Counterfeit Alcohol is the selling of cheap, fake alcohol under brand names.

The International Federation of Spirits Producers stated that counterfeit alcohol leads to an estimated Euro 600 million to 900 ($1 Billion median) annual loss.

Source: “EU-China SIA of the Negotiations of a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and China,” August 2007.

The sales of counterfeit vodka bottles in Russia is estimated to be $3.3 Billion (101 Billion Rubles).

Source:  Bloomberg, “Bootleg Vodka Crackdown May Lift Legit Brands,” BusinessWeek, December 29, 2009.

The Scotch Whisky Association is kept busy from fighting counterfeit bottles of scotch whisky.  According to the organization, at any given time they are handling between 60 to 70 active cases regarding fake scotch.

Source:  Christopher Mackie, “The worldwide fight to scotch counterfeit whisky trade,”Scotsman, July 20, 2009.

2 million counterfeit bottles of counterfeit alcohol was seized in Moscow in 2008.  6,041 people were intoxicated from fake alcohol and 1,069 people died from drinking counterfeit alcohol in the city in 2008.

Source:  “More than a thousand Moscow residents died of counterfeit alcohol in 2008,” Mosnews.com, March 26, 2009.

The state of Virginia estimates that it loses $20 million a year in tax revenue to “moonshining”, a home-made and illegally smuggled whiskey.

According to the Economist, the whiskey is “cheaply made in 800-gallon stills, mot of it smuggled to poor inner cities and sold at half the price of its legal counterparts, avoiding state and federal taxes which run at roughly $25 per gall (3.8 litres) of whiskey.”

Source:  “Moonshine: Lighting strikes,” The Economist, April 18, 2009.

Counterfeit bottles of vodka are set to account for up to half of all vodka sales in Russia this year, according to the Moscow Times. Last year, 12 million bottles of vodka was produced legally, while 17 million bottles were sold in stores.  Thus, around 5 million bottles, or 28 percent of all sales, were of fake bottles of vodka.  This year, the figure is expected to reach 50 percent as people attempt to save money. 

Source: Courtney Weaver, “Illegal Vodka Set to Account for Half of All Sales,” Moscow Times, March 12, 2009. 

United Kingdom officials are on the lookout for counterfeit bottles of Vodka after several bottles were found in stores.

From BBC News:

Trading standards officers in the city are hoping to raise awareness after counterfeit bottles of Spar Imperial vodka were found in shops in England.

Fears are being raised that the fake vodka may be making its way north.

Experts have warned the high levels of methanol in the bottles can cause serious illnesses and blindness.

Counterfeit Alcohol is listed  at $700 million on the Havocscope Counterfeit Index.

Source: Food and Drink, “Russia plagued by counterfeit goods,” October 31, 2004, http://www.foodanddrinkeurope.com/news/news-ng.asp?id=18356-russia-plagued-by (accessed: April 30, 2006).

Source: Steven Eke, “Fake Russian alcohol ‘kills many’”, BBC News, June 23, 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5111762.stm (accessed: June 27, 2006).

A counterfeit bottle of alcohol is offered as low as $0.60 in Russia.

Source: Associated Press, “Russian Cabinet member urges action against counterfeit alcohol as death toll climbs,” International Herald Tribune, October 27, 2006, http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/27/europe/EU_GEN_Russia_Alcohol_Poisoning.php, (accessed: October 27, 2006).