THE DRAM There are still a few odds and ends to tie up from the year 2020: COVID disruption aside, we’ve collected some quick-reads and updates on happenings in the recent history of the whisky industry.
SPANISH WHISKY FRAUDS BUSTED Anyone following the news in recent years will be aware that counterfeiting fine wine has become a major criminal industry. It was inevitable that this would spill over into spirits, at every level. Spanish authorities have had a big win in the fight against fakes, with a series of arrests at the end of 2020 (something good had to come out of that horrible year). The raid by the La Guardia Civil and the Spanish Tax Agency revealed 27,000 boxes of what has been described as a ‘“well-known” whiskey brand’. It was a well-planned raid on a well-planned criminal operation, making and distributing fake whisky. We have not been advised of the brand which was the subject of the counterfeits but it was estimated that the fraud could have cost the genuine producer as much as four million euros. What was seized was valued at around A$1,000,000 (although why fake whisky is worth anything is a question I cannot answer). 14 people, between 37 and 52, were arrested. There was a chain of more than 60 businesses and factories involved in the operation, with different enterprises attending to different parts of the plan – one importing counterfeit tax stamps, another sourcing fake bottles and labels, yet another producing the cheap knock-off whisky, and so on. The whisky was reportedly destined for Spain, and for export to Austria, Belgium, France, Holland, Moldova and Russia. Such a success by the forces for good is something to which all whisky lovers can raise a glass. Of the real stuff.
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