How about the Japanese selling swill and calling it "Scotch" ?
My preference is a smooth 12 year old Scotch but I can sip on a bourbon on occasion.
Lately I've been drinking a sweet, dark rum, must be my taste is changing.
A lot of my friends prefer the Japanese whiskeys - for the record - they are not called Scotch - I’ve purchased a number of them (I prefer Glenlivet, Balvenie, or Macallan personally if I’m not drinking bourbon). They are simply compared to Scotch since they have the same flavor profiles.
Some of the Japanese Scotches are really good. The original couple that learned in Scotland and a couple others. Then there’s the clones. Japan is adding laws on what can and can’t be called Japanese Whisky that should help eyeball the wheat and chaff.
In many cases, they're selling actual scotch and labeling it as "Japanese Whisky". IIRC, some of the big distillers there (Suntory, Nikka, etc.) own a number of distilleries in Scotland. Suntory now owns Jim Beam as well). With few laws in Japan to prevent the questionable labeling, it was a "anything goes" situation. I understand that new Japanese laws passed this year will put the brakes on most of those practices once they go into effect.