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posted by mrpg on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-like-counterfeit dept.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed the world's first handheld SORS device that can detect fake spirits, such as vodka and whisky, whilst still in their bottles.

SORS, or 'spatially offset Raman spectroscopy," devices give highly accurate chemical analysis of objects and contents beneath concealing surfaces, such as glass bottles. It works by using 'an optical approach' where lasers are directed through the glass, enabling the isolation of chemically-rich information that is held within the spirits.

Such devices are already commercially available but are usually used for security and hazmat detection, screening and pharmaceutical analysis. This latest version, developed at the University's School of Chemistry in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB), is the first time such a handheld tool is being used for a food or beverage product. The reseach has been published in Nature today (21st September).

Spirit drinks are the EU's biggest agri-food export, with EU governments' revenues of at least €23 billion in excise duties and VAT, and approximately 1 million jobs linked to the production, distribution and sale of spirit drinks.

Bah, I make my own.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:50AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:50AM (#572029)

    And this device will prevent you from havinf fake or couterfeited hangovers.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:49PM (#572121)

      Fake news, fake presidents, fake booze, and fake hangovers!

      I'm not sure I'm ready for the fake century!

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:53AM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:53AM (#572031) Journal

    Pruno isn't a spirit.

    Spirits are distilled. [wikipedia.org]

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @07:49AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 23 2017, @07:49AM (#572037)

    I've encountered more than one case where the whisky tasted strange and it wouldn't burn. Poured a bit on tissue paper and couldn't light it up with a lighter. Ambient temperatures were high enough to expect some flames (> 26C). I've tried the same thing with the real stuff and it burned with a blue flame as expected.

    From wiki:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distilled_beverage#Flammability [wikipedia.org]

    Liquor that contains 40% ABV (80 US proof) will catch fire if heated to about 26 °C (79 °F) and if an ignition source is applied to it.

    On the bright side nobody went blind.

    • (Score: 1) by Guppy on Sunday September 24 2017, @02:41PM

      by Guppy (3213) on Sunday September 24 2017, @02:41PM (#572318)

      I've encountered more than one case where the whisky tasted strange and it wouldn't burn. Poured a bit on tissue paper and couldn't light it up with a lighter. Ambient temperatures were high enough to expect some flames (> 26C). I've tried the same thing with the real stuff and it burned with a blue flame as expected.

      Interestingly enough, the term "Proof" historically referred to the use of a flammability test to verify alcohol content, in which a pellet of gunpowder was soaked in the test material and ignited.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_proof#History [wikipedia.org]

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by tfried on Saturday September 23 2017, @07:57AM

    by tfried (5534) on Saturday September 23 2017, @07:57AM (#572039)

    Bah, I make my own.

    I thought you were going to link to something like this [publiclab.org]

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Saturday September 23 2017, @02:37PM (1 child)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Saturday September 23 2017, @02:37PM (#572110)

    These were first measured unopened, then opened and contaminated with different levels of methanol (1, 2 and 3 %) and the tops replaced.

    Would be interesting to try on the supposed date rape pills. Have a scanner chained to a bar top and the patrons can scan whatever they're paranoid about. My suspicion is much like razor blades in halloween candy, it happened like once anecdotally leading to infinite retelling and urban legendry, and the remainder of "knock out pills in drinks" is kids learning the hard way about plain ole 100% pure ethanol blackout binge drinking, with a side dish of 100% pure ethanol inhibition lowering. In my young and stupid days I blackout drank a couple times and rapidly outgrew that peculiar form of recreation, but the point is having had possession of my vodka bottle the whole night I know quite well no one put anything in it, yet if I was a chick and it happened in a bar it would be reported as someone drugging me.

    My understanding of the methanol issue is its nearly 100% "reefer madness" propaganda at a technical biological level. You can try really hard to contaminate a fermentation, but it almost takes intentional work to F it up bad enough to kill people even after distillation. You can also spend lots of money to poison and kill people with methanol but your average scammer is going to dilute / increase profits with nice cheap H2O.

    I googled about a bit, and a liter of denatured (tax free) reagent grade ethanol will set you back a good $40, but taxed "good enough to drink" 190 proof everclear will set you back $18 in my state. Meanwhile sigma-aldrich wants $60.30 per liter for anhydrous methanol (plus hazardous shipping) or at the other end of the scale I can pay about $5/liter in gallon jugs of isopropyl thinner at the local big box regional hardware store. Of course my local water utility has a pretty crazy fixed meter/service charge but the first 3000 gallons per month is a whopping seven hundredths of a cent per liter. Note they charge quadruple that for sewer fee on the assumption that every gallon in is a gallon out, but if you have dual metering for irrigation you don't pay sewer charges on evaporated water. Actually we're kinda getting ripped off in that I sweat out about as much water as I pee in the summer. Hmm. Anyway given the choice of one liter at $18-$40 for drinkable pure ethanol, or $5-$60 for non-ethanol alcohols, or $0.0007 per liter for tapwater, it seems weird to insist that crooks are adding unsafe alcohols to poison their customers instead of adding mostly harmless tapwater. Unless you live in Flint MI or similar where tapwater probably is more hazardous to drink than methanol...

    Another problem that doesn't help is non-chemist drunkards call anything that provides a nice hangover the next morning as "methanol contamination". I can assure you that methanol free beers, whiskeys, rums, all can provide a glorious hangover completely methanol free. Sorta like among stupider drug users anything that makes you hallucinate is "acid" and anything that pumps you up is "speed" and anything you consume at a rave, anything at all, is "E" regardless of actual chemical composition, which is about as stupid as calling anything that gets you drunk, "beer" even if it comes out of a bottle labeled "wine" or "vodka".

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:20PM

      by frojack (1554) on Saturday September 23 2017, @06:20PM (#572144) Journal

      My suspicion is much like razor blades in halloween candy, it happened like once anecdotally leading to infinite retelling and urban legendry, and the remainder of "knock out pills in drinks" is kids learning the hard way

      I assure you that is not the case. Do a few news searches.

      Some bars are taking proactive steps:
      http://mynorthwest.com/402913/test-for-date-rape-drugs-at-seattle-club/ [mynorthwest.com]

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:31PM (1 child)

    by Nerdfest (80) on Saturday September 23 2017, @03:31PM (#572118)

    These things will be awesome for detecting counterfeit wine. It's actually a really big thing these days.

    • (Score: 2) by leftover on Saturday September 23 2017, @07:42PM

      by leftover (2448) on Saturday September 23 2017, @07:42PM (#572157)

      Also olive oil, honey, maple syrup, other foodstuffs. Big bucks in that!

      --
      Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
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