Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Lifting the lid on fake whisky industry

Lifting the lid on fake whisky industry

Whisky collectors are being duped into paying thousands of pounds for fake antique bottles of Scotland’s national drink.

With old and rare whiskies becoming ever more popular among collectors – leading to a rise in prices – the evidence points to an increase in counterfeit bottles being offered for sale.

John Grant, chairman of Glenfarclas Distillery at Ballindalloch, said he has seen dozens of fake antique bottles.

He said: “When the trade first came to our attention, the bottles were mainly miniatures and most of them originated from Italy, but now things seem to have moved on.”

Mr Grant said that while some of the fakes are so amateurish as to be almost laughable, others are highly sophisticated and can only be detected by those with specialist knowledge.

He said: “I spoke to a famous auction house in America and told them that a bottle they were offering for sale was categorically a fake.

“All they did was add the word ‘allegedly’ to their catalogue. I thought that was appalling.”

Mr Grant added that some real bottles were also not as old as they were billed.

He said: “I know of one instance where a bottle of Glenfarclas was sold for about £3,000 at another auction house in New York.

“It was stated as being from the 1940s, but I could tell just by looking at a picture that it could only have been produced between the end of 1964 and January 1967.

“Nobody from the auction house ever bothered to get in touch with us to try to verify the facts.”

Mr Grant, whose great-great-great grandfather bought the Glenfarclas distillery near Ballindaloch in 1865, advised anyone thinking of buying a highly expensive whisky to make contact with the relevant distillery and post a picture of the label.

A Scotch Whisky Association spokesman said: “It is a problem, although it tends to be more overseas than in Britain. Putting an accurate monetary figure on the counterfeit trade is notoriously difficult for the simple fact that you don’t know whether a bottle is fake until it’s revealed as such.”

A spokesman for Trading Standards said: “The higher the value of the product the bigger the temptation for some people to go and break the law.

“Because of the high cost of antique whiskies, buyers should always exercise a lot of caution and do as much homework as they possibly can.”

A genuine 90-year-old bottle of Glenfarclas has been up for auction for the past week at www.whisky-onlineauctions.com.

Bids can still be lodged until 8pm today.