Whisky vs. Whiskey

The word "whisky" is believed to have been coined by the soldiers of King Henry II who invaded Ireland in the 12th century as they struggled to pronounce the native Irish words uisce beatha, meaning "water of life". Over time, the pronunciation changed from "whishkeyba" (an approximation of how the Irish term sounds) to "whisky". The name itself is a Gaelic claque of the Latin phrase aqua vitae, meaning "water of life".

At that time, all types of whisky were spelled without the "e" letter. But around 1870, the reputation of Scottish whisky was very poor as Scottish distilleries flooded the market with cheaper spirits produced using the Coffey still. The Irish and American distilleries adopted the spelling "whiskey", with the extra "e", to distinguish their higher quality product. Today, the spelling whisky (plural whiskies) is generally used for whiskies distilled in Scotland, Wales, Canada, and Japan, while whiskey is used for the spirits distilled in Ireland and America. Even though a 1968 directive of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms specifies "whisky" as the official US spelling, it allows labeling as "whiskey" in deference to tradition and most U.S. producers still use the historical spelling.

In the late Victorian era, Irish whiskey was the world's most popular whisky. "Scotch" is the internationally recognized term for "Scotch whisky" however it is rarely used in Scotland, where blended whisky is generally referred to as "whisky". In many Latin-American countries, whisky (wee-skee) is used as a photographer's cue to smile, supplanting English "cheese". The Uruguayan film Whisky got its name because of this reason.