Have you ever noticed that there are two different spellings for whiskey? To be honest I didn't think much about it until I began working on a book about all the whiskey distilleries in the world. As I researched distilleries across Africa, Asia, Australia, and continental Europe I noticed that none of them spelled whisky with an e. I began searching for an answer to why some producers of aged grain spirits spell its name with and e and some spell it without and why this difference is largely bound by geography.

What I found instead was an internet controversy about what spelling was “correct” and when each should or shouldn't be used.