Tag Archives: scotch

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Whisky Improves With Age

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Whisky, food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database.
Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Aged Scotch whisky can cost a fortune. For example, a bottle of Macallan Fine and Rare 60-Year-Old 1926 was auctioned off for $1.9 million. What a perfect target for counterfeiters! Nuclear science to the rescue: Scientists at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Center have developed a method to determine a whisky’s age. The radioactive fallout from the detonation of atomic bombs in the 1950s and 1960s has enabled scientists to create a Carbon-14 calibration curve based on whiskies with known age.

Resource

  1. Gordon T Cook, Elaine Dunbar, Brian G Tripney and Derek Fabel (8 January 2020): “Using Carbon Isotopes to Fight the Rise in Fraudulent Whisky”. Cambridge University Press. Volume 62, Issue 1, February 2020, pp. 51-62