text: © Hotel Waldhaus am See 
   
   The suspect bottle front and center among some of the bar's other Macallan offerings. 
   
   A hotel guest was left with a nasty taste after spending up on a counterfeit single malt. 
   
   A $10,000 dram of single malt went down the wrong way with a hotel guest in Switzerland when the whisky in question turned out to be fake. 
   
   ScotchWhisky.com reports that a Chinese guest paid $10,277 for a three-quarter-ounce measure of the 1878 Macallan single malt in the Devil's Place bar at the Hotel Waldhaus am See in St Moritz, Switzerland, at the end of July. The bottle was claimed to be the last unopened bottle of the 1878 vintage malt in the world. 
   
   Shortly afterwards, however, an investigation was launched after a number of whisky enthusiasts raised concerns about the authenticity of the bottle. Macallan owner Edrington has also promised to help with the inquiry. 
   
   "On Thursday I got some information from a whisky expert that this bottle could be a fake," said hotel manager Sandro Bernasconi said. "I've done some research and talked to different people. [Then] I called the Chinese guest to tell him that it could be a fake and said we would give the money back [if it is]. It's very important to us to find out if it's a real bottle or if it's a fake." 
   
   
   
   The label on the bottle claims that the whisky was distilled in 1878, and was matured for 27 years. A "rare Speyside malt’", it claims to be "guaranteed absolutely pure by Roderick Kemp, proprietor, Macallan and Talisker Distilleries Ltd". 
   
   Serge Valentin, experienced collector and founder of the Whiskyfun website, raised a number of issues related to the bottle, including the condition of the cork and label paper, which he said was "too new", and the accuracy of some details on the label. 
   
   "This is the same kind of bottle that Macallan had bought themselves around 2002 – around 100 of them," he said. "What's dodgy with these bottles is that, apparently, Kemp never owned Macallan and Talisker at the same time, and that nobody ever found traces of a company called 'Macallan and Talisker Distilleries Ltd', not even Diageo in their archives." 
   
   Emmanuel Dron, owner of The Auld Alliance bar in Singapore, said that the St Moritz bottle had come from the same source – believed to be in Italy – as a rash of fake Macallans of the early 2000s. 
   
   "Most of them are kept and never opened," he added. "All the fakes have those corks that are artificially aged to make them look old, but they don't have what all the real ones have, a natural maturation of the cork that makes them shrink after decades. I don't blame the bar of that hotel, and they should not be judged as they are victims too." 
   
   The bottle came from the collection of the hotel manager's father. "This is the only bottle from 1878," said Sandro Bernasconi. "The other Macallans are not that old, but my father has in his collection more than 400 different Macallans, including one more that is 18-something and from the same area." 
   
   Bernasconi said the hotel was considering consulting lawyers about the matter. "It's a very big issue. For us it would be very bad, but if it's a fake we have to tell everybody in the world that it's a fake, and of course we have to give the money back." 
   
   The whisky was now on its way to a testing laboratory in Scotland. He said it had initially been estimated that the testing process would take up to six months, but it was now hoped that it could be done more quickly. Tests are likely to analyse the cork, glass, label and liquid. "If there are some fake bottles, then we have to destroy them," said Bernasconi. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The dram was bought for £7,600 
   
   A dram of vintage Scotch bought by a Chinese millionaire in a Swiss hotel bar for £7,600 was a fake, laboratory tests have concluded. 
   
   Analysts from Scotland were called in by the Waldhaus Am See hotel in St Moritz after experts questioned the authenticity of the 2cl shot. 
   
   It had been poured from an unopened bottle labelled as an 1878 Macallan single malt. 
   
   It is believed to be the largest sum ever paid for a poured dram of Scotch. 
   
   But analysis found that it was almost certainly not distilled before 1970. 
   
   The hotel said it had accepted the findings and reimbursed the customer in full. 
   
   Zhang Wei, 36, from Beijing - one of China's highest-earning online writers - had paid just under 10,000 Swiss francs (£7,600, $10,050) for the single shot while visiting the hotel's Devil's Place whisky bar in July. 
   
   But suspicions about the spirit's provenance surfaced soon after the purchase, when whisky industry experts spotted discrepancies in the bottle's cork and label from newspaper articles. 
   
   Image copyright Sandro Bernasconi Image caption Mr Zhang was photographed with hotel manager Sandro Bernasconi after buying the dram 
   
   That prompted the Waldhaus to send a sample to Dunfermline-based specialists Rare Whisky 101 (RW101) for analysis. 
   
   Carbon dating tests were then carried out by researchers from the University of Oxford, which suggested a 95% probability that the spirit was created between 1970 and 1972. 
   
   Further lab tests by Fife-based alcohol analysts Tatlock and Thomson indicated that it was probably a blended Scotch, comprising 60% malt and 40% grain - ruling it out as a single malt. 
   
   RW101 said the tests had shown that the bottle was "almost worthless as a collector's item". 
   
   Had the bottle been genuine, it would have carried a bar-value of about 300,000 Swiss francs (£227,000). 
   
   Image copyright Sandro Bernasconi Image caption The dram was poured from an unopened bottle that purported to be an 1878 Macallan 
   
   Mr Zhang, who writes martial arts fantasy novels under the pen name Tang Jia San Shao, earned the equivalent of about $16.8m in 2015, according to China Daily. 
   
   He bought the dram while on holiday with his grandmother at the Swiss hotel, which stocks 2,500 different whiskies. 
   
   Waldhaus manager Sandro Bernasconi told BBC Scotland that the hotel had no idea the bottle was a fake. 
   
   He said: "My father bought the bottle of Macallan 25 years ago, when he was manager of this hotel, and it had not been opened. 
   
   "When Mr Zhang asked if he could try some, we told him it wasn't for sale. When he said he really wanted to try it, I called my father who told me we could wait another 20 years for a customer like that so we should sell it. 
   
   "Mr Zhang and I then opened the bottle together and drank some of it." 
   
   Image copyright Weibo Image caption Mr Zhang wrote about his experience with the "1878" Macallan a few days after his visit to the Waldhaus hotel 
   
   A few days after tasting the whisky, Mr Zhang posted a message on the Chinese micro-blogging platform Weibo about his experience. 
   
   He wrote in Mandarin: "When I came across a fine spirit from over 100 years ago, there wasn't much struggle inside. 
   
   "My grandma who accompanied me on this trip was only 82, yet the alcohol was 139 years old - same age as my grandma's grandma. 
   
   "To answer you all, it had a good taste. It's not just the taste, but also history." 
   
   Image copyright Hotel Waldhaus Am See Image caption The dram was bought from the Devil's Place whisky bar in St Moritz 
   
   Mr Bernasconi broke the bad news to Mr Zhang when he flew out to China to reimburse him recently. 
   
   He added: "When I showed him the results, he was not angry - he thanked me very much for the hotel's honesty and said his experience in Switzerland had been good. 
   
   "When it comes to selling our customers some of the world's rarest and oldest whiskies, we felt it was our duty to ensure that our stock is 100% authentic and the real deal. 
   
   "That's why we called in RW101. 
   
   "The result has been a big shock to the system, and we are delighted to have repaid our customer in full as a gesture of goodwill." 
   
   RW101 co-founder David Robertson said: "The Waldhaus team did exactly the right thing by trying to authenticate this whisky. 
   
   "We would implore that others in the market do what they can to identify any rogue bottles. 
   
   "The more intelligence we can provide, the greater the chance we have to defeat the fakers and fraudsters who seek to dupe the unsuspecting rare whisky consumer." ||||| A Chinese author who paid £7,700 for a dram of 19th century Scotch whisky has been refunded by the Swiss hotel where it was bought after the drink was officially deemed a fake by an investigation. 
   
   The probe was launched in the summer after the customer, multi-millionaire online fantasy writer Zhang Wei paid for a dram of what was thought to be one of the world’s only known bottles of Macallan 1878 still in circulation. 
   
   But following a series of investigative and forensic tests carried out by Scottish whisky valuation service Rare Whisky 101, in conjunction with the hotel, the Waldhaus Am See in St Moritz, the whisky has been shown to date back no further than 1970, deeming it almost worthless as a collector’s item. 
   
   Sandro Bernasconi from the Hotel has flown to Asia in the last week to refund the paying customer in full. 
   
   The sale hit the headlines as the most expensive dram ever bought in July, but whisky collectors raised a number of concerns about the bottle, including the condition of the cork and alleged historical inaccuracies on the label. 
   
   RW101 co-founder David Robertson said: “The Waldhaus team have done exactly the right thing by trying to authenticate this whisky. Over the past year, we have been invited by numerous bottle owners and auction houses to assess suspicious bottles. Indeed, we’ve noticed an increasing number of old, rare archive or antique bottles coming to market at auction, and it’s difficult to know how prevalent this problem is. 
   
   "We would implore that others in the market do what they can to identify any rogue bottles. The more intelligence we can provide, the greater the chance we have to defeat the fakers and fraudsters who seek to dupe the unsuspecting rare whisky consumer. We’re also working closely with The Macallan brand owner, Edrington, as they start to take a leadership position on fake whisky." 
   
   “As with any purchase, we would recommend that each buyer does their research, assesses the bottle and its packaging presentation, and where they can afford to do so, send some of the liquid for technical evaluation and/or carbon dating. If you do have a pre-1900’s bottle we suggest it’s worth extracting a sample to prove if it is genuine or not (most likely not). Even if the bottle has been opened, if you can prove the whisky was distilled pre 1900, then you have some very valuable whisky to enjoy!” 
   
   Sandro Bernasconi, Waldhaus Am See hotel manager and bar manager at the Devils Place bar where the whisky was sold, said: “When it comes to selling our customers some of the world’s rarest and oldest whiskies, we felt it was our duty to ensure that our stock is 100 per cent authentic and the real deal. That’s why we called in RW101. The result has been a big shock to the system, and we are delighted to have repaid our customer in full as a gesture of goodwill.” 
   
   Ken Grier, spokesman for The Macallan brand owner, Edrington, said: “As the leading brand in the fast growing secondary market for rare whiskies, with an estimated 30 per cent share by value, we take this very seriously. We praise the work that our partners, RW101, are doing to bring awareness of any fraud to light. We would urge consumers to buy from reputable sources at all times.” 
   
   A sample of the Macallan 1878 was subsequently collected by the team at RW101, and flown back to the UK for a series of forensic tests and analysis to determine, as best as modern science allows, the precise composition of the liquid, including carbon dating at the University of Oxford to verify the year of distillation. 
   
   Results from University of Oxford’s Research Laboratory for Archaeology and The History of Art suggested a 95 per cent probability that the liquid was created between 1970 and 1972. Subsequent laboratory tests carried out by Tatlock and Thomson (providers of scientific services to the wine and spirits industry) showed the spirit was most likely a blended scotch comprised of 60 per cent Malt and 40 per cent Grain. ||||| This content was published on November 2, 2017 2:53 PM Nov 2, 2017 - 14:53 
   
   Found guilty: the CHF10,000 dram probably dates from around 1970, nearly a hundred years after initially claimed. (Sandro Bernasconi) 
   
   The world’s most expensive whisky, a CHF9,999 ($9,998) tipple bought last August in a hotel in St Moritz, has been shown in lab testing to be a fake. The hotel has reimbursed the drinker, Chinese writer Zhang Wei. 
   
   Suspicion mounted soon after Zhang forked out just under CHF10,000 for a small glass of the whisky, purportedly an 1878 bottle of Macallan Single Malt, at the Waldhaus Am See Hotel in early August. 
   
   
   
   Now, after being submitted to laboratory tests by Scottish whisky experts and at the University of Oxford, the liquor has been revealed to be a fake, news the hotel confirmed on Thursday. 
   
   
   
   Carbon dating found that there is a “95% probability that the liquid was created between 1970 and 1972,” according to a press statement sent by the hotel to swissinfo.ch. Moreover, the whisky may not have even been a single malt; Scottish analysts said it was more likely a blended Scotch, of 60% malt and 40% grain. 
   
   
   
   Bernasconi and Zhang in Beijing (Sandro Bernasconi) 
   
   The hotel has taken responsibility for the mix-up and reimbursed Zhang in full. Owner Sandro Bernasconi even travelled to China to personally apologise and hand over the cheque to the young whisky aficionado. 
   
   
   
   “The result has been a big shock to the system,” Bernasconi said in the statement, “and we are delighted to have repaid our customer in full as a gesture of goodwill.” 
   
   
   
   He told the 20 Minutes newspaper on Thursday that Zhang appreciated the honesty and the pair enjoyed an evening chatting about whisky in Beijing (see photo). 
   
   
   
   Bootleg bottle 
   
   The initial story blew across the web in August, when Zhang Wei – an online fantasy fiction author with a big following in China – provoked incredulity with the astronomical purchase from what was believed to be the world’s last unopened bottle of the Macallan vintage. 
   
   The bottle had been bought by Bernasconi’s father Claudio 25 years ago for a “five-figure sum”. However, it didn’t take long for some experts to question the authenticity, and soon the hotel itself sent the bottle for testing in the UK. 
   
   
   
   “When it comes to selling our customers some of the world’s rarest and oldest whiskies, we felt it was our duty to ensure that our stock is 100% authentic and the real deal,” Bernasconi said. 
   
   
   
   For now, there is no indication that the hotel is concerned that other bottles in its 2,500-strong collection might also be shams. 
   
   
   
   
   
   swissinfo.ch/dos 
   
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   subscription form Form for signing up for free newsletter. Sign up for our free newsletters and get the top stories delivered to your inbox. ||||| It’s not every day that a customer wants to pay $10,000 for a .67-ounce taste of Scotch, but that happened recently at the Devil’s Place Whiskey Bar in St. Moritz, Switzerland. After the news got out, however, whisky experts from around the world said the bottle was almost certainly fake. 
   
   On July 29, a tourist convinced Sandro Bernasconi, proprietor of the Devil’s Place Whiskey Bar, to open the bar’s prize possession: An ultra-rare bottle of Macallan whisky from 1878. The bottle was from Bernasconi’s father’s collection, and the bar never intended to actually open it. When the customer was serious about tasting it, however, Bernasconi was convinced. 
   
   Bernasconi said at the time that he was petrified when opening it, because he thought the cork would have fallen apart or the whisky would be bad. The bottle opened nicely, though, and the customer was happy with the .67-ounce beverage he paid $10,000 for. 
   
   According to Shanghaiist, the customer was fantasy novelist Zhang Wei, China’s richest and most prolific online writer. He’s written more than 150 novels in 12 years, and according to the New York Times he made $16.8 million in 2015. So that’s how he can afford to spend $10,000 for a single whisky. 
   
   “I was in Switzerland and saw a 100-year-old whisky. I didn’t spend long weighing up whether to get it,” Zhang posted on social media after the experience. “In a nutshell, it tasted good. I was drinking not so much the whisky but a lot of history.” 
   
   After the news of the open bottle and the $10,000 Macallan came out, however, a number of whisky experts contacted Bernasconi to say the bottle was probably fake. 
   
   According to Wine Searcher, the label on the bottle claims that the whisky was distilled in 1878, and was matured for 27 years. The label also says the whisky is "guaranteed absolutely pure by Roderick Kemp, proprietor, Macallan and Talisker Distilleries Ltd." 
   
   The thing is, though, that Roderick Kemp never owned Macallan and Talisker at the same time, and there’s no record of a “Macallan and Talisker Distilleries Ltc.” ever existing. 
   
   The bottle most likely came from a store of fake Macallans that came out of Italy in the early 2000s. They’re very convincing fakes, though. Back in 2002, Macallan itself bought 100 bottles that were later proved to be fake. Bernasconi’s is likely from the same batch of fakes. 
   
   Bernasconi says he contacted Zhang to tell him about the possibility that the whisky was fake. He says he’s having the bottle tested by experts in Scotland, who will analyze the whisky, the glass bottle, the label, the glue, and the cork. If they confirm it is fake, he says he will refund Zhang’s $10,000. 
   
   If he gets his money back, Zhang should consider checking out these 16 bottles of liquor that cost more than a diamond.
target: – To say that it was an indulgent purchase would be an understatement: A Chinese millionaire paid a record $10,050 for a shot of 1878 Macallan single malt scotch in July—except it turns out the alcohol was all of 40 years old. Eyebrows were raised about the veracity of Zhang Wei's purchase after photos were posted online of Zhang posing with the bottle and the manager of the Waldhaus Am See hotel; the Swiss hotel's Devil's Place whisky bar has a 2,500-bottle collection. The prime condition of the vintage bottle, and the wording on the label didn't add up, said doubters. They were right. The BBC reports a series of lab tests were performed and returned all-around negative results. University of Oxford researchers carbon dated the sample and say there's a 95% probability it was produced between 1970 and 1972. And it's not even a single malt, as testing by alcohol analysts Tatlock and Thomson found it was a blend of 60% malt and 40% grain. Manager Sandro Bernasconi tells the Scotsman, "The result has been a big shock to the system, and we are delighted to have repaid our customer in full as a gesture of goodwill." The repayment was done in what's likely the most expensive way possible: SwissInfo.ch reports Bernasconi flew to Beijing to apologize and reimburse Zhang. The Daily Meal suspects the bottle is one of a batch of fakes that were so convincing Macallan actually purchased 100 such bottles in 2002. As for the story behind the man who felt comfortable paying so much for a nip of Scotch, he's a 36-year-old writer of online fantasy novels who reportedly made $16.8 million in 2015. (Here's why water improves whisky.)