DOES it matter if your favourite Scottish tipple, be it gin, rum or vodka, isn’t actually made in Scotland?

How about if the ingredients that give it its distinct taste, be they sea kelp or heather, hail from our shores, but the spirit itself does not?

These are the questions the gin industry has been grappling with after the number of producers claiming Scottish provenance exploded in the last few years.

Now, with producers beginning to branch out into other spirits too, the need to protect the industry – and the people paying premium prices for what they believe are premium products – is apparent.

Having set up the Scottish Gin Society two years ago, businessman Stephen White is leading the charge and has already held talks with other interested parties about the potential for creating a body that covers all non-whisky spirits.

The consumer angle will be key, with no one wanting customers to be duped into buying something that is not what they thought it was, but the main impetus for the mooted Scottish Spirits Society is to protect those who actually make the drinks.

In much the same way as the Scotch Whisky Association ensures that only whiskies distilled in Scotland can call themselves Scotch, the aim is to come up with specific criteria for the makers of other Scottish spirits to adhere to.

The move may not prove popular with everyone, but with the boom in Scottish gin production starting to reach bubble proportions, it could be just the tonic this nascent segment of the drinks industry needs.