How to distinguish fake alcohol from the real one by external signs? Fake alcohol.

On the eve of the upcoming New Year, the volume of sales of alcoholic products increases sharply. Unscrupulous dealers take advantage of this and actively throw counterfeit alcoholic products on the market.

The Department of Licensing and Trade of Primorsky Krai gives some advice on how to protect yourself from purchasing illegal and low-quality alcoholic products.

Why is counterfeit alcohol dangerous?

Fake alcohol may contain methanol - methyl, or wood alcohol. It is also called technical, it is a terrible poison, and it is from it that people die or become disabled.

As with regular ethyl alcohol, once in the bloodstream, methyl alcohol passes through the liver, where, like its safer counterpart, it is oxidized by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). If not for this chemical reaction, technical alcohol would not carry any danger: by itself, it does not have high toxicity. Therefore, the first thing that a person who has drunk such alcohol feels is the usual symptoms of intoxication.

However, under the influence of ADH, methanol is converted into formaldehyde and formic acid. These products are extremely harmful to health: they damage the central nervous system, in particular the retina and optic nerve, leading to blindness and severe poisoning with failure of the kidneys and other internal organs.

Where can you buy alcohol?

Only organizations can sell alcohol, not individuals. Low-alcohol drinks - beer, cider, mead can be sold by both companies and individual entrepreneurs. You can buy alcohol only in outlets that have a license for the retail sale of alcoholic products. A copy of the license must be displayed prominently in the Consumer Corner. When selling a drink along with a bottle, you must be given a receipt. Any sale of alcohol by hand or through an online store is illegal.

How to distinguish fake alcohol by a bottle or a label?

As a rule, legal producers pour alcoholic products into consumer containers that have special distinctive features (original corrugations, embossing, etc.). The label and back label must be pasted evenly without distortions.

How to distinguish counterfeit alcohol by a federal special stamp or excise stamp?

All alcoholic products produced in the territory of the customs union are pasted over with federal special stamps, and imported alcoholic products are pasted over with excise duty stamps. Such marking confirms the payment of excise duty on each bottle produced by alcoholic beverages.

To visually recognize the authenticity of such brands, you can use the following recommendations:

1. They are printed on self-adhesive paper, which has a special UV emission;

2. Copper holographic foil with a pattern and repeating images of the Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation and the abbreviation "RF" is pressed onto paper for printing excise stamps for alcohol in 2014;

3. A security thread with an irregular window has been inserted into the paper. The window shows the image applied to the thread in the form of pink stripes. Under the influence of ultraviolet light, the image is visualized as the abbreviation "RF" in pink, blue and yellow-orange colors in an oval ring;

4. The abbreviation "RF" is printed on the reverse side of the stamps;

5. An element printed with color-shifting ink changes color from purple to brown depending on the viewing angle;

6. The stamp number is printed by inkjet printing and consists of three digits indicating the grade and nine digits of the stamp number itself;

7. The information on the brand and label of the bottle must match. Here are the name of the alcoholic product, the type of alcoholic product, the capacity of the container, the fortress, the name of the manufacturer and its location.

How to identify fake champagne?

It is possible to distinguish what is in front of you - soda with alcohol or real sparkling wine (champagne) by the bubbles. Throw something into the champagne glass, like a cherry. If it instantly becomes covered with small and frequent bubbles - you have real champagne in front of you. If the bubbles are large and rare, they will quickly float to the surface - in front of you is a fake. By the way, any object thrown into a bottle of soda is covered with just such bubbles.

How to identify fake vodka?

It's about checking the appearance of the drink before buying it. There are signs, the presence of which should motivate you to choose another vodka or even a store.

1. Price. As of December 2015, in accordance with the order of Rosalkogolregulirovanie, a bottle of vodka with a capacity of 0.5 liters with an ethyl alcohol content of 40 percent must be sold at retail for at least 195 rubles per bottle. Accordingly, if the capacity of a bottle of vodka is one liter, then the price is twice as expensive. If you prefer a certain brand of vodka, then you should know the average price of a bottle. If in one of the stores the price is 15-30 percent lower, then the risk of buying fake vodka there increases several times. Miracles do not happen, the cost of the same vodka in different stores cannot differ much.

At the same time, it should be noted that earlier it was the low price that gave out fake vodka, but now the counterfeiters have wised up and in most cases sell their surrogate at the price of the original. Therefore, related factors must be taken into account;

2. Color. Real vodka is absolutely transparent without turbidity and sediment at the bottom. To check this, just turn the bottle upside down, hold it for a few seconds and look through it at the sunlight. Vodka should not have third-party particles, orange, light yellow and other shades. If the color changes, then you have poor purification vodka, the alcohol or water of which contains third-party impurities.

How to distinguish ordinary alcohol from technical?

In some cases, it is possible to determine low-quality alcohol only after the bottle is opened. How to distinguish an alcoholic surrogate?

Methyl alcohol in appearance and smell does not differ from ordinary ethyl alcohol.

Therefore, the main protection against poisoning is the purchase of drinks in proven places.

If for some reason you suspect that alcohol is fake, try checking it at home:

If you set fire to a strong drink based on ethyl alcohol, then it should burn with a blue flame, while burning methanol has a green color;
if the drink is transparent, throw a small piece of raw potato into the bottle: in technical alcohol it will turn pink, and in vodka it will remain white;

If you heat a copper wire on a fire and lower it into a liquid, then methanol will give itself out with an unpleasant pungent smell of formaldehyde, ethanol does not smell at all during the test.

Of course, the wisest thing to do would be to refuse tasting in any doubtful case, even if chemical experiments did not reveal anything suspicious.

How to understand that he was poisoned by a surrogate?

The insidiousness of methanol intoxication lies in the fact that its first symptoms are too similar to the consequences of ordinary drunkenness: a person may complain of dizziness, nausea, severe weakness.

However, other warning signs develop within a few hours. It can be:

Severe pain all over the body;

Deterioration of vision, in which the picture before the eyes can swim and obscure dancing spots appear;

Slow heartbeat and breathing;

A coma in which a drunk person does not respond to external stimuli and does not wake up.

Such symptoms are a sign of great trouble. If you suspect methanol poisoning, you need to urgently call an ambulance and start providing first aid on your own.

Buying the left alcohol is fraught not only with money thrown to the wind, but also with serious health consequences. Learn to distinguish fake from real products!

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age.

Are you over 18 already?

The main danger of drinking counterfeit alcohol is that it can be fraught with health, and in especially severe cases, lead to death. Therefore, it is important to be able to recognize a fake at the stage of purchase.

Why fake alcohol is dangerous

With legal alcohol, everything is simple: its quality is controlled at all stages of production and sale, so the risk of unforeseen consequences for the body from its use is minimal. The most common “complication” (unless, of course, you have an individual intolerance to alcohol) is a painful hangover if you suddenly overdo it with the dosage.

In the case of counterfeit, no one can say what raw materials it is made of, and even more so guarantee its quality. Here are just some types of fakes: powdered whiskey, wine based on apple juice with alcohol, cognac tinted with sawdust or tea.

The body's response to all these ingredients can be unpredictable. The most dangerous surrogate, which contains technical alcohol - methanol. This is a highly toxic substance that is added to household chemicals and solvents. When ingested, it is deadly: 50 grams of methanol will be enough to kill.

According to the statistics of Rospotrebnadzor, only in the first nine months of last year, the number of acute alcohol poisoning in Russia amounted to almost 36.3 thousand cases, 9319 people died from alcohol poisoning.

What alcohol is counterfeited most often

Producers of counterfeit alcohol, as they say, adjust to the needs of consumers. The leader in the number of counterfeit products in Russia is the “national” alcoholic drink - vodka, because it is the most popular.

Counterfeits are also found among other varieties of alcohol. For example, wine is most often counterfeited red and the one that is sold in a tetra pack. There are fakes among different types of whiskey, gins, cognacs, rum.

Counterfeit manufacturers target different consumers. Leftist alcohol can be found both among budget items and among elite brands. In a word, no one is safe from a fake, therefore, when buying a strong drink, you need to focus on your own vigilance.

What to look for when buying alcohol

Place

When buying alcohol in dubious stores, and even more so in stalls or from obscure sellers via the Internet, you are more likely to stumble upon a fake. And the risk is minimal in large retail chains that monitor the quality of goods, and specialized alcohol stores.

Bottle

Alcohol producers themselves, especially elite brands, are trying to protect their customers from fakes. The easiest way to do this is with the help of containers into which alcohol is poured. Before buying cognac, whiskey or other well-known brands of alcohol, go to the manufacturer's website. There will definitely be an image of the bottle from all angles. Study it. It is quite expensive to make an original bottle with all the reliefs and engravings, so there will be no branded “curls” on the container of fake alcohol or they will be located in the wrong places, and the glass will be of poor quality. The cap of the native bottle should not flow and scroll. Volume is also important: manufacturers bottle alcohol in bottles of a certain volume. For example, if you see a half-liter bottle of cognac with the Hennessy label, this is a 100% fake, since the original cognac of this brand is not sold in containers of this volume.

However, you should not focus only on the bottle. Now on the Internet you can buy cheap original empty containers from famous brands of alcohol, which counterfeiters are happy to use.

Price

Discounts are discounts, but no matter how much you want, a bottle of aged cognac made in France will not cost 500 rubles. Find out in advance the average price of the alcohol you want to purchase, and then use common sense. Discounts of 70% on elite goods should definitely alert.

By the way, Russian legislation will also help you - it sets the minimum price for alcoholic products. So, a bottle of vodka with a volume of 0.5 liters at retail cannot cost less than 205 rubles, and the minimum price for cognac of the same volume is 371 rubles.

Excise stamp

This sticker on the bottle makes it clear that the manufacturer has paid a tax to the state, and the state, in turn, knows about the existence of a particular bottle and guarantees its quality. Excise stamps differ depending on the strength and composition of alcohol. For example, there are four excises for strong alcohol, nine for wine. The brand should be evenly and tightly pasted on the bottle, all inscriptions should be clear and legible. It should have a hologram and a barcode.

You can check the brand using the Anti-Counterfeit Alco smartphone application, which was developed by the Federal Service Rosalkogolregulirovaniye, or on the website Unified social portal of the alcohol market.

Remember that you need to check alcohol for an excise stamp before you pay for it, since this type of product is non-refundable.

Check

In Russia, all alcohol sellers work in the EGAIS system, which allows you to control the sale of alcohol. If the place where you are going to buy alcohol does not have such a system, it is better not to buy there. In other cases, you should be given a receipt with a QR code and a link encrypted in it. They will lead you to the website of the Federal Tax Service, where all the information about the sale will be indicated: date, time, place, series and number of stamps and type of product. Check that all data matches.

Signs of alcohol poisoning

Drinking alcohol can lead to poisoning and intoxication. It is important to recognize in time that you are not dealing with the usual intoxication or alcohol-induced malaise, but with a more serious problem. The symptoms of alcohol poisoning depend on the quantity and quality of the drink, but in general they are as follows:

• nausea;
• vomit;
• pain in the upper abdomen, which occurs due to the negative effects of ethyl alcohol on the mucous membrane of the stomach and small intestine;
• indigestion, diarrhea.

The first symptoms of methanol intoxication are similar to poisoning: a person experiences severe weakness, dizziness, and may feel sick. This is the danger - you can lose precious time. Other, more serious symptoms appear within a few hours. You need to sound the alarm if the drinker:

• severe pain in the body, pain in the abdomen;
• slow breathing and heartbeat;
• deterioration of vision: spots appear before the eyes, the picture floats;
• there is no reaction to external stimuli: the person is in a coma.

When the first serious symptoms appear, you need to urgently call an ambulance. While waiting for the doctors, you can provide first aid. The algorithm of actions will be the same as with ordinary food poisoning: drink water and induce vomiting.

Important: it is known that the action of methanol can slow down ordinary ethanol. However, in no case do not try to treat intoxication with ordinary alcohol on your own before the arrival of doctors - you can only worsen the condition, and the doctors will no longer be able to help.

So let's sum it up. How not to get into trouble when buying alcohol and protect yourself and your company from health problems?

1. Too low a price for alcohol is a reason to refuse a purchase. Discounts have the right to be, but within reasonable limits: 70% of the price is too much.
2. The visiting card of expensive alcohol is its bottle. Examine its appearance on the official website of the manufacturer. The counterfeit manufacturer in most cases will save on the appearance of the container.
3. Buy alcohol in trusted places with a good reputation. The outlet must necessarily work according to the EGAIS system.
4. The excise stamp on the bottle must be tightly glued, the batch number is indicated and there is a hologram.
5. Check the details of the purchased alcohol using a QR code or a link on the receipt. If the official data does not match what you bought, do not drink such alcohol.

The Ministry of Health warns: Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health!

Not surprisingly, the largest number of counterfeit products is among alcohol. There is always a demand for it, and many unscrupulous manufacturers seek to capitalize on someone else's good name. As a result, buyers end up in hospitals with food poisoning, etc. Yes, there are more or less high-quality fakes that are harmless to health and differ little from the original, but this is rare.

Based on the foregoing, it can be argued that every modern buyer should be able to distinguish high-quality alcohol from a fake. Remember that if a product is not bought, sooner or later it will cease to be produced. This also applies to fakes.

So how do you determine if you have real alcohol from the manufacturer? Pay attention to the following recommendations.

Cognac

Unfortunately, you can be one hundred percent sure of the quality and authenticity of cognac only after you open it. Cognac labels are currently forged very professionally, so it is extremely difficult to distinguish the original from the label. But at the same time, the drink itself and its consistency can indicate a lot.

First you need to determine how thick the drink is. To do this, turn the bottle upside down and see how the liquid behaves. If a large drop falls from the bottom, and the drink leaves traces of dripping on the walls of the bottle, then this can be considered one of the guarantees that the drink is really of high quality. This consistency of the drink indicates that the exposure of cognac is five years or more.

In the event that the bottle is completely filled with a drink, bubbles can help determine its quality. You also need to turn the bottle upside down to get your bearings on the bubbles. Ideally, there should be large bubbles first, and then small ones. This indicates that you have an original product of the required density. But remember that in any case, you will know one hundred percent that the cognac is original only after opening it.

Whiskey

The drink itself should be clear. A high level of transparency indicates that high-quality purified water was used in the production. If the drink is cloudy, you can be sure that you have a fake in front of you. Quite poor quality though.

In the same way as in the case of cognac, you can determine the quality of whiskey by the bubbles. Here they are quite large. In addition, the drink itself should also be thick enough and leave traces when it flows down the walls.

The drink itself should not give off alcohol. The flavor should be oaky or malty. And a truly high-quality whiskey leaves a long aftertaste. But, again, it is often possible to determine the quality and originality of a drink only after opening the bottle.

Wine

Counterfeits of wine are not so common. Mainly due to the fact that there are quite a few really well-known brands, and there is not much point in counterfeiting those products that are mass-produced. On quality wine there is a hologram on the label, as well as small-character markings. And these are quite effective ways to protect against counterfeiting. First of all, due to the fact that the technology for the production of labels with such elements is quite expensive.

Cork is an important element. It should not crumble and fall into the liquid. Please note that corks for expensive wines are made from a single piece of wood. For cheap wine, a stopper made from wood waste - crusts - is also suitable. The cork itself should not be plastic. If you see it, you can be almost one hundred percent sure that you have a low-quality fake. This product is best avoided.

For some of the more expensive varieties of wine, even an imprint is made with the year of production of the wine and the vineyard. The cork of a quality wine should smell like berries, but definitely not dampness or mold. If the smell bothers you, stop drinking this drink to avoid future health problems.

Vodka

It is vodka that is the alcohol that is most often counterfeited. Not surprising, because there is always a demand for it, and counterfeiting a drink is quite simple. And fake vodka often turns out to be much more dangerous for the human body than fakes of other drinks. In some cases, fake products contain a lot of toxic fusel substances - oils.

In order to visually assess the quality of the drink, you need to turn the bottle over and look at the bottom. There should be absolutely no sediment at the bottom of the bottle, and the liquid itself should be absolutely transparent. If you see that the liquid is opaque, do not buy it.

As for the appearance of the bottle, today the excise stamp, hologram, and other elements of the label that are difficult to fake can serve as a guarantee of quality. And in order to assess the quality of the drink itself, without opening the bottle, you need to shake the vodka in a circular motion. This should cause bubbles to appear. If they are large, it means that the vodka is heavily diluted with water. Ideally, small bubbles should rise to the top.

Regardless of which alcohol you choose, the first thing you need to look at is the bottle, the label, and the presence of an excise stamp. Pay attention not only to the appearance of the label, but also to how evenly it is pasted. If you see that the label is applied at an angle, this can indicate that the alcohol is fake. In the original production, such defects are not allowed, and each individual bottle of alcohol looks identical to the rest. labels for vodka attached perfectly straight. Please note that in many expensive cognacs, the label itself feels like money to the touch. High-quality label material is one of the main guarantees that the drink itself is of high quality. The label should contain comprehensive information about the manufacturer and the product itself. This will allow you to better understand what kind of product is in front of you.

Remember that at present there are unimaginably many fakes of alcoholic products. And it largely depends on the buyer how much he succumbs to the risk of choosing unsuitable low-grade products. Therefore, the choice should be approached as carefully as possible, taking alcohol from trusted manufacturers and trusted points of sale. This is the only way to be sure of the quality of the selected product and its safety. Take care of your health and remember that almost anything can be faked today. Your task is to identify a fake and not buy it.

About the sale of "elite alcoholic beverages" at prices that are several times less than store prices,. Now this topic has become very relevant, because such alcohol has become deadly. Here are the sad statistics of November 2015:

• In Krasnoyarsk, 12 died from poisoning with surrogate whiskey labeled Jack Daniel`s. The examination showed that the drink consisted of 60% methyl alcohol. Two men in Orenburg died from the same drink.
• In the Moscow region, four men drank a surrogate cognac with the labels "Lezginka" and "Kizlyar". Two have died. In the same area, a company of five men bought a surrogate rum labeled Bacardi. Two died, and one was an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
• Two women died from poisoning by the "leftist" Bacardi in Kursk, and in Chuvashia - two girls and a young man.

As Valentina Matvienko recently stated, 60% of alcohol in the country is counterfeit. And five years ago it was no more than 15%. All well-known brands of elite alcohol are faked - gins, whiskey, cognacs, rum, vodka ... For example, in March of this year, during a raid of the Tula customs and the UEBiPK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Tula region, 144,030 bottles of alcoholic beverages with labels Hennessy, Red Label, Chivas Regal were seized , Jack Daniel's, Olmeca, etc.

Denis Nikonov, CEO of Dionis:

Denis Nikonov

We took open data for Tula and the Tula region. In October 2015 alone, more than 700,000 bottles of counterfeit alcohol were seized in the region. For comparison, according to statistics, a total of 700,000 bottles of vodka per month are sold in the regional retail chain. That is, only the seized volume of counterfeit alcohol is equal to the monthly turnover. And how many are left in the shadows?!

What is all this elite "yummy" made of? As the results of the examinations show, usually low-quality alcohol (the cheapest, unrefined, perhaps even methyl) and additive powders (as yuppies used to be bred). After taking such liquids, you can simply not wake up.

The distribution channels for counterfeit alcohol are wide - online stores, taxi drivers, garages - they are also popularly called "garage duty free". Yes, and small shops, especially those selling from under the floor at night,.

Many do not think about the fact that high-quality alcohol of well-known brands cannot cost
300-500 rubles.

And no excuses like “this is a confiscation from customs” should convince you to risk your health and life. Just because the Tula customs does not clear anything alcoholic. And the alcohol confiscated in underground workshops is destroyed by the police.

Another "argument" from fans of "garage duty free": well, before that, they always bought, drank - and nothing! And putting rum or whiskey on the table is more prestigious than ordinary vodka. By the way, we asked (incognito, of course) university professors - what do students usually give them? The most common option is a half-liter Hennessy XO cognac in a box. And respected teachers have no idea that a drink can be bought via the Internet for 500 rubles. A real Hennessy XO costs at least an order of magnitude more! Yes, and there is no such cognac in a half-liter container.

Or another situation. When ordering corporate banquets or weddings in restaurants and cafes, they agree that alcohol will be brought separately. And if earlier it was ordinary vodka and wine, now elite whiskeys and cognacs are used for prestige. From garage duty free. Establishments that value their reputation usually refuse such a service.

Another example. Guests dropped in on the light on Friday evening. With a prestigious bottle of rum or whiskey. Will you look at the excise stamp and torture your friend, where and how much did he buy alcohol, demand a check from the store? Well, to be honest, no. But in vain.

You can buy any alcohol only at licensed outlets,” explains Denis Nikonov. - There is a minimum opportunity to buy crafts. From January 1, 2016, licensed stores must be equipped with the EGAIS system (a unified state automated information system designed for state control over the volume of production and turnover of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products). And from July 1, 2016, the sale must be carried out using special scanners that read the alcohol brand. According to it, the system determines what kind of drink, where and when it was produced. And if something does not match, the checkout is blocked. Also, the buyer will also receive a special check with a QR code. EGAIS is the only system that guarantees that alcohol is not counterfeit.

One of the most famous sommeliers in Russia Erkin Tuzmukhamedov claims that outwardly it is difficult even for representatives of trading companies to distinguish fakes from legal products.

Erkin Tuzmukhamedov

Erkin Tuzmukhamedov advises, if possible, to study guaranteed legal samples - in order to be able to distinguish fakes.

We decided to conduct a master class on recognizing fakes. They invited experts from a company that specializes in the sale of alcohol. They brought real copies of elite alcohol and their fake copies (in the company they serve as simulators - they are used to train staff to recognize "left products").

For every bottle of quality alcohol, there is a surrogate copy. And this is only part of the iceberg of the shadow alcohol market.

The most difficult thing, it turned out, was to recognize Russian products - the knowledge of printing helped, on the "left" samples of the label aroused suspicion.

With imported alcohol, everything was even more interesting. So, let's remember.

1. Expensive alcohol is not poured into a 0.5 liter container. For example, Hennessy XO can be either 0.35L or 0.7L. And Johnnie Walker Blue Label whiskey is bottled only in 0.7 liters.

On the right is real cognac. It is poured into a 0.3 liter
bottle (option - 0.7). The letters on the label are embossed.
On the left is a fake in a half-liter package.

Attention to the caps: on the right is a real bottle, on the left is a fake.

2. Alcohol counterfeiting on such a scale would be impossible if shadow producers had nowhere to buy bottles of the desired shape and size.

Here we are lucky so far, - says Denis Nikonov, - you can easily distinguish the original from the local fake by looking at the bottom. In Russia, on most production lines, the bottle has an orientator - a special recess on the bottom (a special recess or bulge on the container to stick labels evenly relative to other elements) - on the bottom. And the original foreign lines center the bottle on special chamfers or recesses on the cylindrical part. Therefore, the orientator on the bottom of the allegedly imported bottle is a 99% counterfeit bottle.

On the right is real whiskey, on the left is fake. Understanding the details

On the left: the orientator on the bottom means that the bottle was made on the Russian line. This is definitely a "left" whisky. But it happens that the bottle has both a bottom and a side orientator. This is also counterfeit!

Imported alcohol must have an excise stamp. If a federal special stamp is glued, then the product is made in Russia. Whiskey with a federal special stamp on the bottle is clearly garage-made. Don't drink - you may not wake up.

The real Jack got sharp bottle ribs
cover under polyethylene and embossed inscription on the neck

The “left Jack” has an inscription in Russian on the bottom of the bottle - 1 liter.

3. On counterfeit bottles, alcohol brands (excise or special) are fake. Only fakes can be of different levels of performance. After all, the brand itself is, in fact, a banknote, the same paper with watermarks, holograms and other degrees of protection. The alcohol brand is blurry, without a hologram - this is counterfeit. Often, not an excise stamp, but a federal special stamp is glued to the "left" elite products, often with an incorrect indication of displacement.

Alcohol stamps from liter bottles of rum. Correct - top

Champagne correct - on the right, and fake - on the left.
As they say, no comment.

Is there a danger that in a bar or nightclub, restaurant or cafe, they will pour “leftist alcohol”? Artem Grigoriev, sommelier, wine school coach, believes that if you are 100 percent sure of the institution's reputation and a specific waiter or bartender, then you can order drinks by the glass. But it’s still better to take an unopened bottle - so that after drinking 200 grams of whiskey you don’t have to guess what it was and where I spent the next three days?

Artyom Grigoriev

According to Artem, all known drinks are counterfeited, most often Georgian wines. And vodka is also counterfeited. For example, you probably saw packaging boxes for Tsarskaya Okhota vodka near convenience stores. But such a brand legal in nature does not exist!

Sergei Prokopets, a well-known bartender, a member of the Russian Bartenders Association, believes that there is a danger of getting a glass of "leftist" alcohol in public catering.

Sergey Prokopets

It's all about the human factor. Even the manager may not guess what the bartender earns extra money. And video recording cameras in the bar area do not help here. There are cases, we sort them into associations, when in decent clubs instead of absinthe, for example, wine syrup is poured. All these moments are on the conscience of the bartender. Therefore, if you are confident in him, know him personally - one question. But I advise you to be vigilant and carefully watch what you pour drinks from. Suspicion should cause a bottle of 0.5 liters. Restaurants and clubs buy larger volumes with factory dispensers.

And yet, according to Sergey Prokopets, a real product costs money, because they have been working on it for centuries, making a bouquet and developing production technology. And do not deceive yourself by buying an elite branded drink at a cheap price.

Interest in the problem "How to distinguish fake alcohol from the real one?" understandable. A surrogate can not only harm the human body, but also lead to death. Unfortunately, due to the popularity and high cost of good strong drinks, they are often faked. Fraudsters sell elite alcohol at a lower price, attracting consumers. You can distinguish it from the real one if you know what to look for. This is what we are going to study now.

original bottle or not

Following the law of the Russian Federation, alcoholic beverages are allowed to be sold to organizations that have received a license. Individual entrepreneurs have the right to sell low-alcohol products such as mead, beer, cider.

The sale of alcohol via the Internet or by hand is not controlled. In this case, no one is immune from buying a surrogate.

How to recognize a fake by looking at the bottle:

1. We look at the correctness of the sticker of the excise stamp. If not, then you should not risk buying such a product. The excise stamp is located on top of the cork, and its ends are glued along the neck.
2. Before purchasing expensive alcohol, you should study the label of a real product on the Internet. It should contain all the information about the manufacturer and products. The fact that the label cannot be glued crookedly and with adhesive smudges is not even worth talking about.
3. It is necessary to take into account the cost of elite products. If it is low, there is a suspicion that it is a fake. Perhaps you won’t get poisoned with such a drink, but you won’t get the original taste either.

Some manufacturers of elite products give the bottle an original shape, color scheme, decor. Knowing how the product looks, it is easier to distinguish high-quality alcohol.

Recognizing counterfeit alcohol

Not always people follow the advice and buy alcohol-containing products in online stores. Well, everything is possible, and even the purchase of elite cognac through the World Wide Web. You can check whether it is safe or not after uncorking the bottle.

What you need to do for this at home:

1. The original product must be free of sediment and other impurities. The exception is cream of tartar in aged products.
2. You can test vodka with raw potatoes. In the present product, it will remain unchanged. If there is industrial alcohol in the bottle, the potatoes will turn pink.
3. A real strong drink burns with a blue flame when set on fire. If the fire turns green, methanol has been added to the drink.
4. To find out the quality of alcohol, you need to heat the copper wire to redness and dip it into the drink. A strong smell of formaldehyde will indicate the presence of methanol.
5. Using litmus paper, learn about the presence of sulfuric acid in the product. If, after dipping into the drink, she turned blue, it is dangerous to drink it.

Such experiments are not required if you purchase products at a specialized outlet. In this case, be sure to require a sales receipt.

How to identify real alcohol

Manufacturers of luxury products are trying to protect their consumers. For this purpose, various methods of protection are being developed. By external signs, some popular products can be distinguished.

Vodka

Refers to the most counterfeited product. Quite often there are cases of poisoning with vodka. Signs of the original, which are worth paying attention to:

• we give preference to well-known brands;
• the cork of the original "sits" tightly on the bottle and does not scroll;
• the price of a half-liter bottle of this product should not be less than 300 rubles;
• when opening the bottle, the excise stamp retains its integrity, and after its removal, traces of glue remain;
• original label contains information about the manufacturer, license number, date of manufacture;
• imported products are supplied with laser dot marking on glass, which cannot be erased; a fake does not have it.

In a real drink, after shaking in a circular motion, you can notice a whirlwind of small bubbles. If their size is larger than expected, and they quickly disappear, this indicates a fake.

Wine

A substitute for wine products is much less common. Therefore, it is easier to distinguish a fake from a real drink. What we pay attention to:

• on the original bottle there is a special marking or a hologram;
• on the "shoulders" of containers of elite products, a collar is glued, on which additional information about the quality of the drink is located;
• information on the label is printed in advance, and the date of manufacture is stamped on the bottle during the capping process;
• some manufacturers of expensive wines decorate bottles with additional identification marks that you need to know when choosing a particular product;
• when shaking the wine, a small sediment may appear, which quickly sinks to the bottom after shaking;
• in a fake, the cork has an unpleasant odor and crumbles a lot, but this is only discovered after buying a drink.

To check a quality product or not, after purchase, you can “test” the wine with glycerin. To do this, 1 part of the substance is added to 5 parts of the drink. A change in the color of glycerin indicates a fake, as well as staining of chalk after a drop of wine.

Even the cheapest cognac costs at least $10-15. The older the drink, the more expensive it is. You can distinguish this product by the following features:

• the label of an elite drink is often made of special paper, reminiscent of the one on which money is printed;
• the film covering the cork must be made using special technology and have a dense structure;
• products of some brands are distinguished by their original design, for example, Hennessy with the emblem of a hand with a halberd;
• sufficient light transmission and the absence of impurities are signs of a natural product;
• to make sure of the required density of the product, you need to turn the bottle over, after which an oily drop should fall from its bottom.

Freshly opened cognac smells like oak bark. "Scorched" drink has the smell of kerosene, acetone or alcohol. Unfortunately, this can only be understood after uncorking the bottle.

Whiskey

The growing popularity of real whiskey leads to the spread of its fakes. In addition to the general signs of counterfeiting, you should pay attention to the following nuances:

• original whiskey has a light yellow-brown color;
• subject to the manufacturing technology, the drink remains transparent, without impurities;
• after shaking the whiskey, large bubbles form, and droplets slowly flow down the walls of the bottle.

Signs of natural products that are found after uncorking the product - malt or oak aroma. There should be no smell of alcohol.

Signs of alcohol poisoning

People who do not follow the warnings risk being poisoned by the surrogate. This is very dangerous and often fatal. Often the symptoms of intoxication are very similar to the signs of a hangover. In this case, the person suffers from weakness, dizziness, nausea.

In case of poisoning, after a certain time, the following symptoms are added:

• painful discomfort throughout the body;
• deterioration in breathing and slowing of the heartbeat;
• decreased visual function, dancing spots before the eyes, blurry pictures;
• weakening of the reaction to external stimuli or the complete absence of resistance, characteristic of a coma.

At the first suspicion of intoxication, you should immediately contact the rescue service. In this case, every minute is precious. While waiting for an ambulance, you should try to follow the instructions of the dispatcher.

What is the state doing to combat counterfeiting?

In order to ensure proper control over domestically produced and imported products, an automated EGAIS system was created in 2005. While it has significant flaws that are corrected in the course of use. But since 2016, wholesale and small wholesale buyers will not be able to legally trade in alcohol without registering in the system.

The consumer needs to buy alcoholic beverages only at specialized points of sale and require a certificate. Thanks to this, it is easy to protect yourself from buying a dangerous surrogate.