whisky is protected under the UK geographical indication (GI) scheme and is a registered geographical indication under regulation (EU) 2019/787.

You must apply for the Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme for English Whisky in England if you carry out one or more of the following activities:

• mashing, fermentation, distillation, maturation, bottling and labelling
• receive or handle bulk English Whisky before it is placed on the market
• intend to market a product as English Whisky

If you produce English Whisky from 11 November 2026

English Whisky must be verified before it is:

• bottled or labelled for the first time

Examples of re-labelling or re-bottling include:

• decanting into smaller bottles with new labels
• labelling bottles in visitor centres
• re-labelling bottles if the label is damaged or for different markets

If you produce English Whisky in England or bottle, label, market, re-bottle or re-label English Whisky in the UK, you must:

If you produced English Whisky before 11 November 2026

The transitional arrangements mean eligible producers can continue to produce, market and sell spirits as English Whisky while completing the verification process.

During this period, you must meet the product specification, application and fee requirements.

We’ll treat you as being verified under transitional arrangements until 11 May 2028 if you either:

• were already producing English Whisky on 11 February 2022
• started production of English Whisky before 11 November 2026

You must make sure that your production processes meet the product specification. We will check and confirm this during a verification visit.

You must apply for the Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme for each production facility and pay your Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme fee within 90 days of 11 November 2026. If you do not do this you will lose the benefit of the transitional arrangements.

You do not have to use the geographical indication (GI) name English Whisky after verification, but you can choose to use it.

If you use the protected geographical indication English Whisky to produce, market or sell a spirit drink, you must comply with the product specification and verification requirements.

If you are not verified by the end of the transitional period, you must not market or sell any spirit as English Whisky, including stock produced before the verification scheme started.

If you apply outside the transitional arrangements, we may be able to backdate your verification to the date of your application, but this is not guaranteed. We will consider each application on a case-by-case basis.

Verification and checking product specification

You’ll need to apply for the Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme:

• before you start production, if you’re starting to produce English Whisky from 11 November 2026
• within 90 days of 11 November 2026, if you were already producing English Whisky on or before 11 November 2026

When producing English Whisky, you’ll also need to make sure that your production meets the English Whisky product specification and that we’re able to confirm this when we complete a verification visit.

Verification visits

We’ll contact you to arrange a verification visit once you’ve paid your Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme fee. The fee is chargeable for each geographical indication spirit. For example, a facility that bottles English Whisky and Single Malt Welsh Whisky will be charged for both.

Verification visits check that all your production processes comply with the product specification for English Whisky. We’ll only visit production premises in the UK.

A verification visit will include checks on your:

Read the full list of checks we carry out in the English Whisky verification checks (PDF, 230 KB, 26 pages).

How often we’ll need to verify your processes

We verify producers every 2 years. This might change if we:

• need to carry out verification on a more frequent basis
• have agreed a longer period with you

If your production processes are compliant

If we’re satisfied that your processes are compliant, we’ll:

If your production processes are non-compliant

We identify non-compliant production processes by: 

• receiving notifications from other producers 
• using information provided by members of the public

If your processes do not meet the product specification, we will:

• discuss the changes you need to make
• agree a reasonable timeframe for you to make the required changes

If a production process is no longer verified, any product including all affected brands leaving that facility from that date will be non-compliant.

Non-compliant products:

• will not be verified as English Whisky
• cannot be sold as English Whisky
• may not be able to be sold as whisky at all, depending on the circumstances

We do not enforce compliance requirements. This is the responsibility of food authorities and port health authorities.

If we identify a risk of non-compliant product being placed on the market, or non-compliant production processes, we may share information with the relevant enforcement authority so it can take appropriate action.

Contact us

Email the Spirit Drinks Verification Unit at enquiries.sdvs@hmrc.gov.uk if you:

• have any queries about your application
• need to change your details

You can also contact HMRC’s Alcohol Policy team either by email at mailbox.alcoholpolicy@hmrc.gov.uk or by post at: