Rye whiskies from Finland and Germany are selling in British Columbia, while a few stray bottles of Stauning Rye Whisky from Denmark remain at LCBO outlets in Brampton despite breaking a longstanding trade agreement.
According to a 2004 pact with the European Union, only Canadian distilleries can label spirits as rye whisky. That stipulation of the 93-page document governing trade in wines and spirits was overlooked until recently.
Stauning Whisky, which has produced whisky (from rye and barley grown on Denmark’s west coast) since 2015, announced April 1: “A forgotten 20-year-old EU-Canada trade deal now bans us (and many other EU whisky makers) from calling our Rye Whisky… Rye Whisky.” (The Instagram post assures it isn’t an April Fool’s joke “though it might seem so.”)
Alex Munch, chief marketing officer and co-founder of Stauning Whisky, told British trade publication, The Spirits Business: “It’s perfectly fine to protect ‘Canadian rye’ – that makes sense. We also dream of protecting ‘Danish whisky’ in the future. Typically, you protect a specific production method or the region where it is produced.”
Stauning was named The Spirits Business’ whisky brand of the year in 2024, due to the quality of its “award-winning whiskies – including a fantastic rye.”
When the agreement was signed in 2004, European distilleries weren’t producing whisky from rye grains granting protection to Canadian products wasn’t a concern.
The same document protects the term icewine and outlines approved production methods starting with “grapes frozen on the vine” to limit producers from harvesting grapes and putting them in a freezer. It also halted use of geographical indications, such as Chablis, Champagne and Sherry, by Canadian wineries.
Once abused as a generic term for white wine, Chablis is exclusively reserved for the region in France that makes wine from the chardonnay grape. Meanwhile, the name of the chardonnay grape can appear on wine labels where that variety is used to produce wine.
In the wake of more than 200 years of whisky-making tradition, rye has become a longstanding synonym for whisky in this country. It’s used to identify all-rye Canadian whisky as well as one that use a small percentage of rye-based spirit in the blend.
Corn might be the main ingredient for Canadian whisky, but rye grown in Canada becomes a potent spirit following distillation and aging. It’s the tail that wags the dog; a little can make a significant impact on the flavour and character a blended whisky. That’s why Canadian whisky and rye whisky are one in the same.
But when it comes to trademark agreements, where the objective is to protect meaningful terms and prevent misleading customers, rye whisky should be fair game for all.
