It's "...creamy with a good flow of toasty wood, almond, caramel and just the subtle suggestion of charcoal and earthy peat", but it can no longer claim to keep the company of Glenfiddich, Glenlivet or Glenmorangie.

A court has ruled that Glen Breton whisky is going to have to drop the "glen" because it makes people think they are buying a whisky produced in Scotland.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) yesterday welcomed the Canadian Federal Court decision to refuse to register the "Glen Breton" trademark, for the only single malt whisky produced in Canada. But the distillers on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia are determined to appeal.

Evidence filed by the SWA included over 30 instances of Glen Breton being wrongly described in Canada as Scotch whisky, with examples of confusion found in retail outlets, newspaper articles, price lists, menus and websites.

The Canadian Federal Court found that "the trade is confused" by the trademark, that Glen Breton was often listed as "single malt Scotch" and that "the ultimate consumer who thought he or she was ordering a new Scottish single malt would never know that something else was served".