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(c) To require a minimum period during which any such spirit
should be matured in bond ; and
(d) To extend any requirements of the kind mentioned in the
two sub-sections immediately preceding to any such spirit imported
into the United Kingdom;
(2) By what means, if it be found desirable that any such restrictions,
declarations, or period should be prescribed, a uniform practice in this
respect may be satisfactorily secured;
and to make the like enquiry and report as regards other kinds of potable
spirits which are manufactured in or imported into the United Kingdom.
With regard to whisky it will be seen from the foregoing that the
prominent questions moving the nomination of the Commission were:—
(1) Whether the application of the term "whisky" should or should
not be restricted to spirit manufactured in pot stills.
(2) Whether the spirit manufactured in patent stills should, either
alone or when mixed with the product of pot stills, be allowed the use
and name "whisky."
(3) Whether restrictions should be placed upon the materials used in
the manufacture of whisky.
On the 24th June, 1908, the Commission presented an Interim Report,
in which they stated they had arrived at the following conclusions:—
(1) That no restrictions should be placed upon the processes of, or
apparatus used in, the distillation of any spirit to which the term
"whisky" may be applied as a trade description.
(2) That the term "whisky" having been recognised in the past as
applicable to a potable spirit manufactured from (1) malt or (2) malt and
unmalted barley or other cereals, the application of the term "whisky"
should not be denied to the product manufactured from such materials.
The final Report of the Commission, dated 28th July, 1909, states that in
the opinion of the Commission the use of the terms "Scotch" and "Irish"
as applied to whisky cannot be denied to any whisky distilled in Scotland and
Ireland respectively. This Report also states that the general conclusion of
the Commission on this part of their enquiry is that "whisky" is a spirit
obtained by distillation from a mash of cereal grains saccharified by the
diastase of malt; that "Scotch whisky" is whisky as above defined distilled
in Scotland, and that "Irish whisky" is whisky as above defined distilled in
Ireland.
From the tenor of the Report the Commission appear to have been
influenced by a desire not to publish conclusions that might lead to any