Dram it: third of vintage Scotch whisky fake

The Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), based in East Kilbride, carried out carbon dating on 55 bottles, discovering that 21 were not what they claimed to be on the label.

SUREC measured the residual concentrations of a radioactive carbon isotope in the samples. This helped them establish the ages of the drinks. Those distilled after the 1950s can be dated to within two or three years. But Scotch made before the 1950s has a wider date range.

The tests revealed that the whisky of an 1885 Ardbeg was distilled in 1990 and that a 1960s Ardbeg contained spirit made in 1983. In total the fake bottles were thought to have a collective value of more than £635,000.

Andy Simpson, co-founder of broker Rare Whisky 101, which sent the samples, thinks there could be up to £41 million of fake whisky owned by collectors.

Despite having been in the industry for three decades, he has not yet found a genuine bottle of single malt dating from before 1900.

He added it was impossible to know where the fakes were coming from but thought there could be a criminal element.

He said: “The exploding demand for rare whisky is inevitably attracting rogue elements to the sector.

“We are not the police and we are not private investigators. Often when we identify a fake and ask a seller about the provenance the trail goes dead. In 99 per cent of times that is what happens so it is very difficult for us to know where these things are coming from.”

Professor Gordon Cook, the head of the SUERC radiocarbon lab, said: “We have had significant help from the major distillers who provided whisky samples of known age that allowed us to start this work.”