Tag Archives: whiskey

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Whisky Improves With Age

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
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
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

Caught in the Whiskey Web

By Susanne Kuehne
No Comments
Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food fraud, whiskey
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database.
Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

When we talk about the identification of fraudulent foods and beverages, many elaborate methods are available in analytical chemistry and food labs. The method of using “whiskey webs” is quite unusual in its simplicity; it is based on the unique residue left behind by each beverage after evaporation. American Whiskey is matured in new charred oak barrels that transfer a number of water-insoluble components into the final product, allowing each whiskey to leave behind its own unique “fingerprint”.

Resource

  1. Wilson, C. (October 29, 2019). “American whiskey leaves behind a web-like ‘fingerprint’, finds study”. Decanter.