How to identify genuine liquor

By: CHANDER SHEKHAR JEENA

The holiday season is a time for gatherings with friends and family. There are a lot of preparations made for the food, beverages, and fun so that the celebration never ends and the times spent with one another create priceless memories. Everyone's safety should be kept in mind during all of these planning and preparations, especially in regard to tainted food and alcohol.

You might be surprised to learn that alcohol is one of the most commonly counterfeited goods given how much fake alcohol is sold each year. For a few more dollars, dishonest persons can swindle by putting fake booze in used bottles or replica packaging, adulterating, or diluting actual liquor. Because they are manufactured of dangerous ingredients, drinking fake or contaminated alcohol could cause major health problems or even fatalities. Responsible and reputable liquor companies take great care and effort to keep their goods safe. However, those who produce this alcohol and counterfeit goods have no regard for the health or welfare of individuals.

By exercising a little caution and vigilance, one might prevent such unwarranted situations. Here are some quick tricks to be sure the alcohol you're drinking is real and not counterfeit:

• Shop wisely: Always buy liquor from authorized retail shops. Do not trust unauthorized shops or unauthorized person who is selling liquor. Such establishments or people mostly try to sell fake or adulterated liquor to earn money.

• The packaging reveals: Even when you are buying from authorized stores, check the packaging closely. Often counterfeiters sell fake liquor in copycat packaging, while they can produce close copies of the packaging, they are not able to perfect it. Look for any damage in the packaging, discrepancies in the colors or size of the logo, smudged labels, spelling mistakes, tampered expiry dates, etc. For example, some counterfeit bottles have Johnnie Walker spelled with a 'y'.

• Check the seal: Make sure the seal of the bottle is secure and there are no signs of tampering. Feel around the neck of the bottle and see if it feels sticky, these are indications that the bottle has either fake or adulterated, or diluted liquor.

• Government Tax stamps: Most of the States in India excluding Goa & Maharashtra are using tax stamps as an anti-counterfeiting & anti-tampering measure to ensure consumer and revenue protection. These tax stamps include various overt (visible), covert (invisible), and forensic security features along with digital features to ensure the authenticity of the liquor bottle. Please see that the proper tax stamp is there on the bottle while purchasing and does not show any signs of tampering. (KB/IANS)