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Should we be Selling our empty whisky bottles ??? (hint: NO)

24 September 2012 10,021 views Written by: Gal Granov

empty_bottleI was not planning on writing this post, but a conversation on both twitter and on Facebook on the same day triggered this quick post.

A few whisky friends (@_MosStef_ , @sjoerd972 , and Gert Jan on FB ) were posting links to EMPTY whisky bottles (Ardbeg for example) being sold for around 40 EUR on eBay, and we all agreed this was madness , and that people are insane. We all regretted a few old bottles we threw up when done. We could have sold them and bought new bottles with that cash. Then the possibility of people buying those bottles just to fake real bottles and then sell them for a nice profit arose, and all become more logical.

Paying 40 EUR for an empty Rollercoaster for pure collection is really odd, but when you think about buying it and filling it with Ardbeg 10, then selling it for 250 EUR and more, you can see the logic. Not that I support faking whisky and selling it. On the Contrary. After thinking about it, I set my mind not to sell ANY empty whisky bottle I have, so it does not find itself in the wrong hands being used for forgery.

I know quite a few people read this blog (god bless Google analytics) , and I hope some of them read this post, and make up their minds not to sell those bottles to. If you do sell your old bottles this way, One day you could be on the other hand of the equation, getting conned into buying a forgery instead of good whisky.

Comments are welcome, of course. Let me know what you think.

Gal.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/berggreen Johnny Houlind Berggreen

    Quite an eye opener really. Never did look at it this way. Not that I’ve ever sold an empty bottle, but never saw anything wrong with doing it.

    Will certainly be vocal against doing it from now on.

    • http://www.whiskyisrael.co.il Gal(WhiskyIsrael)

      Happy to have illustrated the point Johnny!

  • http://www.facebook.com/derek.mather.549 Derek Mather

    I HAVE A SMALL FAMILY RESTAURANT IN SCOTLAND AND WE HAVE 912 WHISKIES ON THE BAR I HAVE HAD 3 FAKES IN THE PAST SO WE HAVE A RULE IN THE RESTAURANT THAT ONCE ITS EMPTY IT GETS THE NECK OF THE BOTTLE BROKEN SO ITS ONE LESS FAKE OUT THERE FOR SOMEONE TO SPEND THERE HARD EARNED MONEY ON

    • http://www.whiskyisrael.co.il Gal(WhiskyIsrael)

      Way to go Derek. that is a good way to do it ;) hopefully more and more people will realize this and make forgery harder.
      thank you for commenting, and reading

  • Mark.

    I have an empty bottle of Glendronach Grandeur and it was exactly this reason why i stopped myself from selling it. It’s almost a shame to destroy bottles and packaging that look so good though!!

    • http://www.whiskyisrael.co.il Gal(WhiskyIsrael)

      Indeed. but a worthy cause it is

  • Susannah

    Wow, I never would have thought people were doing this. You can’t be too careful, I guess. I usually just recycle my old bottles, although the nicer ones I like to keep just to look at. I’m pretty sure no one is going through my trash looking for bottles to fill with cheap fake whisky, although they will make money returning the glass bottles for a $.05 refund!

    • sushil

      also visit Bottles Not Empty on facebook and check the amazing hand work, unbeliveable ausome designs……….never saw such greatest designs.

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