Posted on 05/24/2013 4:55:38 AM PDT by Zakeet
Complete Headline: Scores of TGI Fridays in New Jersey 'busted for selling caramel-colored rubbing alcohol as top-shelf scotch' in statewide crackdown dubbed Operation Swill
At one bar, a mixture that included rubbing alcohol and caramel coloring was sold as scotch. In another, premium liquor bottles were refilled with water - and apparently not even clean water at that.
State officials provided those new details Thursday on raids they conducted a day earlier as part of a yearlong investigation dubbed Operation Swill.
Twenty-nine New Jersey bars and restaurants, including 13 TGI Fridays, were accused of substituting cheap booze - or worse - for top-shelf brands while charging premium prices.
As part of Operation Swill, investigators collected 1,000 open bottles of vodka, gin, rum, scotch, whiskey and tequila from the wells of the bars, state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said.
‘This alleged scheme is a dishonest ruse to increase profits and is a slap in the face of the consumer,’ Chiesa said.
[Snip]
The undercover inspectors tested vodka brands such as Grey Goose and Ketel One; scotch, such as Johnny Walker Black and Dewar’s; and Jose Cuervo Silver and Gold tequila.
Of 150 samples collected, 30 were not the brand as which they were being sold.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I realize rubbing alcohol can kill you, but does it show up in a breath test?
About 45 years ago my brother got his first job pumping gas at an Exxon (then Esso) station on Rt. 22 in NJ. He was told it was the busiest gas station in the United States.
Also said they routinely added regular gasoline to the premium tank, and kerosene to the regular tank.
Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol is poison. If there’s any truth to this story, people need to go to jail for a long, long time.
More likely they were using grain alcohol.
“So, so, I really didn’t get drunk?”
Lots and lots of 20-somethings.
Can someone tell me why TGIF was targeted? Why weren’t other places tested simultaneously?
So, this is not some scam on customers, this is POISONING! Whoever did this should be arrested for serious felony crimes, the businesses closed.
Sounds Mafia-ish
The Fount of all Budweiser. . .
In New Joisey? Naaahhh. Fuggedaboutit.
My guess is that they were being ripped off by their employees. Bartender gives out free drinks to friends or a freebie for a good tip or not ringing one up. Taking some home..whatever. They need to cover that inventory lest they be caught.
Long ago, a xeroxed cartoon circulated through my workplace. It depicted a well-hung horse simultaneously drinking from a bucket of Budweiser and filling a bucket of Miller Light.
Correct. Kitty Dukakis once tried chugging rubbing alcohol when her booze ran out, and it didn't go so well...
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1989-11-09/news/8902090013_1_kitty-dukakis-gerald-r-plotkin-dukakis-aide
I thought they all closed. At least they did where I live.
Bud Lite is the brew of choice for my in-laws, and regrettably, my son. I thought I had raised him better than that.
Of course, I was spoiled by living in Germany for 4+ years. I don't drink much anymore, but when I do, it's Guinness (draft only), Shiner Bock, Buffalo Butt, or a good German brew.
At a family gathering last weekend, a BIL ordered a glass of water and a Bud Lite. I replied, "aren't they one and the same?"
Sounds like the NJ Mafia was involved.
Most of the fuel treatments which are sold on the shelves of auto parts stores and other retailers are nothing more than kerosene. He may have been cleaning carbs without knowing it.
A "score" is a group of 20. "Scores" would imply more than 40.....
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