Whisky & Spirits

The whisky industry contributes over £5.8 billion to the British economy every year and accounts for 21% of all British food and drink exports. The Scottish Whisky Association estimates that more than 300 million bottles of whisky were exported between January and March 2019 alone. As in the wine industry, with success and high value also come fakes. By some estimates, up to 20% of whiskies sold at auctions are not what they claim to be. A recent study found that one third of rare Scotch whiskies tested at a specialist laboratory using carbon dating were fake. At the moment, carbon dating is the industry choice to detect fake whisky. This technique is accurate but inevitably involves opening the bottle to extract a sample. At VeriVin we have developed technology capable of testing spirtirs without opening the bottle to extract a sample, therefore sidestepping the spoilage inherent in carbon dating.