Bottle Tampering

I guess the real question is why should it ever have to get to this point? I mean we are talking about beer here not money or medications. Personally the only way to prevent this is by going to cans for everything and even more specific tabs rather than twist off.

 

Use labeled caps. Use a unique wax imprint / seal. Neither is foolproof, but they are simple and relatively cheap to do.

 

Honestly, I think this is getting blown out of proportion. It was one guy. What the guy did was flat out despicable. But, he was busted, and I think he screwed himself over way more than he imagined possible.

 

Can every beer, problem solved

 

Well, not EVERY problem!

 

Not quite: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/counterfeit-cantillon-john-chris-nomad.23309/

 

Cool, so you linked a post from 2012 and it's almost 2015. So like I was saying....

 

While yes, it was one guy, I wouldn't be surprised if this has inspired a couple scammers in the making

 

I'm sure it's happened many times throughout many different mediums for trade. I would venture to say that for some it would be difficult to tell the difference from a barrel aged product limited release and a barrel aged product that's much easier to find. This one was "special" because of the rarity of the beer and the terrible attempt at re-wax. The person who received the beer in this issue happened to have additional bottles of the same beer to compare. If I would have obtained the beer in question I would have had no idea just looking at it.

 

Slightly off topic, but just another post about what this dbag was up to... nominating himself (using his alias) to try to win a bottle of KBBS through an LIF... what a nutjob...

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/advocacy-lif-2-0-2013-kbbs.94411/#post-1388643

 

Might spawn copycats, at least good ones, how do you know there are not good counterfeiters already doing this that just haven't been caught yet? How do you know someone is not French pressing coconut into regular BCBS, and putting it into proprietor bottles? There is enough bottles of that beer around, that it would be hard to notice

 

Maybe this whole situation will get people to hesitate before trading beers they can't replace to people they don't know.

 

It's just a byproduct of trusting people you meet on the internet. No different than any hobby. It's not the brewer's responsibility to do change anything because of what idiots in the ISO:FT forum do.

 

Well, kind of. Turn out he is really more than just "one guy", so to speak.

 

C&C every specialty rare release beer. I don't know about you guys but I cannot get a cork back into a bottle after popping it open. Then stamp the cork with your brewery logo.

 

No, but the brewer might be motivated to do so to protect the reputation of his beer.

 

It's rare but the assumption that it's just one guy is probably not true. I've received 2 bottles that I consider suspect (neither was through BA). Obviously I can't trade or extra them. Someday I might drink them, or not *shrug*.

They're either under filled or refilled. In either case sending them out was scammy but given that it's impossible to prove I elected to suck it up & attribute it to just another cost in the relentless pursuit of awesome beer. Happy in those instances? Obviously not. Overall satisfaction with trading? Extremely happy, both to have found beers I couldn't otherwise dream of trying & to have met some outrageously kind, generous, warm, funny all around incredible people.

While breweries aren't obligated to prevent this crap it's in their interest to do so. The integrity of their product & its reputation is undermined when people get a lackluster substitute. They risk getting mediocre, even bad reviews, when the wrong beer is imbibed.

Imprinting the wax with a seal seems well worth considering. Branded caps are not an absolute deterrent but they're -imo- a good idea & impart a bit of cachet on what is a premium product & should -imo- look like it.

For example, the distinctive waxing on Side Project Pulling Nails blend 1 looks sooo much nicer than the generic silver caps used on the Pulling Nails blend 2. A $30 bottle should visually set itself apart from $5.99 shelf turds. Jmo.

 

I agree with this...nothing is perfect but i think what Olde Hickory does with Event Horizon would be pretty effective