Counterfeit bottles of whiskey, vodka, rum and other spirits are a growing problem for global drinks companies as they try to expand sales in Asia and eastern Europe, forcing them into a cat-and-mouse game with bootleggers.
The issue has resurfaced in recent weeks amid a rising death toll in the Czech Republic, where 30 people have died from drinking a fake version of a local rum that was tainted with methanol. The poisonings have spread to Poland and Slovakia and so far 50 people have been arrested in connection with the liquor.
Executives from Brown-Forman, Pernod Ricardand Diageo, three of the world’s biggest spirits companies, all said that governments in developing countries need to do more to crack down on groups making fake versions of their products or illicitly selling homemade alcohol in black markets.