Can the French really take Scotland's whisky crown?

And there is a conviction that the French will soon be making the finest malts too.

One distillery even has a Scottish sounding name. The Glann ar Mor distillery based in Brittany produces the Gaelic-sounding Taol Esa.

Nicolas Julhès, the head of the Distillerie de Paris said: "Within 15 years the world's best whiskies will be French. We will be able to stop copying the Scots to bring a real French style. We have the greatest specialists on the ageing (of alcoholic drinks) who have always worked in wine and cognac."

Recent government figures have revealed a growing demand for Scottish produce among the French, largely driven by a growing taste for our national drink.

Exports of whisky have risen by over 50 per cent since 2007, standing at £445 million for 2004 and bucking a worldwide trend that saw a slight fall in demand compared to the previous 12 months.

The rise makes France the top European destination for Scottish food and drink exports and Scotland’s second largest food and drink exports market in the world, behind only the United States.

But the French claims get short-shrift from leading whisky expert Dr David Wishart, who joked: "So the world's best champagne will be English?"

Dr David Wishart (above), a retired researcher once attached to the University of St Andrews who published Whisky Classified, recognised as a definitive guide to tasting malt whisky tasting said: "I don't think they can challenge Scotland."

He said at whisky tastings he frequently tells people that the French drink more Scotch whisky in one month than they drink cognac in a year.

"There is no such thing as territory for whisky, the way there is for wine," he said. "You can buy barley from anywhere.

"Some distilleries say that their water is unique, but I don't go for that. It varies considerably in its hardness. It's soft water in Speyside and very hard water on Orkney and up the east coast of Scotland. The French could probably make whisky very well, but Scotland's distilleries have hundreds of years experience of making whisky, and I cannot see them being overtaken.

"They have perfected the process, and the way of making whisky has been handed down from one generation to the next."

Rosemary Gallagher of the Scotch Whisky Association was happy to see the interest in whisky expanding, but pointed out Scotch remains the whisky of choice globally.

She added: "Immitation seems to be a form of flattery. It's nice they hold us in such high esteem.

"Scotch has been there for many centuries, we have more than 500 years experience of making whisky. It is an attractive product; people love its tradition, its provenance and the fact there is so many different types."

The first French whisky was produced in Brittany by the Dikansky distillery from Antrain. In the early 1970s they introduced the Le Biniou - a blend of Scottish malt whisky and grain whisky distilled.

While the French whisky manufacturing industry in 2016 is small with a capacity of no more than 700,000 bottles a year, it is said to be rising in quality and quantity.

According to Bonial, the average whisky consumption by a French adult is 2.15 litres a year. While this is not only the highest in the world, it is far more than the average 1.77 litres consumed by the people of Uruguay, the second largest whisky consumers in the world.

"France is the world champion," the French daily newspaper Le Figaro said in a report on the study.

Bonial added that whisky is now preferred by all social classes in France and has become something of a "democratic" drink in the country.

According to Matthias Berrahya-Lazarus, the chief executive of the consultancy, Scotch accounts for 90% of the whisky consumed by the French, with the US's Jack Daniel's being the most popular brand.