Testing the water

whisky barrels

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Cheap and portable device can reveal counterfeit whisky

Whisky is a big British export – the industry directly employs 10,000 people in the UK – with almost 40 bottles shipped every second. Such a big business attracts scammers, who try to sell cheaper, counterfeit whisky. But chemists can now spot counterfeits with just a few microlitres of the Scotch.