How to tell a counterfeit whiskey from an original? The question is serious, because the world market currently offers a large number of alcohol. And scammers take advantage of this situation.

In the article:

How to distinguish real whiskey

Recently, in our country, as well as throughout the world, the level of culture of drinking alcoholic beverages has significantly increased. The modern consumer increasingly buys well-established alcohol brands.

This situation was taken advantage of by unscrupulous traders strong drinks... Along with high-quality alcohol, a large number of counterfeit products have appeared on the market. And in the first place, the whiskey producers were hit.

This is due to the fact that whiskey is one of the most popular and affordable spirits around the world. Excellent combination of price and quality given alcohol attracts a large number of fans. And the question of how to distinguish fake whiskey from the present.

Signs by which you can distinguish whiskey from a fake

To distinguish real alcohol from faking it easily enough. Any connoisseur of good whiskey can easily identify a counterfeit product. When buying alcoholic beverages, you need to pay attention to the following facts:

1. the point of sale where the whiskey is sold;
2. the price of the product;
3. bottle;
4. the color of the bottle contents;
5. the consistency of the liquid;
6. availability of information on the composition of the product;
7. taste and aroma of whiskey.

Let's consider each item separately.

Point of sale of alcoholic beverages

In order not to be mistaken in the quality of the purchased whiskey, it is best to buy a drink in stores specializing in the sale of alcoholic beverages, or in large supermarkets. In an era of tough competition, these merchants are very careful to monitor the quality of the goods offered.

Also, at any point of sale, you are required to provide a certificate for alcoholic beverages on demand. If this document cannot be provided for some reason, feel free to refuse to purchase the goods, despite the explanations of the merchant.

Another plus in favor of specialized outlets is the availability of consultants. The consultant will bring you all the information about alcoholic beverages, tell you about the features different types whiskey, will select a drink in accordance with your taste preferences.

Specialized outlets are very sensitive to their reputation, therefore they offer goods of decent quality and a high level of service personnel.

The price of the product

When buying whiskey, do comparative characteristics the prices of the purchased goods with analogues in other retail outlets. Good alcohol is not cheap, and worth investing your time in price analysis. It's easy to do this over the internet. The very cheap price of the product, in comparison with analogs, should alert the consumer. Do not buy into any explanations - feel free to refuse the purchase. The money saved can cost you and your loved ones not only a spoiled celebration, but also health problems.

Bottle

The next factor in determining the quality of the purchased whiskey will be the examination of the bottle. Having chosen the brand of alcohol that you want to purchase, go to the manufacturer's website and familiarize yourself with the product protection means used by him.

You need to carefully study the quality and content of the label, its location on the bottle. Some manufacturers position the label at a specific, well-defined angle. The label must be glued neatly, without blots and glue drips. Color, image, information on the label must correspond to the trademark.

Every self-respecting manufacturer of noble whiskey does not deprive its attention of the cork. In addition to integrity, it is necessary to pay attention to the compliance of the cork with this brand. This information can also be found on the official website of the alcohol manufacturer.

Whiskey producers great attention give a bottle in which noble drink reaches his admirers. In this matter, the flight of imagination of designers knows no bounds. Some people use square decanters, others prefer bottles with rounded edges. Some distillers for their exclusive whiskeys make containers with an engraved logo and an individual number of the drink. A striking example of this, on the bottles of which a horse flaunts. All this information is reflected in great detail on the manufacturer's website. It is very difficult to make such a container in a handicraft industry. It is the bottle that is the clearest proof of the quality of the purchased drink.

Maker's Mark whiskey

For example, for the Maker's Mark whiskey makers, the bottle is a special pride. The container and label of this manufacturer cannot be counterfeited without expensive equipment.

A prerequisite for this whiskey is the presence of an excise stamp. Only alcohol with an excise stamp can be considered real.

Whiskey color and consistency

The color of this whiskey ranges from light straw to brown. But with any color, the drink must remain transparent. In this whiskey there are no foreign impurities, sediment, flakes. The original noble drink should not be cloudy. The presence of foreign colors and impurities in alcohol indicates a violation of the production process, which is unacceptable for a legitimate alcohol producer.

Another way to distinguish a fake drink from a real one is to shake the contents of the bottle. Real whiskey has an oily consistency, so when you shake it, quite large bubbles form inside the bottle, which do not disappear for several seconds. As a result, a drop of real wiki runs down the glass of the bottle very slowly.

If, when shaking, small bubbles formed in the bottle, which immediately disappeared, then the qualities of this drink is in doubt.

Whiskey composition and taste

On the back of the bottle manufacturers strong wine have information about the composition of the product. Study the list very carefully. The information must be translated into Russian and contain the entire list of ingredients that make up the alcoholic beverage.

This whiskey contains only natural ingredients. It contains no artificial colors, flavors or other additives.

Connoisseurs of alcohol know exactly how to distinguish whiskey from a fake by its taste and aroma.

When inhaling the aroma of a real strong whiskey there can be no strong smell of alcohol. The drink oozes pleasant aroma malt and oak.

The taste of true whiskey is soft, with a complex bouquet that leaves a long aftertaste. The counterfeit product has a pungent odor and a burning taste.

The combination of all the above qualities may indicate the authenticity of alcoholic beverages. Having once held a bottle of real whiskey in your hands and having tasted the taste of exquisite alcohol, you will never confuse it with a fake.

The undoubted leader in the export of whiskey is the UK, followed by Canada and the United States, Ireland is in fourth place, and Japan closes the five largest producers. And while the Irish argue with the Scots over the primacy of whiskey invention, illegal manufacturers and smugglers are flooding the market with low-quality counterfeits. Let's get acquainted with the advice of the "experienced", how to distinguish a fake from an original whiskey.

There is no bad whiskey?

• Composition. Information on the composition of an alcoholic beverage can help distinguish whiskey from a fake. The label must state that the whiskey is made from natural spirits. Noble whiskey does not contain artificial alcohols (ethanol), dyes, flavors, fragrances. Real whiskey is created by distillation, using as raw materials barley malt or cereals (corn, rye, wheat).
• Colour. You can distinguish an original whiskey from a fake by carefully examining the contents of the bottle. Whiskey color ranges from light yellow to golden brown. At the distilleries, the distillate is poured into oak barrels made of port wine, sherry or Madeira, which gives the whiskey a special shade. Original whiskey should not be cloudy, have sediment at the bottom of the bottle.
• Fortress. When buying, pay attention to the specified strength of the whiskey, this information can help distinguish a fake from the original whiskey. The alcohol content can range from 32% to 43% for prepared whiskey. If you see cask strength on the bottle, which means cask strength whiskey, the alcohol content can be as high as 65%. Experts advise doing a simple shake test: real whiskey differs from a fake in the size of the bubbles (they should be large and not disappear immediately). If the bottle is turned upside down, then high-quality whiskey will drip down the walls of the bottle in large drops for a long time, the "singed" drink will behave like tinted water.
• Organoleptic properties. Distinguishing whiskey from a fake is not so difficult if you taste the drink without haste. Uncork the bottle and pour the drink into the glass. Breathe in a scent that should resemble smoky notes of oak, meadow flowers, fruit, and vanilla. Singe whiskey will smell like alcohol. This noble whiskey will leave a rich, pleasant aftertaste. And a fake will burn with alcohol with an unpleasant aftertaste.
• Point of sale. The safest to buy alcoholic drinks, including whiskey, in specialized stores. These points of sale value their reputation. The maximum risks of buying "singed" whiskey under the guise of the original is buying in an online store. Anti-counterfeiting experts recommend in this case to order alcohol with cash on delivery. At home, you can carefully examine the product and, using our advice, distinguish the original whiskey from a fake. In this case, you will save your money and refuse the delivered goods.
• Bottle. A bottle of good whiskey will not allow itself to appear before the consumer with a crookedly pasted label, blurry letters and without an excise stamp. Before buying, refer to the official website of the manufacturer, study the features of the bottle, cork, label, the presence of engravings or protruding patterns on the glass. Remember the formats that are produced by a legal manufacturer. Armed with this information, you will be able to pass the whiskey buying exam perfectly.

Coded whiskey

Whiskey is a democratic drink: it is equally loved by oligarchs and the poor, cowboys of the Wild West and secret agents, intellectuals and American farmers. The proverb says that there is no person who does not like whiskey, he just has not yet found his own brand of this drink. Indeed, the world was conquered famous brands, each of which has its own character: " Jack Daniels”(Jack Daniel’s),“ Red Label ”(Johnnie Walker Black Label),“ Ballantine’s ”,“ Jameson ”,“ Chivas Regal ”( Chivas regal). How not to get lost in this variety and distinguish real from fake whiskey?

There is a technology that makes it possible to identify "singed" alcohol in a matter of minutes. This technology is called the DAT Brand Control System. Conscientious manufacturers spirits already mark their products with unique codes (the list of brands can be found here). After payment, it is enough to send the code indicated on the bottle by SMS or check it yourself on the Internet on the website of the brand control system. The answer comes instantly. If you want your favorite whiskey to have interactive counterfeit protection (unique code), write a letter to the manufacturer. The proposal letter template can be downloaded from the DAT brand control system website.

The first thing you need to pay attention to is where the whiskey is poured - the bottle. In an authentic whiskey, a bottle of intricate shape, with many faces, bulges, and inscriptions. In the original, the shape of the bottle has many faces, the edges are perfectly straight. If there are two lines next to each other, then they are parallel. Take a look at the photo below - the neck in a fake has many faces, in the original there are only eight faces. Moving on below - the ring between the neck and the "shoulders" of the bottle is elegantly thin in the original, versus the rough and wide in a fake. We go below - pay attention to the transition between the "shoulders" and the body of the bottle: in the fake it is rounded, but in the original it has an angular shape. And so on throughout the bottle. Just compare by photo.

Now let's take a closer look at the main points of the original and counterfeit.

100% method

We did not specifically touch upon the bottle cork in the comparison. This point needs to be given maximum attention and time, since there are bottles on the market that cannot be distinguished by the above methods. It is possible that some counterfeiters collect real bottles and fill the counterfeit whiskey in real bottles. But, as a rule, new plugs have to be made.

We pass to the neck - the cork and the film that covers the cork. Forge the cork and seal over the film, as is done in the production of real whiskey Jack daniels, the underground members cannot. Therefore, all attention is paid to the photographs of the differences between the fake and the original.

The bottle has all the characteristics of the original, and only the film that covers the cork gives out counterfeit. The type of film is “chewed”, in the original the film is stretched flawlessly, without a single fold. The inscription on the film looks to the side, on the original it looks exactly in the middle of the main label.

Now let's look at what the film looks like on original bottle whiskey. See the photos, you can only tell about the presence of many holes. They serve to easily open the bottle.

To summarize the comparison of two bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey, photo with open bottles... Remember what the original and counterfeit look like.

Differences after opening a bottle: comparing corks

Closing cap original drink made of plastic, on the inside you can see a ledge and an inscription. A fake has a border remaining after casting, inside of blue color... In a worse fake, the cork is made of metal.

The dispenser is missing only on the 0.5 liter bottle.

What it smells like and how to drink real whiskey

Jack Daniels American whiskey has been produced according to the same recipe for over 200 years. The production uses barley, rye, corn and spring water. But the main aroma, taste is given to the drink by filtration using sugar maple charcoal.

What aroma does real whiskey give when poured into a glass? According to the reviews of people who consumed, the aroma is difficult to convey in words - a light, sweetish, malty smell with notes of flowers and fruits, while the smell of expensive alcohol should be felt. When you inhale counterfeit alcohol, you can smell alcohol or moonshine.

Do not drink colored alcohol with flavors, diluted with water, approach the choice of alcoholic products with a sober mind and our advice. Bookmark the article, send to social network... Use not only when buying, but also at feasts with friends, they might not have learned how to check whiskey for authenticity. Check before use.

As the whiskey became popular all over the world, so did the number of counterfeits. Nowadays, counterfeit whiskey can be found in almost any store. Moreover, a high price is not always a guarantee of quality. Every lover of this alcohol should know how to distinguish real whiskey from fake. The current material is devoted to this issue.

In order not to buy fake whiskey, you need to pay attention to the following important points:

1. Point of sale and price. Real whiskey, especially if its label bears the words "Deluxe" or "Premium" (as elite varieties mean), should be bought only in specialized stores that sell alcoholic beverages... I advise you to ask the seller to show you a quality certificate. The store is obliged to show this document at the first request of the buyer.

Another advantage of specialized alcohol shops is that you can use the services of consultants. They will select the whiskey that meets your requirements for quality and price.

If in your city there are no separate shops selling alcoholic beverages, then it would be correct to buy whiskey in large supermarkets, but not in kiosks. Experts advise you to choose one store, the quality of the products of which suits you, and always buy alcohol only there.

It will not be superfluous to pay attention to the cost of the drink. If in one store whiskey of the chosen brand costs several times cheaper than in others, then it is better to refuse such a purchase, since you risk buying a fake.

2. Appearance bottles. Usually, counterfeit manufacturers rely on the inexperience of the buyer and a low price, so they save on the bottle.
A sign of counterfeit whiskey is an improperly pasted or poor quality label. If you have decided on the brand of purchased whiskey, then even before buying on the manufacturer's website, you can see how the bottle looks like and what means of protection it has.

Immediately, the absence of an excise stamp should be alarming. This may indicate that the whiskey was imported into the country illegally or is simply a fake. In any case, you should not buy it, since no one guarantees the quality of the drink.

3. Color. High-quality whiskey should be transparent, this indicates the purity of the water from which the drink is made, and full compliance with the production technology. Whiskey color ranges from light yellow to brown, but in any case, the drink should not be cloudy and contain sediment.

4. Shaking. You can distinguish whiskey from a fake with the help of one simple method: Shake bottle well and watch for bubbles. They must hold on for a long time and be large. In high-quality whiskey, drops after shaking slowly flow down the glass of the bottle, in fake - very quickly.

5. Smell and taste. The whiskey should have a light oak or malt aroma and not be smelly alcohol. Quality drink leaves a long-lasting aftertaste.

For me personally, the question of how to distinguish a fake whiskey from a real one is not worth it. I define the quality and authenticity of this wonderful drink by smell and taste, as I have been a great lover and admirer of whiskey for many years.

For those who, to put it mildly, have a poor understanding of what whiskey is, I will try to give some recommendations on how to distinguish real from fake whiskey.

1. You should use only those whiskeys that you know, or which you have been told or recommended for use by people whose opinion you trust. Almost every manufacturer of real high-quality whiskey produces varieties of their drink, both cheap and elite. This does not mean that cheap whiskey is "worse" than expensive one. Cheap (the term “cheap” does not mean “bargain price”, I don’t think that today in Moscow you can buy a bottle of high-quality whiskey cheaper than for 1000-1200 rubles) whiskey differs from expensive, elite grade from the same manufacturer, in addition to aging and packaging, also by the subtlety of aroma and aftertaste, which will be difficult for a polishing admirer of whiskey to make out, although of course it is better to drink a sip of elite hang than a bottle of ordinary one.

2. So, choose the type of whiskey that you will constantly consume. We go to the manufacturer's website and study everything that is written there about whiskey, as well as carefully look at the photos and read the inscriptions on the bottles. The whiskey that you are going to buy must be bottled exactly in the container that you saw in the pictures. Also, check on the website what volumes there are bottles of this drink. I have never seen abroad that whiskey is bottled, for example, in bottles of 500 ml.

3. Now, with regard to excise stamps. The absence of an excise stamp or its presence will not give you any guarantees of the authenticity of the whiskey. Although, of course, if you buy whiskey in the store, excise stamp should be by definition.

5. You need to buy whiskey only in specialized stores or wine boutiques. The drinks sold in supermarket chains like Auchan at a price 20% lower than the market price are either Polish moonshine or, even better, the products of our North Caucasian "distilleries". At one time in Ashan, they briskly traded in "whiskey" and "cognac" of the most famous brands, which were made at the Ferein plant from counterfeit alcohol, which was allegedly supplied for the production of liquid for car windshield washers.

6. Good whiskey you can also buy in duty-free shops at airports, but not in Greece and not in Poland. I also do not recommend this kind of shops on the borders with Ukraine and Abkhazia.

7. Keep in mind that whiskey is a completely transparent drink and no sediment, unlike unfiltered beer does not contain. The color of each individual whiskey is different, but it should always be rich, natural from light golden to dark brown.

8. Now open the bottle. As Somerset Maugham said, in order to understand that an egg is rotten, it is not necessary to eat it. We sniff. Real whiskey shouldn't have any smell of alcohol or fuselage. These smells suggest that such "whiskey" is better not to try, and even better - to pour it into the toilet. If you have a receipt, you can try to return the "whiskey" to the store with a scandal, threatening retailers with expertise. The aroma of real whiskey should contain a range of different shades, both fruity and malt. Some connoisseurs believe that whiskey smells like good port. There should also be a specific aroma that is transferred to the whiskey during its aging in oak barrels... If you constantly use whiskey of the same type, you will know both the taste and aroma of this drink.

Last but not least, whiskey never gives hangover syndrome unless of course you are going to infuse this divine drink liters. If in the morning after drinking whiskey you have a feeling in your mouth of the presence of a team of movers and a headache, you should know that you drank a fake.