Atomsmasher boffins probe duff whisky deluge Whisky aficionados are using radiocarbon dating to verify the age of expensive vintages, according to reports. Boffins at the National Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, tasked with checking out various top-end tipples, say that fakes are more common than not. Dr Tom Higham, talking to the Telegraph, said that he and his team can …
So what keeps the Korean bar-owner from refilling the bottle of fine whiskey with the latest batch of rotgut? Trying to throw a technical solution at a non-technical problem == FAIL.
In fact it makes it easier to pull off the fraud because people will believe anything that has whizzy technical things - "whiskey.kr says that it is the good stuff so I have to believe that".
After all the various nuclear accidents that have more or less flooded the whole stratosphere with radiation how do these self appointed gourmet boffins claim to be able to pick out these things? Next thing you know they'll spot Sputnik or Mir flying over the distillery. So, they can tell the difference between Bikini and Chernobyl? If they truly can I guess it's a whole new way to market vintage whiskey to yuppie idiots with more money than sense. You can glow in the dark with your favorite flavor of nuclear fallout.
Hmm, I think I'll brew up a batch of microbrew beer aged with spent nuclear fuel rods.
"After all the various nuclear accidents that have more or less flooded the whole stratosphere with radiation how do these self appointed gourmet boffins claim to be able to pick out these things? Next thing you know they'll spot Sputnik or Mir flying over the distillery. So, they can tell the difference between Bikini and Chernobyl? If they truly can I guess it's a whole new way to market vintage whiskey to yuppie idiots with more money than sense. You can glow in the dark with your favorite flavor of nuclear fallout."
Hmm. I think the following saying is useful here.
"It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
Why do people feel the need to comment about things when they have not the slightest clue about them? Oh sorry, I forgot that I was on the Internet.
A short taste test should establish how good a whisky is. Most distilleries have a panel of people with good "noses". They usually contain management, production and admin workers and sometimes gardeners. Whisky does not improve after it is bottled. Very few improve in the cask beyond 15 years. Ancient whiskies are a marketing gimmick though if anyone wants to send me a 50 year old Macallan I am prepared to subject it to a rigorous testing procedure.
Mine is the one with the Macallan 15 year old in the pocket.
If the human tasting equipment can not instantly and unequivocally tell you the whisky's age, its age doesn't therefore matter. Unless of course, the sure knowledge of the age of your whisky is more important to you than its taste. Get a bottle of Bells, its probably cheaper, you wont know the difference and the outcome is the same.
Mine's the one with the meths stains.
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