Mctears latest auction

[k1ranki]

Is it just me.... ? I am looking at bottles of Macallan bottled in 1977 and earlier, that look near perfect. They are all from Italy because they were importing bottles of old Macallan long before we started to become interested in single Malts. Seems to me that they never drank any of them, keeping them all for auction if and when the Scotch Whisky market would take off!! I look at the fill and unmarked labels. Sorry it's just too good to be true. I have been collecting for 30 yrs and know that bottles get scrapes and the like, no matter how hard you try to look after them. Unfortunately some will lose a little, no matter how cool the storage is. Italy is generally a warm country, how is that nothing ever seems to evaporate there, even if they have screw tops? Remember it's 36 years since bottling and nothing has evaporated? It just seems to be wave after wave of Italian beauties. Does anyone know how the auction houses check the provenance of bottles they are offered or is it buyer beware? The amount of ancient, stratospherically priced stock coming on the market recently is becoming comical, does anyone agree or is it just me? One thing is for sure I won't be buying 'Italian' imports, even if I could afford them. I just feel that it's not a reliable source for old bottles. Am I being unfair?

[Drover]

The large number of very old Macallan whisky in perfect condition that come to the marketplace and often from Italy certainly raises suspicions.

[William]

I remember The Macallan themselves got duped with fake whisky back in 2000. They had bought a number of very rare whiskies from auctions and private sellers that went into what they called their Antique Whisky Collection. They did do tests on the bottles and paper labels which confirmed that the bottles and labels were genuine. They assumed the whisky in the bottle was genuine because the seal was good and they got it from a reliable source, this turned out to be a mistake as the whisky later proved to be fake. They did suspect around 100 bottles as being fake but i only ever heard of 11 bottles in their antique whisky collection as being confirmed as fake.

Amazingly in 2001 the Macallan went ahead with a Macallan Replica range which replicated old Macallan whiskies from their antique whisky collection which were possibly fakes.

In 2001 the Macallan released the first Replica bottling which was a replica of a Macallan produced in 1861.

In 2002 the Macallan released the 1841 Like the 1861 it was most likely based on a fake whisky.

In 2003 the Macallan released the 1876 which is now said to have been definitely based on a fake whisky.

So if The Macallan can be fooled then anyone can be, so the rule is buyer beware.
_________________
There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

[Big Mac]

William i remember the fuss about Macallan reproducing fakes they had bought. The thing about them was what they replicated was actually very good, i should know i bought more than a few bottles of them.