Have they no shame? Acker Merrall Condit Wines, the fabled New York City wine seller and auction house that bills itself as the “oldest wine shop in America,” has been fined $100,000 after being accused of selling bottles of counterfeit bourbon. Bottles of Colonel E.H. Taylor Four Grain Bourbon that were sold for nearly $1,000 apiece were determined to be fake.
According to MSN:
The counterfeit was first exposed in 2021 by TV program “Inside Edition,” which purchased a bottle of the bourbon for “nearly $1,000” and sent the bottle to producer Buffalo Trace for a chemical analysis, which determined the liquid purported to be Colonel E.H. Taylor “didn’t match their product.”
An investigation by the New York State Liquor Authority determined that employees of the store bought the fake bourbon from a private collector “despite telltale signs that it wasn’t authentic.”
An attorney for the store is quoted as saying that the employees involved in the transaction “have been disciplined” and “retrained.”
It remains to be seen where there was malicious intent behind the employees’ actions or simple negligence.
Between 2020 and 2021, the store was fined five separate times for purchasing whiskey from “unauthorized” sellers and failing to keep proper records.
