Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Thief gets only sour taste after grab at costly Scotch Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 15:07:21 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Thief gets only sour taste after grab at costly Scotch \BY Robert Bedlow \CR LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH \DT LONDON LONDON - A robber who thought he had stolen a bottle of the world's most expensive whisky from a display cabinet at London's exclusive Fortnum and Mason store has been left with a sour taste. What he believed was a Springbank 50-year-old single malt, distilled in 1919, matured in an oak cask until bottled in 1970 and carrying an $8,000 price tag, was in fact a bottle of vinegar. The fake whisky, made at the Campbeltown distillery on Scotland's Kintyre Peninsula using vinegar to make it look real, carried an authentic label from 1970, but a smaller label explaining that it was not the real thing. "Obviously he didn't spot it," said Gordon Wright, a Springbank director. "A bottle of 50-year-old Springbank would accompany the finest state banquets anywhere in the world, but this thief has something that will go perfectly with his fish and chips." The bottle of real Springbank, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive in the world, was locked away in a safe of its own at Fortnum's, waiting for someone with a wallet to match his or her taste. Unfortunately, the thief also got away with a $1,200 bottle of Springbank 40-year-old, said a Fortnum and Mason official. "I feel pretty sick about that." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM