# Why are so many Scotches called "The \[blank\]"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-scotches-called-the-blank/584905>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 9, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-scotches-called-the-blank/584905 "2011-06-09T20:40:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-scotches-called-the-blank/584905/1 "2011-06-09T20:40:31Z")

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The Macallan. The Glenlivet. The Balvenie. I’m sure there’s more…

It’s just Scotch – there’s no such thing as The Stolichnaya or The Patron.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-scotches-called-the-blank/584905/2 "2011-06-09T20:52:48Z")

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Scottish clan chiefs and lairds were often referred to as eg “The” MacGregor, of (Clan) MacGregor. I guess the whiskies use this as some sort of faux-authenticity thing.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-scotches-called-the-blank/584905/3 "2011-06-09T21:13:16Z")

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As far as Glenlivet is concerned, it dates back to a copyright fight over the name. The original distillery started calling themselves The Glenlivet, and other distilleries were permitted to use the term only as a hyphenated name (Glen Moray-Glenlivet). My guess is the others (there are only 5 by my count) copied the phrasing when they founded their distilleries.

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-so-many-scotches-called-the-blank/584905/4 "2011-06-09T21:16:47Z")

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I checked the Wikipedia article for Glenlivet, and found a historical reason why the product is marketed as “_The_ Glenlivet”:

> [@](#):
>
> The quality of the product from their distillery had resulted in the other distilleries in the area renaming their products to “Glenlivet” and by the time of George’s death, several distillers were doing so. J.G. Smith decided to take legal action and tried to claim ownership on _The Glenlivet_ name

It seems to imply that the Smiths tacked on “The” at this time to distinguish their product from that of other local distillers.