Reputable alcohol suppliers warn of Fake Booze hitting the market as bar owners on Spain’s Costa del Sol & Costa Blanca prepare for Price War

“A friend and I bought a bottle of Cutty Sark whisky here once,” says a local expat in Fuengirola, “It tasted funny so we limited ourselves to one glass each,” he says. “Later, I received a call from my friend’s wife telling me that he’d fainted. I went to see them in the Costa del Sol hospital and he was unable to speak. He was given a drip and waited it out for a few hours.”

In recent years Spain has had some of the cheapest beer in the world, with tourists previously able to buy a bottle for under £2. The tourist industry has been decimated across the country with hotels facing bankruptcy and the tour operators warning recovery could take years. Despite the country easing some of their lockdown guidelines, as some workers are allowed to return to their jobs, Spain is unlikely to recover quickly.