A Taxonomy of Scotch
| KINGDOM: | Alcoholic Drinks |
| ORDER: | Distilled Beverages (as Opposed to Fermented Beverages) |
| FAMILY: | WHISKY (Not vodka, brandy, rum etc.) |
| GENUS: | SCOTCH (Not Irish, American, Japanese etc.) |
| SPECIES: | SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY |
| the product of an individual malt whisky distillery | |
| BLENDED MALT SCOTCH WHISKY | |
| a mix of malt whiskies from more than one distillery | |
| SINGLE GRAIN SCOTCH WHISKY | |
| the product of an individual grain whisky distillery | |
| BLENDED GRAIN SCOTCH WHISKY | |
| a mix of grain whiskies from more than one distillery | |
| BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY | |
| a mix of malt and grain whiskies | |
| GEOGRAPHICAL VARIETIES: | Under the proposed legislation, only the five ‘traditional regional names’ – ‘Highland’, ‘Lowland’, ‘Speyside’, ‘Campbeltown’ and ‘Islay’ – may be used |
| MONO-SPECIFIC VARIETIES: | ‘Cask Strength’ and ‘Non chill-filtered’ |