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Atomsmasher boffins probe duff whisky deluge

Hollerith

how do they test? 

A single rare bottle is broached how before it's put up for auction? Hypodermic through the cork? Would this work for wine? How to you prevent oxidation with real (honest) old wines and malts?

LINCARD1000

Who needs tastebuds? 

Flame

SCIENCE!

Cameron Colley

Wow. 

Alien

The South Koreans have had RFID tags since the 1700s?!?!?

Dave

What !! 

Flame

They take a priceless Whiskey and BURN it? A bit too late to then say, yep that was a good one.

Sounds like the old test for witches, to me.

James Boag

ill do it for free 

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just send me your good stuff, i promise to test it by midnight and email you the results, that's if i can see the keyboard .

Winkypop

Duff whiskey? 

Boffin

Don't they make beer as well?

Richard

Reminds me of... 

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.... a certain episode of Hustle.

Timo

nice try Korea - FAIL 

Pirate

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".

Anonymous Coward

South Korea 

Boffin

If South Korea really was as "high tech" as everyone makes out, they'd have atomsmashers in their phones. This would then be a non-problem: RFID not required!

Anonymous Coward

Not in Kansas any more 

Long ago I worked with a couple of fellows who had grown up in dry counties of Kansas during the days of "local option". One said "I bet some of those whiskies we drank were aged as much as two, three days."

Jim

One has to wonder... 

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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.

DavCrav

Hmm 

Stop

"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.

Anonymous Coward

Uisquebeatha 

Coat

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.

Anonymous Coward

Mark 1 taste buds 

Coat

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.