Scientists Using Lasers to Detect Counterfeit Whisky

Usually to detect fraud or adulteration of whisky it’s necessary to open the bottle.  But if its a rare bottle, that can reduce its value.  Now scientists at the University of Saint Andrew in Scotland have developed a procedure using Raman spectroscopy to detect bad product.

By shining a laser light into the whisky, it’s possible to determine the specific chemical compounds.  Because different whiskies are distilled differently, the colors are different, letting the scientists compare the results to a known batch of genuine product.

The Saint Andrews scientiss have figured out how to shape the laser light into a ring rather than a focused beam.  This suppresses the “noisy signal” from the glass.  Result:  An expensive bottle of rare Scotch can be tested for authenticity without wasting a drop.   The same technique can be used to analyze gin and vodka.

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