Note the extra "E"
You’ve probably seen it spelled both ways. So which is right? Is it “Whiskey” or “Whisky”? Or is there any difference at all?
Well, the answer is… kind of.
Technically the bonus vowel is added to the Irish and American varieties (whiskey, whiskeys) whereas the ones from Scotland, Whales, Japan and Canada are referred to as “whisky” or “whiskies”.
Until fairly recently the New York Times made no distinction between the two (see this post from 2008), lumping all under the “Whiskey” spelling. Well, you can imagine that there were a number of Scotch drinkers who didn’t find this particularly pleasing, so the Times has since changed their stance on the matter and now their spelling reflects the different categories.
Well, we’re not the New York Times, so for our purposes, we’re going to call it all “whiskey”.
