Plural of whiskey

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The Plural of Whiskey

Before learning about the plural of whiskey, it is worth learning about the difference between whiskey and whisky. In Scotland, they make Scotch whisky, but in Ireland, they make Irish whiskey.

The plural of whiskey is whiskeys.

• Most Irish whiskeys are distilled from barley that’s dried in kilns.

The plural of whisky is whiskies.

• Most Scotch whiskies are made from barley that’s dried over peat smoke.

The nouns whiskey and whisky adhere to the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English (shown in the table below).

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The Standard Rules for Forming the Plurals

The table below shows the standard rules for forming the plurals of nouns in English.

Type	Example of Type	Forming the Plural	Plural
Most Nouns	lamp scythe	add s	lamps scythes
Noun Ending s, sh, ch, x or z	bus dress	add es	buses dresses
Nouns ending [consonant] o	hero zero tomato	add either s or es (There are no rules for this - you have to know.)	heroes zeros tomatoes
Nouns ending [vowel] o	patio ratio	add s	patios ratios
Nouns ending [consonant] y	whisky penny	change the y to an i and add es	whiskies pennies
Nouns ending [vowel] y	whiskey chimney	add s	whiskeys chimneys
Nouns ending f or fe	dwarf hoof	ves and/or s (There are no rules - you have to know.)	dwarfs hooves or hoofs
Exceptions	man louse	some nouns undergo a vowel or letters change	men lice
More exceptions	salmon sheep	some nouns do not change at all	salmon sheep

Read more about English spelling rules.

Why Is There Confusion over the Plural of whiskey?

Whiskeys is the only way to make the noun whiskey plural and whiskies is the only way to make the noun whisky plural.

Confusion arises because some people don't realise there is a difference between Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey.
Some mistakenly believe all nouns ending in "y" should form a plural ending in "ies". When a noun ends with [vowel] + y, you only need to add an "s" to form the plural.

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