other news today the kentucky derby returned to churchill downs over the weekend and the traditional bourbon drinks were flowing but how do you know that the bourbon and whiskey you’re drinking is the real deal as les trump reports there are a lot of counterfeits out there americans love their whiskey especially fine bourbon like the one sold here at the copper still one of manhattan’s most popular whiskey bars cheers but what if your favorite barrel aged bourbon is a fake here’s an example of a perfect fake you don’t want to drink this stuff whiskey aficionado adam hers is a hollywood writer producer best known for creating the american pie franchise come on and give your old man a hug but when hers isn’t writing scripts he’s hunting down fakes by scouring online sites where he says empty bottles like these are often resold and bought by counterfeiters three hundred and eighty dollars for a single bottle why because that bottle can be refilled and sold for way over two thousand dollars he estimates there’s thousands of bogus bottles out there you don’t need to be a master con to pull this stuff off i’ve seen suburban dads counterfeiting just for an extra buck experts say counterfeiters have taken empty bottles of high-end bourbon like these filled them up with cheaper whiskey and then re-sold them for huge profits hers says he’s spoken to dozens of people who had no idea they’d bought fakes some stores are very very smart about watching out for fakes some don’t know how to do it and others turn a blind eye so we went shopping we came here to acker america’s oldest wine shop i need to pick up a really nice bourbon this salesman showed us a rare bottle of colonel e h taylor for green this is pretty top of the line right yes the price nearly a thousand dollars e.h taylor is produced here at the famous buffalo trace distillery in frankfort kentucky where 95 percent of the world’s bourbon is made buffalo trace’s technical director john medley says all their bottles come with a specific lot code like this as well as a special packaging tube like this but the one we were sold was missing both no lot code no tube does it come with um a tube or anything that one i don’t have a tube still he assured us of its authenticity and it’s the real deal right so we bought the bottle and then sent it to the buffalo trace distillery where a battery of tests was conducted right out of the gate there were enough red flags that that it peaked our interest it seemed like something wasn’t quite right he says this what’s called the bottle strip stamp was on backwards and he says a chemical analysis found the proof didn’t match their product based on all the testing that we completed including the evaluation of the bottle itself i do not believe this bottle is authentic we took our bottle back to acker and tried to speak to a manager my name is les trent from inside edition okay we bought this bottle here i’ll ask you something about this bottle he didn’t stick around sir can i ask you a question we are very sure that it is counterfeit we are sure that the liquid in the bottle is not ours mark brown the president and ceo of sazarek who owns buffalo trace the makers of e.h taylor says they’re more vigilant than ever about looking out for fakes it needs to stop and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that that it gets stopped whiskey expert adam hears says it’s still ultimately buyer beware i’ve seen fakes poured at high end restaurants by famous chefs they’re everywhere doesn’t mean you’re going to get one but you need to be careful because as soon as you think you’re not going to get a fake you’re going to get one you Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xXR2YsX9gc
