Dupe drams: how to spot a fake

In the last few years, we’ve seen an explosion of expensive and rare whiskies hit the market. An exciting prospect for collectors, this enthusiasm is often dampened by the increasing number of counterfeit bottles.

According to the Fraud Advisory Panel, around a quarter of the world’s alcoholic drinks are illicit – with fake beer, wine and spirits costing the UK ￡200 million in lost sales.

My brother Craig and I set up the Whisky Hammer auction site with the goal of creating a trusted space to buy and sell some of the world’s most interesting, prolific and rare whiskies. In the process, we’ve established techniques that can be used to?spot fakes.

We generally follow a three-step process:

1.????Consider spirit colour

When comparing two bottles you might see that one is a lighter shade - often an indication of a fake. However, this isn’t fool proof as a sophisticated forger could find ways to colour match the spirit.

2.????Check labels

3.????Give it a shake

The time taken for bubbles to disappear can indicate ABV of the spirit inside, although this can be skewed by cask-type. Generally?speaking,?a 40% ABV bottle shows bubbles that disappear almost instantly, while higher ABV bottles take longer to disappear.

In addition to our standard procedures, we have many ongoing?‘secondary’ flags:

·??????Referring to trusted literature which contains?detailed imagery and comments on how old/rare bottles should look

·??????Checking, where applicable, tax strips to coincide with age of bottle

·??????Inspecting bottle codes that are printed on glass, which may be missing or wrong

·??????Checking that all packaging and certification documents are present and correct

·??????Inspecting the stopper capsules, which can be the wrong size, dimension or with the wrong imprints

·??????Flagging any unusual requests from the seller (i.e. very low selling price expectation vs value)?

·??????Checking the seal. We only auction bottles where the seals are fully intact

Our policy is very clear - if we have any doubt whatsoever, the bottles are not entered into auction. As avid collectors ourselves, both Craig and I would never put a bottle to auction that we had any doubts about.?

If buying direct, collectors should also, if possible, ask sellers where they acquired the bottles originally. Always buy from trusted sellers or experienced?auction?houses that have the highest standard checks in place and are connected to those?‘in the know’ in the industry. Also, if you can, avoid new start-up auctions with no prior experience in collecting whisky themselves.

Remember: if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

Daniel Milne, Managing Director

Whisky Hammer

If you want some advice about buying and selling whisky, get in touch with us today