Acker still sucks

Seriously, fuck those guys.

Grifters gonna grift.

Though Acker selling fake shit hardly is news these days. Gray Lady’s standards are dropping.

Here comes another thread where half will like them and the other will not!

Haters gonna say it’s fake.

There are people on here who like Acker? That’s news to me.

It’s actually a good article about fake Bourbon in general that happens to hit on Acker. Your criticism is woefully inaccurate.

It would be nice if Inside Edition asked them for evidence that refunds were offered and bottles pulled off shelves from that same batch/consignment/seller as they claim. I would also be interested in knowing if they intend to report the individual to the authorities for fraud.

Also, it blows my mind that Blanton’s is $1000/bottle. That was a “splurge” bottle when I was in college (not that long ago — like 15-16 years ago) at like 50-60 bucks at the liquor store up the street?

I used to buy Pappy 12 for about $25 back in the day. Good bourbon but not that good.

Except that it omits any reference to Acker’s history of selling fake bottles. I assume that’s Adrian’s beef. I noticed that the writer, a NYT editor, wrote a book on bourbon, so he might not be aware of Acker’s role in wine fakery.

This must be a mistake / exaggeration in the article. I’m not completely familiar with what bottles sell for on the secondary market nowadays, but regular Blanton’s single barrel probably sells between $100 and $200, which is too much for what it is, but it is not $1000. The picture of Blanton’s in the article is Blanton’s Straight From the Barrel, which goes for more money, but not $1000. I see listings for sale on google for $350 and it likely can be found for significantly less. But I guess up to $1000 is true in the literal sense.

Surely Acker bears responsibility for their sourcing, but so do the Bourbon companies who have done little to protect their product from counterfeiting, which is discussed in the article. It is a fact that many bourbons can be counterfeited in such a way that it is impossible to tell without opening it that the bottle is counterfeit (refilled using authentic bottles and sealed with authentic closures). See this article from Adam Herz at the LA whiskey society which goes into great detail: All About Fake Pappy Van Winkle . Even after opening the bottle it may be difficult to detect a counterfeit unless you are tasting side by side with a known genuine bottle.

Well, you gotta remember, there are people like Jeffrois who backed Premier Cru as having “always delivered” right up until PC’s failure as a business was effectively imminent (and many of these same people who regularly tried to undermine/criticize those who pushed back and questioned PC’s business model)… so you can be certain that there are Acker fanbois here as well.

Looks like a lot

I thought The NY Post and Food and Wine each published the story on this in May 2021.

Nor is it his job to satisfy Berserker vengeance needs.

I am sold 1 bottle a year of Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year old from a local retailer for $75+tax.

I’ve bought here and there from acker’s retail store; I’m sure the 17 and 19 Hudelot Chambolle AC I got was not counterfeit. I wouldn’t buy anything old or rare from them.

Well sure but it is sort of interesting to mention both a) Acker selling counterfeited whiskey and b) Rudy Kurniawan’s wine faking, in the same article, without realizing or mentioning a connection there. I certainly don’t have a horse in the race and don’t mean to imply the writer had an obligation to comment, but the omission was immediately apparent to me.

My guess is the writer didn’t want to distract from the thrust of the piece. Making the connection now leads the piece down the path of Acker instead of down the path of the broader issue.

That said, I think a single sentence broadening the players beyond the counterfeiter (and a link to other articles about the issue) would have been helpful

In addition to the LA Whiskey Society website (disclosure: I am a member of LAWS), Adam also has a Facebook page where he outs fakers - Redirecting.... If you are someone who buys bourbon from private parties, it is a useful resource.