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The historical reasons seems far more significant than the geographical. Most of the early planters ( of Coffee ) in Coorg during the colonial era were Scots. So it is they who first called Coorg the Scotland of India.

Like Scotland, Coorg is mountainous,misty and cool. The highlands and the vast meadows in the valleys looks identical in both the places.

On the cultural fronts there were far more similarities between the two. Both the Coorgs and the Scots were clan based societies. The clans were at loggerheads for superiority. For both martial traditions were a necessity of the times and part of life. Arms were integral part of the costume. So was the passion for rougher sports.
Coorg and Scotland were small independent countries with many uniqueness in language, culture and even in costumes with respect the bigger neighboring countries.

Both the cultures felt intensely about themselves. To sum it in one sentence, the Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith once said “With disadvantages enough to bring him to humility, a Scotsman is one of the proudest things alive”. It is probably the same way the Coorgs too felt of themselves.
One last thing. That’s the local brew they both felt strongly about!

History had changed enough in both the places to have more differences than similarities. Scots left Coorg some half a century back. But the nick name remained.