I didn't even ask a question.
It LOOKS like real vodka with a fake label.
Maybe. I don't know the difference between vodka and water, just by looking.
But how do you know what it is?
I don't, and never claimed I did.
There has to be a definition of what makes vodka, vodka.
OK, I'll go along with that.
And without some independent atributation, it could be anything.
I don't know what "atributation" is, perhaps you mean "attribution".
In any case, it is or it isn't vodka, whether you or I or the state recognizes it as such or not.
Don't get me wrong. It might be a wonderful concoction. But it isnt vodka.
Why do you say that? It might be fake Smirnoff, but it could still be genuine vodka. I can make beer in my basement. It's not Heineken, but it's real beer.
My point was simply that the article doesn't make it clear whether it's fake vodka (water, for example), or fake branding (real vodka with counterfeit labels).
And maybe not even by tasting. The point is that unless you have some kind of chemical expertise you will be unable to tell exactly what this stuff actually is. In any case, if the label is falsified, what you are buying is not what you think it is. That is misrepresentation, and as he is taking money for it, that is fraud.
But how do you know what it is? I don't, and never claimed I did.
It was a rhetorical question.