Scotch myths... the fake malts costing bidders a fortune
WHISKY collectors are being swindled out of hundreds of thousands of pounds as sophisticated forgeries are marketed to specialist buyers.
Analysts have discovered a selection of bottles being sold at auctions worldwide are fake and clever methods mean they are becoming harder to spot.
Single malt whisky labelled as being distilled as far back as the early 1900s has been forensically tested by analysts and found to have been blended scotch made in the past ten years.
Rare Whisky 101, analysts and investment experts based in Dunfermline, Fife, found a trove of forged rare Scotch on sale in the international auction market.
Andy Simpson, 44, and David Robertson, 48, were approached by an auction house selling a bottle of Lapincluding
‘Dealing with top class imitations’
hroaig 1903 worth around £100,000. The auctioneers wanted to know if what they were selling was authentic and asked the pair to run tests.
Six months of analysis followed, a glass and cork test and carbon dating of the liquid to see when it was made.
Scientific spirit tester Tatlock & Thomson, based near Leven in Fife, assessed the bottle and found the glass was consistent with production in the early 1900s. But the cork was a cheaper and more brittle quality than typical whisky corks.
The analysts concluded the whisky was not a single malt Laphroaig 1903.
Mr Simpson said: ‘We had our suspicions from the start but the forensic testing has enabled us to examine every component.
‘Despite a very convincing aesthetic, our bottle, which had been circulating at auctions for a good few years, was most certainly a fake and quite possibly the most expensive young blended scotch in the world.
‘This result, whilst disappointing, goes to show that we’re really dealing with some top class imitations.’
Liquid samples of the Laphroaig were sent off to researchers at Oxford University to undergo carbon dating to find out when the fake was manufactured and produced.
Results showed there was a 75 per cent chance the ‘blended scotch’ was in fact produced between 2007 and 2009, making the Laphroaig a ‘modern fake’.
Mr Simpson added: ‘This experiment was a first for us, a chance to try to prove the provenance of a bottle of single malt scotch which purported to be among the oldest surviving bottles.
‘By law it takes Scotch whisky three years to mature. Since the most recent forgery could be 2012, it made sense that the whisky was made as early as 2007.’
Mr Robertson said: ‘Our Laphroaig 1903 would seem to suggest there are now some very good quality fakes which have been recently created to fool unsuspecting connoisseurs, collectors and investors into parting with serious money.’
Rare Whisky 101 was also asked to check the authenticity of Macallan Fine and Rare from auction houses.
Part sets of around 35 bottles from Europe were estimated to be worth £500,000 and 22 bottles from Asia estimated at £250,000.
The analysts were dubious about the authenticity of the bottles and later confirmed them as fake.
Mr Robertson added: ‘Our message to whisky fans is buyers beware. Don’t take the chance to acquire rare old, antique-looking whisky unless you can be 100 per cent sure of its provenance.’