A Canadian whisky has to surrender its name as part of the ongoing battle to protect the name of Scotch whisky. A court has decided that Glen Breton, the only single malt whisky produced in Canada, has to drop the "glen" part of the name because it might fool people into thinking the brand is Scotch whisky. Scottish brands often have names such as with a "glen" in the title such as Glenfiddich, Glenlivet or Glenmorangie.

As you might imagine, the Scotch Whisky Association is thrilled with the ruling of the Canadian Federal Court which refused to register the "Glen Breton" trademark. They produced evidence in the form of instances of Glen Breton being described as Scotch whisky in retail outlets, menus, newspaper articles and websites. The distillers on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia will be appealing the decision. You can't really accuse the company of being deceptive, it's says Canadian right on the bottle and the large maple leaf on the label should be a clue as to origin.

I've been hearing more and more about whiskies aged in a variety of wine or bourbon barrels resulting in new fruitier and more nuanced tastes. The Cape Breton-based Glenora Distillery has launched a new whisky called Glen Breton Ice which is the first single malt aged in an ice wine barrels. Glenora sold around 150 bottles at their distillery, the only only single malt whisky distillery in Canada, this summer. The company got the idea to age their whisky in an ice wine barrel by an Asian client (makes sense given the Asian love of ice wine). Glenora received their ice wine barrels from the Jost Winery, in Nova Scotia. Glen Breton Ice will be available in selected Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. stores for $49.95 for a 250 ml bottle but good luck finding it elsewhere.