While we pause this weekend to recognize the Honored Dead, many of you may be considering heading out with friends to hoist a few cold ones in their memory. But if you’re heading to your favorite watering hole and plan on having some mixed drinks or a shot of hard liquor, you may want to exercise a bit more caution than usual. One story out of New Jersey shows precisely how far our mighty nation has fallen in these dark times. People are pushing bogus booze at mainstream bars and restaurants, and your scotch might actually be rubbing alcohol.
In one case, a New Jersey bar allegedly mixed rubbing alcohol with caramel food coloring and served it as scotch.
In another, a bar is accused of pouring dirty water into an empty bottle and passing it off as liquor.
Those are some of the details state officials released today after a year-long investigation called “Operation Swill,” which culminated Wednesday when more than 100 investigators raided 29 bars and restaurants across New Jersey on the suspicion they had been serving cheap alcohol disguised as premium brands.
“What these 29 establishments have allegedly done threatens the integrity of the alcoholic beverage industry as a whole,” state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said at a news conference today in Trenton. “This alleged scheme is a dishonest ruse to increase profits, and it is a slap in the face of the consumer. The consumer should have the peace of mind to know that when they pay for something, they get exactly what they paid for, no exceptions.”
A lot of them were just swapping out cheap, bottom shelf hooch and refilling top shelf bottles with it. But the ones going for rubbing alcohol are really tempting fate. Lest you think this is just a handful of shady dive owners in one locale, it’s not. The full list of 29 bars includes 13 – nearly half – which are TGIFridays. This isn’t just a couple of drink cheating scofflaws… and the problem is almost undoubtedly not just in Jersey. Peter Weber at The Week explains.
But even if you don’t live in the Garden State, this should worry you, says avowed tippler Justin Peters at Slate. “If the bait-and-switch is happening in New Jersey, it’s happening elsewhere, too, quite possibly in the low joints where I spend an alarming amount of my time.” Peters offers some advice for anyone worried about being duped by the bartender. Some of it is common sense:
Use your senses. Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between top-shelf liquors and marginal brands… But other times there’s a real difference, and you can usually tell by using your senses. For example, taste. Ask the bartender for a sip of that Dewar’s before he dilutes it with soda. It if tastes unnaturally harsh, it might be a fake. Other senses can come in handy, too. Do the colors look weird? Does it smell like paint thinner?[Slate]
Other tips are specific to this investigation — like avoid TGI Fridays.
I’ve had suspicions about this myself in the past, particularly when ordering Jack Daniels. There are some lower shelf brands which aren’t terribly far off if you’re not paying attention, and I’ve suspected the switch-out a couple of times. It’s just disheartening, I tell you. I mean, I can understand if the IRS is targeting particular Americans or the President is claiming to be so out of the loop that he finds out about his scandals from CNN. But that’s just government. We expect them to be either corrupt or stupid. This is the liquor distribution infrastructure of the nation we’re talking about. If you’ve lost that, what is there left?
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/25/america-in-decline-bars-selling-rubbing-alcohol-as-scotch/
I’m just trying to figure out why they specifically targeted only Jersey.
The investigation was exclusive to New Jersey because it was performed by a state agency.
Thanks Ed. Was just curious, that’s all. Obviously this phenomenon can’t be exclusive to one state only.
Boycott the premium brands that are being faked.
If enough people do that, the premium brand manufacturers will take care of the problem.
I understand the social factor in going to a bar, but I cannot justify the extortionist prices. So throw a party with homebrew! I’m no scientist yet I can make spirits of nearly any kind that are in fact insanely cheaper and of a higher quality than the commercial shit. You can too, the only thing stopping you is laziness! Get to work, make it yourself and KNOW for certain what you are drinking!
Ok, in the interest of full disclosure, accept the fact that in the beginning you will make mistakes. The best example I can give is that the first run of likker I ever made on my own ended up tasting like it had been filtered through a polyester sofa rescued from a house fire!
Practice makes perfect and I damn sure ain’t perfect so I keep practicing.
In fact the activities that I enjoy are the very ones that I never want to perfect! I want to keep practicing!
Not too many weeks ago there was a well known/popular brewery that was cought watering down their beer that was being sold to the public. Also a freind of mine keeps his booze in the freezer and it froze, alcohol is not supposed to freeze so that tells me that that was also watered down – that was Rum. I always keep my alcohol in the freezer and it has never froze…… Yep rhumstruck, it is time to start makeing our own.
Makes me glad that I don’t drink.
Always order your booze “neat” (no ice or mixer) and order a water or soda “back”. Then, mix them yourself. I just drink mine “neat”. Buy the good stuff for home and learn what it’s supposed to taste like. That way you won’t get hosed like some college kid.
Many moons ago, I used to tend bar. Straight booze or on the rocks was always a bigger pour than a mixed drink (suckers drink).
Or, make your own hootch. It’s pretty easy. A couple bags of sugar, some good Turbo yeast, and a quality still — you’ll be making 100-proof rum in no time. Good for barter if the SHTF, too. Brewhaus.com will set you up.
After extensive testing among a group of shiners (I honestly have no idea who they may be!! 😉 ) plain old bread yeast works better than turbo yeast. Save your money for other things.
We compared homebrewed wines, beers and shine in the testing and found the best results were from the bread yeast, not the overpriced Turbo yeasts. Unless you are trying to make Champaign don’t bother with the high priced yeasts.
I forgot, Eddie said,”you’ll be making 100-proof rum in no time.” Son if all you can get is 100 proof out of a run, you had better hook up with a real shiner! Mine generally tests out to be 160-170 proof out of the still!
I cut it to 100 proof!
yes, Eddie, you’re absolutely right. If you don’t order your Stoli on the rocks you end up drinking something that was made in a bathtub.
Every time I see anything posted regarding spirits I check out the links. I have to say that the link to brewhaus led me to a site that is going to provide a new kettle for my next still!
But, in perusing the site I came across this link:
http://www.brewhaus.com/Instruction-Pages/AmazingStill-Instructions.pdf
So naturally I had to check it out. while this is probably the cheapest still I have ever seen I have to yell,
DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
This still despite the authors claims of being safe is patently WRONG! If you drink the booze made this way you will be drinking POISON, POISON, POISON!!
I can’t say that enough times! This “still” does not separate the heads and the tails from a run. The result will be of questionable taste and definitely toxic! You might just as well drink rubbing alcohol. Why? Because in the booze made by this junk still has acetone and methanol in it.
Methanol is a deadly poison and even low amounts of exposure can cause optic nerve damage (blindness). It is created as a byproduct of fermentation. Since methanol boils at 144°F (acetone at about140), it will boil first when you are distilling and because of this you should discard the first ounce of alcohol per every 5 gallons of mash.
That is the biggest problem! Secondly, never use plastic or any synthetic material in the still you use. Shine will dissolve that junk.
I once used a plastic measuring cup to collect my run in and watched it dissolve before my eyes! I could feel no heat in the spout or the product so I know I was condensing all the distillate before it landed in the collection cup. 170 proof likker will dissolve most plastics! USE ONLY STAINLESS STEEL OR COPPER!
OK folks enough of the rant. I just don’t want to hear of any friends going blind or dead from moonshine. I’ve been at this way too long to use questionable methods or materials and have made most of the mistakes myself. Then again I confess I am ruthless about my cuts. Discarding the first ounce from a five gallon is the absolute minimum! After that second ounce comes out, if the shine smells good I wait for the next ounce to come out before collecting drinkable sauce. It’s much better to be safe than sorry!
You are absolutely Right, “…or DEAD…”!
Thanks for the advice and warning. I had looked at this plan (Amazing Still), and considered it would be adaptable with a little more work to nesting stainless steel pots, the largest one with a domed lid, but the problem would still be the collection of acetone and methanol to discard, which AFAIK activated charcoal has no effect on. And even if another hole were drilled in the bottom perimeter of the larger pot and tubing attached to immediately collect the initial condensate, my guess is a lot of good hooch would be wasted to clear that large interior area of acetone and methanol.
Ah well, guess I’ll still be searching for an easy, not too expensive for a distilling apparatus.
Beautiful mahogany color of your spirits, BTW.
Thanks, that is the product of 4 months on toasted white oak chips. Because of the surface area by volume it’s equivalent to about 10 years ageing in a barrel.
What the average Joe doesn’t know is that ALL distilled alcohol is clear as water until it has been oaked.
Ya’ll have convinced me that I need to write a tutorial for my friends. Give me a few days and it’ll be ready. But for now, just so everyone knows I’ll leave you with this easy to follow temperature chart,
Acetone: 134 degrees Fahrenheit
Methanol (wood alcohol): 147 degrees F (POISON)
Ethyl acetate: 171 degrees F (safe)
ETHANOL: 172 degrees F THIS IS THE DRINKING STUFF!
2-Propanol (rubbing alcohol): 180 degrees F
1-Propanol: 207 degrees F
Temperature wise I keep everything from 170-175 F.
How much more timely can this be? I was discussing the future tutorial with a buddy today and he told me about this and then emailed a copy of it to me. I’m impressed enough to want to buy stuff from Brewhaus. But I will not buy still parts from them. The items I will buy are common to beer brewing as that is not a problem. THERE GOES MY NEW KETTLE! 🙁 When a distributer thinks enough about it’s customers to send this out and risk loosing profits I am going to be a regular but cautious customer! I just thought everyone should know! My buddy canceled his order promptly but also thanked them and assured Brewhaus that he would continue buying beer making supplies from them!
“Here’s contents of my letter from Rick at Brewhaus on may 18th:
“Yesterday we received a formal request from the TTB for our list of still sales for three years past (the maximum that they can request) and ongoing. Supposedly they are doing the same with other producers, as well. We realize that this change in the landscape may result in the changing of people’s minds regarding their purchase (or, at the very least, result in more people obtaining appropriate licensing). Please advise if you would still like us to ship your order, if you want to give it more consideration, or if you would prefer to cancel entirely, and we will move forward accordingly. Regards, Rick”
Brewhaus deserve high praise for their position of protecting their customers over making a profit!!!
For personal use only, Evan Wililams taste exactly like Jack Daniels.
Rhummy’s Special Reserve
adapted from an old east Tennessee recipe!
if this fails chalk it up to HTML incompetence! 🙂
Rubbing alcohol (Denatured) would be safe to drink except it is intentionally poisoned by the government. More death by usury.
FALSE!
Drinking Isopropyl will make you blind… denatured or not.
http://rhumstruck.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/6/4/20641362/4525727_orig.jpg
I just KNEW you’d have something to say about this one, rhumstruck. LOL 🙂
🙂 🙂
With the banksters in cahoots with the government to ship our jobs off and rip off our investments…. Why should the bars not get in on it.? Crooked starts at the top and works its way down. Why don’t we have honest, straight congress when they are so well paid for by the taxpayer?
Am I the only non-drinker here? LOL
#1 Think of it as a barter item or fuel. It takes a mechanic to tell us if this will damage an engine, but uncut raw shine can be dumped into a gas tank and the engine will run! I know an old boy that has gotten home on straight shine a couple of times! 🙂 Good to know in a SHTF scenario.
Yeah, but will it work in 2 cycle (motorcycle) engines? They’ll likely be far better modes of transportation (off-road abilities) than cars, once the SHTF.
Why not? My only question is how much lard do I have to mix in to get the proper ratio of 16:1?
Your engine still need lubricating!
My point exactly.
Ok that was extreme. If you have the 2 cycle oil I would think it’s not a problem. I was thinking post-apocalyptic. No refineries, etc.
Naturally.