Is it possible to understand the alcohol is counterfeit once you open the bottle?

Sometimes people are taking a risk of purchasing counterfeit alcohol in order to save some money, whereas others purchase such alcohol unintentionally or even get it as a present. It is crucial to take all possible measures in order to protect oneself from such beverages since they can not only spoil your party with their poor taste. Counterfeit alcohol can cause severe intoxication or even death.

Unfortunately, if you already have a drink in your glass, it might be rather challenging to distinguish it from the original beverage. There is an entire variety of not necessarily pleasant organoleptic features of drinks which are actually typical for such products which means they cannot be used for identifying the quality of the beverage. Here are some details about the quality of alcohol.

Testing the colour of a beverage

The test of colour and consistency will work for potent alcohol drinks such as cognac or whiskey. The very first thing you should remember is that they have to be homogenous. This means there cannot be any layers of colours and ingredients in the drink. At the same time if you see footprints of cognac on the walls of your glass, it is normal for such drinks and the result of the viscosity and the presence of residual sugars.

You will not be able to judge about wine by its colour unless you frequently buy the same one and this time notice extreme differences in the colour which is rather unlikely. The differences in the colour of wine come from the technology used for the production of the beverage as well as the species of grapes.

Testing the smell of a beverage

Unfortunately, the smell of alcohol will hardly give you information on whether it is authentic or not and even will not be particularly informative when it comes to the general quality of the drink.

Testing cognacs, brandy, whiskey and rom

In order to test a drink with high content of alcohol, you should rub your palms with a bit of it and then smell your palms. In such a way, alcohol will get evaporated and you will be able to feel the smell of the residuals more clearly although you might still feel the smell of some spirits which is natural for such drinks. The only suspicious thing you might notice is a clear chemical smell.

Testing wine

It is even more difficult to understand the quality of a wine by its smell.

First of all, wine can be mixed with a chemical substance produced by the reactions in the bottle cork. this is rather typical for wine and it can spoil the taste of the beverage, however, it will not let you know this drink is counterfeit or dangerous for consumption. Other unpleasant smells which can deteriorate the taste of the wine albeit it is regarded as normal are the smell of wet paper, wet autumn leaves or rotten wood.

Unfortunately, when it comes to wine, it can even have rather unpleasant chemical smells which are still normal for it. For instance, a popular Riesling type of wine when made of grapes harvested in particular countries can have a smell of benzene and burnt rubber. Still, such smells are regarded as normal for this type of a drink.

Many types of wine including the ones made of torrontes grape or gewürztraminer grape can have some strong flower smell resembling of peony or rose. The smell of apricots is also typical for such wine. Yet, this can appear as some chemical smell to many people. As you can see, the fact the wine has such a smell does not mean it is of a poor quality.

Still, if you find any smell of your wine strange, you can always check the typical smell for this type of a drink online and you will see whether the smell you can feel is normal for it.

What is about taste?

Even though it might seem to be obvious that one can understand the alcohol is counterfeit by its taste, it rarely works in such a way especially if a person is not experienced in tasting products of various brands. Still, it is possible to understand there is something fishy if you always buy the same products. At the same time, getting a new one can give you a new experience which does not have to be necessarily pleasant and still, it will not mean the product is not authentic or is of a poor quality.

Remember that the taste of potent alcohol can be masked by the addition of caramel.