Alcohol can be of high quality and "burnt". The first category includes expensive drinks, made according to all standards and in compliance with the recipe, and the second, as the people say, "swill", from which you can simply not wake up the next morning. So, how can you not run into the poison and distinguish real from fake vodka.

Definition

Real vodka- a product with a long history. It appeared at a time when Russia began to switch to a three-field system of growing grain, which gave an incredible harvest. As a result, people had a lot of grain that needed to be used for something. So vodka appeared - a product of fermentation and distillation of wheat and other similar crops. And then D.I. Mendeleev was able to achieve the ideal ratio of water and alcohol, which made it possible to release a product known and famous all over the world. Of course, Dmitry Ivanovich simply dealt with the absorption of alcohol by water, and did not deliberately invent the most "killer cocktail". But ... now we have something that is famous all over the world, and that people eat in the days of sorrow and joy.

Singe vodka- well, of course, the demand for real vodka gave birth to a lot of "brilliant ideas" how to make a fake and sell at the price of the original. Fake breeders of all stripes have invented all sorts of ways to cheat customers. Moreover, everything is counterfeited: bottles, labels, excise stamps, even special corks and certificates. However, everything does not always work out smoothly, and there are various ways to identify a fake.

Signs of "burnt" vodka

First, you need to evaluate the bottle by sight. See if the cap fits snugly on the neck. If it scrolls or even more so leaks, you are unlikely to see a real product with guaranteed quality.

"Singe" vodka

The safety ring on the screw cap must be present. And notice how high the level of the liquid poured is. Usually, if it is not a fake, it is customary to pour liquid into a container with a screw cap to the middle of the neck. In the case of using a cap "cap", then just above the hanger.

Next, turn the bottle upside down and inspect for the presence of sediment in the liquid. It shouldn't be. If there are strange dust particles, lint, suspension, other foreign particles, immediately stop purchasing this product.

The color of the falsified vodka may also differ from the factory one. The real one is crystal clear. In fake vodka, you can often distinguish between yellowish and pinkish shades. Some turbidity is also possible.

Pay attention to the bottling date stamp. By factory standards, it is applied to each bottle on the back or outside of the label or cap. The location may vary, but the readability may not. All inscriptions must be perfectly visible and legible. For greater quality assurance, some manufacturing plants even stamp the bottling date using an inkjet printer. This somewhat increases the price, but at the same time gives a guarantee of quality. The main thing is to compare the bottling date stamp on the label and the cap. If there is a mismatch, there is reason to doubt the quality of the contents of the bottle.

All labels on the bottle must adhere firmly, adhered straight and without tearing. At the factory, the stickers are applied by an automatic machine, so everything comes out smoothly and with uniform dabs of glue. If they are incorrect or blurred, then this is also a reason to doubt.

Both the pictures themselves and the inscriptions on the labels should be bright and well readable. Fakes are often labeled with dull, faded labels.

We study the label itself. There must be a manufacturer and its details on it. If it does not exist, then the enterprises, perhaps, too. On the front side there is always the bottling date, name and address of the manufacturer, license number, certification mark, alcohol strength.

If the bottle is not suspicious, you can evaluate the quality of the alcohol itself. This is done using an ordinary teaspoon and a lighter. If you heat up vodka, it should burst into flame. Let it burn out and then smell the rest. If the liquid has a strong unpleasant odor, then this indicates the presence of impurities.

Conclusions site

1. If in front of you is a fake, then the cap may scroll or leak, but the cap of real vodka is not.
2. A real bottle has a safety cap; a fake one often does not have one.
3. The level of the liquid poured should be up to the "shoulders" or to the middle of the neck, in fakes this rule is not always observed.
4. There will be no sediment in real vodka, but in "singed" vodka it often is.
5. The color of the fake can be with a color tint, but the real vodka is colorless.
6. There must be a filling stamp that matches the label and cap. The absence or mismatch of dates is a reason to doubt the products.
7. The label on the real bottle is glued evenly, without unnecessary glue smears and is firmly in place. But a fake often has distortions or smears of glue.
8. Counterfeit labels may have dull, unreadable labels, while real vodka has bright and clear labels.
9. On the label of real vodka, an indication of the manufacturer's plant and all the details are mandatory, and on a fake one often misses something.

A question that is especially relevant on holidays: how to distinguish fake vodka from the "leftist" and the original? The topic acquires important social aspects, since the alcohol market, according to some sources, is almost half filled with counterfeits. It is rather difficult to figure out on the spot, at the point of sale, which vodka you have to buy. But the consequences of consuming "burned" alcohol can be very different: from severe malaise in the morning and, unfortunately, to severe poisoning and even death. Arm yourself with the knowledge that will help you distinguish real from fake vodka and save money and health.

Signs of burnt vodka

At first, it is necessary to understand what is popularly called "palenko"?

"Palenka" is a low-quality alcoholic surrogate that cybercriminals produce clandestinely, disguise themselves as well-known trade marks, counterfeiting containers, labels, and excise taxes.

"Levak" is an ordinary high-quality distillery vodka, which is not reflected in the company's reports.

The cheap price is due to tax evasion, besides, there is always a risk of "running into" a low-quality fake, and in case of any consequences, it is impossible to prove anything without a purchase receipt.

What everyone should remember

No one is immune from counterfeit vodka. Remember that if you bought a seemingly decent bottle of vodka, and after opening you were confused by the pungent smell or taste of the drink, it is better to throw out the conventionally "fired" vodka than to seriously risk your health.

Samples of counterfeit alcoholic beverages often contain impurities of low-purity ethyl alcohol and non-food alcohols (hydrolytic and synthetic), which are considered highly toxic.

In the 2000s, the Yaroslavl Region was the leader in the Central Federal District of Russia in terms of mortality from accidental poisoning with falsification.

In 2012, after the end of the festive line, four 12-year-old students of the 18th Vladivostok school bought 2 bottles of cheap vodka in a stall, which turned out to be fake. Two girls were admitted to the hospital in a coma.

Differences between fake vodka and real

Counterfeit vodka has several characteristic differences from the real one:

Most of the counterfeit vodkas do not meet the strength standards. Instead of 40 °, it is much less.

Often in bottles you can distinguish sediment, pile, films, etc., which indicates that it was produced in artisanal conditions.

After two to three weeks, the fake vodka takes on a matte color.

The cork and label markings do not match. So, for example, it happens that different manufacturers are indicated on them.

At home, when making fake vodka, the glue is applied to the labels, in most cases, with a brush, and therefore the strokes are uneven. For factory vodka, if you look at the label from the inside, you can often see several even stripes of glue. True, there is also a continuous coating with glue.

On factory vodka, the cap should not rotate around its axis (otherwise the bottle would be considered defective at the factory).

In counterfeit vodka, the edges of the “alka” cap (with a “tongue”) are loosely fitted in some places and, moreover, with small “waves”. In real vodka, the bottom edges of such a cap are smooth and fit close-up. The lacquered finish must be free of scratches.

On the labels of bottles "under the screw" the last two digits of the code indicate the name of the city (01 - Moscow, 02 - St. Petersburg, 62 - Smolensk, etc.). On the cap "alka", in addition to the name of the manufacturer, the name of the vodka is indicated (P - wheat, R - Russian, MO - Moscow special, etc.).

Counterfeit vodka has missing or fuzzy production date symbols on the back of the label.

When opening a bottle of counterfeit vodka, the dispenser often remains in the opened lid.

Often the fake has suspicious names - Caution, Super, Petrovich, GAI, etc.

To detect fusel oils in suspicious vodka, you need to add an equal volume of sulfuric acid to it. Blackening of vodka will indicate the presence of a large amount of fusel oils.

You can also dip a blue litmus paper into the vodka. Its red color indicates an admixture of acids, which are added to increase the "strength".

The consumer can test the vodka by pouring it into the cap and holding a match. Normal vodka burns with a faint blue flame. Bad vodka will either flash like gasoline or won't burn at all.

You can also just shake the bottle. If the vodka is too diluted with water, the bubbles in the bottle will be large. Normal vodka is shaken up like a "snake" of small bubbles.

If the vodka has a strong unpleasant smell, then it is better for the consumer not to drink it.

How to determine the fake vodka

To determine the truth of the wine, you need to pour it into a small vial, close the neck with your finger and tip it into a glass of water. The finger is released in the water. If the wine does not mix with water, then it is natural. If the wine begins to flow in streams from the bubble into the water and descend to the bottom of the glass, then it is clearly fake. The faster the wine is poured from the bottle into the water, the more gross the falsification, and the more impurities in the wine.

To identify counterfeit alcohol, you need to prepare a weak solution of potassium permanganate and then mix with alcohol in a 4: 1 ratio. If, at a temperature of 15-20 degrees, the alcohol turns pink after 5 minutes, this means that it is clean. If alcohol under the same conditions is colored in less than 5 minutes, then the alcohol is counterfeit. The faster it stains and the darker it gets, the more dangerous it is. Poorly purified alcohol with a large amount of impurities turns dark brown instantly.

Counterfeit vodka is produced not only in Russia. In Ukraine, according to experts, every second bottle is counterfeit. It is recommended not to buy Ukrainian vodka at a price below 26 hryvnia, which will obviously be fake.

It is better to buy vodka in specialized stores. In order to make sure of the quality of the product, the consumer should ask the seller for a certificate, which must be original, not copied. In addition, it is worth paying attention to which batch of goods the certificate was issued for.

Saving on quality vodka can be very expensive.The use of counterfeit products is fraught with poisoning, dangerous not only for health, but also for the life of the consumer.

The most popular counterfeit target is vodka. The explanation is simple - alcoholic beverages are guaranteed sales. Their counterfeiting is economically profitable, as it requires a minimum of costs.

Smoked vodka is produced in clandestine workshops, using the lowest quality raw materials. Alcohol arrives on store shelves under the guise of well-known brands, with labels, excise stamps and fake documents.

The use of such a product can have negative consequences, up to and including death. According to doctors, people who regularly drink such drinks do not live to be forty, destruction in their body occurs very quickly. Such vodka often contains the strongest poison - methanol. It has the taste and smell of edible alcohol, but its price is much lower. Intoxicating at first, like real vodka. After a while, signs appear that can be used to judge severe poisoning, but they can be easily confused with an ordinary hangover, so people do not go to the doctor right away. This type of alcohol can lead to heart attacks, strokes, blindness, persistent headaches, and other serious health problems.

Unfortunately, you can even buy such a product in a store. How to check if vodka is burnt or not?

Signs of counterfeiting

Vodka has a long history. This drink appeared during the period of Russia's transition to a three-field system of growing grain crops. This resulted in an incredible harvest. People had an abundance of grain, and it had to be used somehow. The result was the emergence of vodka - a product of fermentation and distillation of wheat. Somewhat later, D.I.Mendeleev determined the ideal ratio of water and alcohol. This made it possible to release a product that soon became known to the whole world.

The demand for this drink has led to the birth of many ways to counterfeit it. Singe vodka was sold at the price of the original. The manufacturers of the counterfeit product showed ingenuity and learned how to counterfeit even containers with labels, excise stamps, special corks and certificates. Therefore, consumers are interested in the question: "How to determine the fake vodka?"

Price

The cheapness of an alcoholic drink should alert you first of all. Usually, in different stores, the cost of alcohol is approximately the same. For the price, therefore, you can guess which vodka is fired. True, this feature is sometimes not enough to determine the quality of the product. Counterfeit manufacturers can set the same prices as in stores.

Place of sale

Most often, fake vodka is found on the shelves of small stores. To protect yourself, buy goods in large supermarkets, where you will at least receive a receipt confirming the purchase. This will help prove the store's guilt, if necessary. But even in supermarkets, you can buy a fake if it has the same certificates and excise stamps as high-quality vodka.

Capping quality

How to distinguish fired vodka on this basis? First of all, you need to pay attention to the type of bottle. Check if the cap does not rotate, does not leak. In most cases, vodka in a bottle with a ball dispenser is real, since it is very difficult to counterfeit such a container outside the production process.

The screw cap must be fitted with a safety ring. An important characteristic is the level of liquid in the bottle. A container that has a screw cap must be filled to the middle of the neck. If a cap is used, the liquid level is just above the shoulders.

Bottle contents

The drink must be examined in the light by turning the container upside down. Look for sediment or other debris in it. Their presence suggests that the vodka is falsified. Large bubbles can be seen if the bottle is shaken. This means that the drink contains a lot of water, and its quality is low. Singe vodka can be cloudy with a yellowish or pinkish tinge.

Bottling date stamp

Each bottle must be stamped with the bottling date. They put it on the outside or inside of the label, on the glass of the bottle or cap. Regardless of where the stamp is located, the lettering on it should be easy to read. The spill dates on the label and cap must match.

Label

Since in the factory, labels on bottles are applied automatically, they must be firmly, evenly glued and not have any tears or other damage. Irregular and sloppy strokes of glue indicate that this is burnt vodka. If the product is genuine, the graphics and lettering on the label will be bright and easy to read. On a fake, the label is dull, the inscriptions are illegible and may have. The barcode must be clear, not blurry.

The label itself must contain the details of the manufacturer. The absence of such information may indicate that the enterprise as such does not exist at all. On the front side there must be a certification mark, license number, information about the date of bottling, about the strength of the drink and its composition, as well as the name and address of the manufacturer.

Alcohol quality

How to recognize fake vodka if nothing suspicious was found on the bottle? It will not be superfluous to evaluate the quality of alcohol. This will require a teaspoon and a lighter. The heated vodka will flare up, and when it burns out, you need to smell the rest. A liquid with a pungent unpleasant odor has impurities in it.

To determine the presence of fusel oils in a drink that is suspicious, you need to add sulfuric acid to it in the same amount. If the vodka has turned black, it means that it contains, and in large quantities. Try to dip blue in alcohol. Acid impurities can be judged by its red color.

To determine the presence of methanol, 10 ml of a suspicious drink is mixed with dissolved laundry soap in a small amount, a couple of drops of iodine are added and heated over a fire. If methanol is present in vodka, then a yellow precipitate does not form, which appears in the presence of ethanol or acetone.

Protecting manufacturers

To protect goods from counterfeiting, some manufacturers use additional security systems that cannot be counterfeited. These are embossed coats of arms, quality markers and more. If you want to purchase a quality product, read the information on the manufacturer's website about what additional protection measures are used.

To protect yourself from counterfeiting, you need to buy alcoholic drinks from large stores that have information about the license to sell alcohol. Be attentive to the small details that the manufacturers of fake vodka often forget about.

According to independent experts, up to 46% of the domestic alcohol market is filled with fake vodka, which is also popularly called "fake". The consequences of using this "infection" are unpredictable: from headache in the morning to disability and death. Therefore, it is very important to be able to distinguish vodka from fake while still in the store. There are a number of signs that make it possible to do this with a high degree of probability, but only laboratory tests can give an absolute result.

Singe vodka Is a cheap alcoholic-vodka surrogate made from low-quality raw materials in clandestine workshops, which criminals are trying to sell under the guise of recognizable vodka brands by forging a label, bottle, excise stamp and other related documents.

It is on the "stick" accounts for 53% of deaths from alcohol poisoning. The production of fake vodka is several times cheaper than the original drink. Criminals, having realized a fake, get fabulous profits. Just one underground workshop brings its owners several million dollars in profit per year.

There is a difference between the concepts of "burned" and "left-handed" vodka. "Levak" is called a batch of high-quality vodka from a distillery, which is not included in the company's reporting. It is cheaper because it is not taxed. But when buying, there is a risk that under the guise of left-handed vodka you may be sold fired. This is done by criminals who are unwilling or unable to forge excise stamps and quality certificates. Without these documents, they cannot hand over their surrogate to the store, therefore they are looking for gullible citizens.

How to identify burned vodka

It will be about checking the appearance of the drink before purchasing it. There are signs that should motivate you to choose another vodka or even a store.

1. Price. If you prefer a certain brand of vodka, then you should know the average price of a bottle. If in one of the stores the price is 15-30% lower, then the risk of buying counterfeit vodka there increases several times. Miracles do not happen, the cost of the same vodka in different stores cannot differ much.

Previously, it was the low price that gave out fake vodka, but now the counterfeiters have grown wiser and in most cases sell their surrogate at the price of the original. Therefore, you need to take into account the accompanying factors.

2. Point of sale. As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the store, the more likely you are to buy fake vodka there. In large supermarkets, you will be given a receipt, which is proof of your purchase. It is easier for a supermarket to make a claim, so they sell fewer "sticks" there, but more and more often they come across there too. At the same time, large stores do not always sell counterfeit products deliberately. More often they buy a high-quality counterfeit with all quality certificates (also fake) from wholesalers.

3. Color. Real vodka is absolutely transparent without turbidity and sediment at the bottom. To check this, just turn the bottle upside down, hold it for a few seconds and look through it at the sunlight. Vodka should not have any foreign particles, orange, light yellow and other shades. If the color changes, then you have poorly purified vodka, alcohol or water of which contains foreign impurities.

4. Cap. The factory bottle has a neat cap that does not scroll or leak. It is better to buy vodka with a ball dispenser, since it is more difficult to counterfeit such a bottle in an underground workshop.

5. Label. Must be glued evenly and all inscriptions are legible. This also applies to the excise stamp. The plant is obliged to indicate its full legal address, the address of production facilities, the composition of the drink and the GOST according to which it is made. This is how new little-known vodka brands are tested. Sometimes a surrogate hides under the guise of a completely new vodka that has just appeared on the market.

In the case of a well-known brand, checking the address and composition will not give anything (with rare exceptions), since counterfeiters simply copy a ready-made label. They can be given only by faded paper with poorly readable letters, on the quality of which they decided to save money.

The spill dates on the label and bottle cap must match. Although it takes a few seconds to check the dates, many people are lazy to do it when buying fake vodka. Not all clandestine workshops control the time of the spill. This is especially true for counterfeiting the cheapest brands.

6. Protection of producers. Realizing that it is difficult for a buyer to distinguish between good and fake vodka, well-known brands develop their own security systems that are difficult to counterfeit. These can be embossed signs, emblems and other quality markers applied to the bottle.

You can find out about the protection of your chosen vodka on the manufacturer's website. At least there you will see what the original looks like, and then compare with the bottles that are on store shelves.

Attention! Compliance with all the criteria does not guarantee 100% protection against counterfeiting. Burned vodka has a pungent unpleasant odor. It is better to throw away an accidentally purchased fake than risk your health and even your life.