TGI Friday franchisee fined over booze swap claim

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Haliburton was only $200,000 fine for destroying evidence. We can tell that the sacristy of liquor to NJ is more important than justice on the federal level.

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People who eat at TGI Fridays can tell the difference between good booze and swill?

(I’m sorry! I didn’t want to type this. I have culturally elite hand syndrome.)

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I was hoping the article would have more on exactly how anyone managed to distinguish the brands, but no such luck. With all the furor about wine-tasting lately, you’d think it would be a tricky business.

Always good to see the law enforcement working on something important…

You have to give them points for “Operation Swill.”

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If I lived in New Jersey, I sure would be glad to know there are people getting paid by my tax dollars to run around sniffing booze bottles instead of investigating real crime. Cause we all know real crime doesn’t exist in New Jersey.

There was some mention of ‘informants’ (I assume the restaurant industry’s usual sterling standards of employee treatment provide a good supply of disgruntled former insiders). Once you’ve narrowed the sample set down a bit, the job is probably not difficult by the standards of analytical chemistry.

There’s a far greater variety of wines than of any given type of liquor. The difference between a $40 bottle of wine and an $18 bottle is much, much subtler than the difference between Basil Hayden’s and Jack Daniels’.

To be fair, I don’t think I’d be able to tell the differnce between Stolichnaya and Mowhawk. They both taste like crap vodka to me.

Ripping off alcoholics is not an enduring option.

That depends whether or not the liquor in question is put in a giant kitschy glass and drowned in crushed ice, pureed fruit, sugary syrups and a crapload of things skewered on toothpicks.

Yeah but only idiots order drinks like that with top shelf. Whenever someone orders a Grey Goose Bloody Mary I get a private eyeroll from the bartender.

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I recall a conversation I had with some adult when I was a child where they were saying exactly this was what was going on, that they would keep the bottles (they were supposed to, by law, break) and refill them with moonshine gotten from the mafia (and sell that). I do not recall where this was or who was telling me.

This type of behaviour prompted the custom of uncorking wine and champagne at the customers table, leaving the cork and bottle. thus, customer knows the restaurant is not skinning them with cheap inferior vino behind the bar, unless they order the house wine provided in a glass decanter.

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