EXPOSURE OF FORGED RARE WHISKY JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Rare Whisky 101, the whisky analyst, broker and investment expert, has unearthed a trove of forged rare Scotch malt whisky, leading to concerns over the authenticity of rare old whisky currently on sale throughout the worldwide auction market.

The forged haul includes a fake bottle of Laphroaig 1903, potentially worth £100,000, and two fake part sets of Macallan Fine and Rare, one worth around £500,000 and the other worth around £250,000.

As a warning to unscrupulous rare whisky collectors and investors, these findings mark the first significant indication that professional fraud is more commonplace than ever previously considered.

As the Rare Whisky market continues to experience dynamic growth in volume and value it is forecast that the UK Whisky Auction market will trade around 55,000 bottles and turn over around £12,000,000 in 2016.

Key to this growth, for buyers and sellers, is absolute trust in the market. As demand continues to soar for very old and rare bottles, prices are continuing to rocket based on confidence in the market’s authenticity.

Rare Whisky 101 decided to embark on a quest to authenticate what was believed to be the oldest Laphroaig in existence. The quest has been captured in a short film by Rare Whisky 101. Purchased at auction by Rare Whisky 101 in 2015, the bottle of Laphroaig 1903 was subjected to a six month long series of forensic tests including:

• Glass dating to match the bottle with the methods used in early 1900s
• Cork and capsule assessment
• Organoleptic assessment of the liquid to prove quality and style fit the profile expected from a Laphroaig
• Analysis of peat derived compounds to prove Islay signature and provenance of smoke
• Analysis of malt and grain whisky derived compounds to prove single malt or blended scotch
• Carbon dating at Oxford University’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit to verify the year of distillation.

The conclusion from Rare Whisky 101’s investigation is that the whisky is a modern fake. Results from Oxford University’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit suggested a 75% chance that the liquid (a blended scotch) was created between 2007 and 2009, more than 100 years after its suggested label date!

About Rare Whisky 101

Andy Simpson and David Robertson launched Rare Whisky 101 in 2014 with the aim of offering a whisky valuation service, brokerage and consultancy for whisky connoisseurs, collectors and investors. Having tracked every bottle sold at UK auctions over the past 12 years, the business now offers the world’s first, only and most comprehensive online single malt Scotch & Japanese whisky dataset covering some 175,000 price records over 25,000 different bottle types. In the last 12 months, RW101 have brokered around 20,000 rare whisky bottles around the globe in addition to trading in aged casks from iconic distilleries such as The Macallan, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Springbank, Mortlach, Talisker, Caol Ila, Lagavulin and Highland Park.