There's nothing quite like fake alcohol to turn a sweet night sour. The practice of pawning off cheap liquors or even toxic mixtures as brand-name drinks is so widespread in China, fake bottles and instructions on how to reseal them were once listed on Taobao. And it's not just liquor – police have also seized large quantities of phony beer and wine in the past.
Feeling queasy yet? Wait, there's more. According to CCTV, just last week 13 people were diagnosed with methanol poisoning after drinking fake whiskey at a Muse Bar in Heyuan, Guangdong province. Of those, four were admitted to the ICU; three were still unconscious as of Saturday afternoon.
Police have closed the Muse bar and detained four people under suspicion of producing and selling the toxic brews Flylion and Faliya. According to the suspects, the drinks came from outside of the city.
A total 190 cases of the two whiskeys have been seized at the Heyuan club, as well as Muse bars in Shenzhen and Huizhou. The phony brands were also found to have been sold in Henan, Hainan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, mainly at bars.
China's national food and drug administration is urging bars and suppliers to stop sales of the fake whiskies at once, and for consumers to steer clear of the two brands. An in-depth investigation of bar operators and sources of the alcohol is still underway.
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