A Glass Of The Fake Thing

 A good glass of bourbon on a January 's day is a comforting thing. It warms the soul and settles into chilled bones. Yet that shot may not be as genuine as you think. Surprisingly quality alcohol is the latest victims of fakery.

Clay Risem who write obituaries for the Times (!!!!) shared his knowledge of bourbon with his article on expensive fakes in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Mr Risen isn't stretching out here. He is the author of Bourbon: The Story of Kentucky Whiskey (Ten Speed Press 2021).He is also a whiskey expert who is following the trend for pricey bourbons. It seems that both bourbon lover and neophyte are wanting the extremely expensive brands,It's an international problem  where sellers can find gullible customers on social media. A Swiss luxury hotel duped a Chinese tourist out of a grand for a bottle of fake bourbon.Luxury bourbon is in such high demand right now after years of being ignored. domestic sales of super premium american whiskey , selling for more than fifty dollars - nearly doubled between the years 2016- 2020. Four millions cases were sold.at the higher end  of the price range bottles selling for $500 or more are in such high demand that they've created long lines at liquor stores. A robust secondary market has now been created with secret trading through private social media groups. This is illegal but it still goes on, as with any counterfeit industry.It's big in Britain where counterfeiting is rampant 

How can you tell if you've bought a fake bottle?It could come without the required shrink wrap that encircles the cap. Yet  these too can be copied too, making it hard to tell what's real and what's not. Also bottles may look used. One brand, Pappy Van winkle seems to have a surefire way to discourage copying. Each of their bottles comes with a unique identification code. One aficionado, Los Angeles resident and producer of the American Pie franchise Adam Herz who is also an expert in spotting counterfeit bottles was able to read the number of an empty bottle that he found on EBay. He then visited on of the many  countless bourbon fan pages on Facebook. He  then saw the once empty bottle refilled and resealed selling for thousands of dollars.It bothered him that empty whiskey bottles were selling briskly on line. This also comes in handy when sellers are offering aged bourbon from the 1800's. Have the bottle checked to see if the glass is modern. Also check the corks too.. Another caveat  - don't trust any pushy sellers you meet on line.It  means they want the money and to get rid of their stock.

Yes it's luxurious to buy a thousand dollar bottle of good bourbon. Just make sure it's also the real thing. There are too many fakes out there. Don't waste good money on something that proves to be false.