Contact

Scotch Authority exists as a reference resource — a place to settle arguments, start rabbit holes, and figure out what's actually in the glass. When something on the site is unclear, incomplete, or simply wrong, that matters. This page explains how to reach the editorial team, what kinds of questions and submissions get a real response, and what the realistic timeline looks like.

Response expectations

The editorial team reviews incoming messages in batches, not in real time. Most inquiries receive a response within 5 to 7 business days. Distillery-specific questions, requests to correct a factual claim, and licensing or permissions queries are prioritized in that order.

A few things that help move a message to the top of the queue:

1. Cite the specific page. A message that references the Scotch age statements explained page, for instance, rather than "something on the site about age," gets addressed faster — there's no search step required.
2. Include the specific claim in question. Quoting the sentence or statistic that seems off takes 30 seconds and saves the editorial team considerably more than that.
3. State the correction and its source. The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 are publicly available through UK legislation archives. If a claim conflicts with that document or with a Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) technical bulletin, naming the source makes the correction actionable.

What does not receive responses: requests for purchasing advice, recommendations for specific bottles, and questions that are already answered in the Scotch frequently asked questions section. That resource covers the 40 most common questions about production, labeling, regions, and buying — checking there first is nearly always faster than waiting for a reply.

Additional contact options

Most substantive questions about Scotch — how peat levels are measured, why a distillery changed its age statement, what "natural colour" actually means on a label — are already addressed somewhere in the site's reference pages. The Scotch labeling terms glossary and the scotch regulations and legal standards page together resolve the majority of terminology and compliance questions.

For producers, importers, and distributors with specific corrections related to how a brand or expression is described, the editorial review process applies the same standard as any other correction: the claim in question, the correct information, and a named source. Anonymous tips without supporting documentation are not actionable, regardless of intent.

Press and republication inquiries follow a separate track. Content on Scotch Authority is written for reference use; syndication or wholesale reproduction requires written agreement. Quoting short passages with attribution and a link to the source page is standard fair use and does not require approval.

How to reach this office

Correspondence can be directed to the editorial team using the contact form on this page. The form routes to a monitored inbox — not an autoresponder, not a ticketing system that generates case numbers and then goes quiet. A human reads it.

The two categories that warrant direct contact over the form:

• Factual corrections — If a specific claim on any page conflicts with official documentation from the Scotch Whisky Association, HMRC, or the UK Food Standards Agency, the editorial team wants to know. The site's credibility depends on that feedback loop being functional.
• Licensing and reproduction — Original content, data presentations, and comparative frameworks produced for this site are editorial works. Inquiries about licensing them for commercial use should describe the intended use case clearly.

What the contact form is not: a recommendation engine, a venue for settling bets, or a substitute for the how to taste scotch page, which handles sensory and technique questions with considerably more depth than any email exchange could.

Service area covered

Scotch Authority is editorially based in the United States and written primarily for a US-based readership, though the subject matter is resolutely Scottish and the regulatory framework it describes — particularly the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 — is UK law. The site covers all 5 protected Scotch whisky regions: Speyside, Islay, Highland, Lowland, and Campbeltown.

Coverage extends across the 5 legally defined Scotch whisky categories — single malt, blended Scotch, single grain, blended malt, and cask strength expressions — as well as the full chain from production through maturation to import into the US market.

The editorial scope does not extend to other whisky categories. Questions about bourbon, Irish whiskey, or Japanese whisky fall outside the remit — though the scotch vs bourbon and scotch vs Irish whiskey comparison pages do address those distinctions where they illuminate something specific about Scotch. Questions about those other categories in isolation will not receive editorial responses.

Geographically, the editorial team does not maintain a physical storefront, tasting room, or retail presence. The site is a reference property — text, data, and sourced analysis, not a commercial operation selling bottles or memberships. The distinction matters because a meaningful portion of incoming mail asks about purchasing, availability, and pricing in a way that implies the site has inventory. It does not. The scotch price tiers explained page covers what different spending thresholds actually get a buyer, which is the closest the site comes to that territory.