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Operation Maker's Mark: The Investigation Continues
Posted by victor fiorillo on July 29th, 2009
UPDATE, 10/26: The results are in — see our latest post.
Last Friday, as I sat anonymously at popular Center City cheap drink haven Oscar’s, a lovely, business-attired blonde woman walked in carrying a plain black binder, a casually dressed man by her side. Although the lunch rush had passed, she had a difficult time getting the bartender’s attention — probably because she looked like someone on a sales call — until she flashed a badge and identified herself as Officer Tara Amato of the State Police’s Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement.
Amato explained that she was investigating a formal complaint filed with her office, alleging that the bar was serving cheap or watered-down booze in pricier bottles. (If you haven’t been keeping up, I was the one who made the complaint after posting a story about my experience ordering a Maker’s Mark at the bar.)
After checking Oscar’s liquor license (which was current), going through records in the basement, and verifying whether the beer lines were cleaned properly (Amato said they weren’t), Amato and her partner proceeded to the bar, where they analyzed many of the bottles behind it, holding the bourbons up to the light, swirling expensive vodkas in the bottle (presumably to check viscosity), and looking for evidence of tampering.
When all was said and done, Amato removed six bottles of liquor from the premises, including Grey Goose and Maker’s Mark. In a follow-up conversation, she told me that she’ll be bringing the seized bottles to the Bureau’s labs later this week for scientific analysis. I’ll keep you posted.
UPDATE, 8/29/09: As of mid-August, the State Police indicated that lab analysis could take several more weeks. Stay tuned.
Related Tags: Hamburger
July 29th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
[...] UPDATE: Read about further developments — including the name of the bar — in my latest post. [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Dear Victor,
Oscar’s does not pretend to be a high class establishment. They are a simple dive bar great for their 20oz long island iced teas, cheap beers, simple bar food, and staff that remember your name. You do not go to Oscar’s to sip at a designer cocktail or to order shelf liquor on the rocks.
Please move on to some other places that may appreciate your pompous tastes. If you don’t like the bar, move on. Plenty of other people enjoy Oscar’s as is.
Let’s face it. Unless you drink at home you are going to get ripped off!
Sincerly,
MM
July 29th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Oh yeah, that completely justifies selling watered down drinks and deceiving your clientele. Idiot.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
When the ice melts your liquor becomes watered down.
If you want to know you are consuming purely what you paid for then go down to the wine & spirits and buy yourself a bottle to suckle on.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I can’t believe this is true. I go to Oscar’s all the time, and have everything from beer to the aformentioned iced tea(23oz.) To maker’s mark and other straight whiskey’s. Have never had a problem and yes i do know what i’m drinking. Victor, i would have held the name of the bar until the investigation is complete.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Do you know what ordering a drink neat means M. Medaugh? Not much ice melting in that drink.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Can’t wait till victor is a exposed as a bourbon fraud, who doesn’t know what Makers tastes like. Just because the LCB is investigating a complaint you initiated doesn’t make Oscar’s guilty. It makes you guilty of bad journalism.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
While we all know that watering down drinks is common and also wrong, it is a small man that walks into Philly’s best dive bar, a place where you don’t have to have a gold card to afford a drink in center city, and decides to take it upon himself to try ruin a 45 year old business. How dare you name the bar before anything has been proved. You should be investigated for your ethics, whether or not it is proved to be true, you should loose the right to inform the people of philly on any subject. You know no one reads the retraction. Lets start random testing the bottles at every dive bar in the city so we can make room for the snob bars that Fiorillo really loves.
July 29th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Wow. You have too much time on your hands. Get a job and stop ruining other businesses. You were probably too cheap to go to an upscale restaurant and order Maker’s Mark. Unemployed?
July 30th, 2009 at 1:33 am
This guy has an obvious vendetta. Philly mag should fire him ASAP.
July 30th, 2009 at 4:32 am
To everyone who posted except “A. Drinker”, I can’t believe how ignorant you all are. Just because you like the place, it doesn’t give them the right to put rot gut bourbon in a Makers Mark bottle and then serve it as Makers Mark. Call me the next time you are out and I’ll piss in your drinks and call it Jack Daniels.
July 30th, 2009 at 9:39 am
To Benny The Slob, There have plenty of times where I was in a bar and ordered a draft and thought, this does not taste right. I am not ignorant because I didn’t smuggle the beer out and call the Penn Liqour Control Board. Instead I tell the bartender and get a different beer. Yea, people love oscars and want to think the best of it, we should all start calling the LCB phone # that Fiorillo listed and report odd tasting drinks at his favorite places.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:28 am
As a 3 year employee of Oscars tavern, I can CONFIDENTLY say this is positively FALSE!!!! I have opened numerous bottles of makers mark, and they are all 100% makers mark!! You can all be assured that when you order your inexpensive strong drink at oscars, you are absolutely getting what you asked and paid for!!! thanks- tina
July 30th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Hey benny the slob, Know what you drinking, Idiot!! I said i have had Maker’s at Oscar’s & it was Maker’s. That’s why i like the place- good booze cheap, This victor has an obvious agenda!!
July 30th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I can’t believe people are lambasting this guy for attempting to improve people’s experience at this establishment. This does not take away from anyone else’s experience if they are comfortable drinking inexpensive beers and mixed drinks. Why should this bother you? If Oscar’s is not passing off cheaper spirits for Maker’s Mark then they have nothing to worry about. They’re obviously not going to loose customers over it, as most of you posting are no doubt hardcore regulars, and it would not matter to you even if they were diluting their products. Perhaps this gentleman loves the same things about Oscar’s as you do, but likes to drink a more premium spirit. If Oscar’s did not want to cater to this type of clientele then why do they carry Maker’s Mark in the first place. What would this man have to gain by bringing attention to this, other than possobly exposing an establishment that might be cheating its customers? What vendetta could he possibly have against a place like Oscar’s? Think about that. If the results of the test show that they are serving the correct products, then by doing this, he will only be exposing himself to ridicule. We should all have enough courage to call foul when we notice that something may not be what it is supposed to be. Let the results of this investigation be presented before you pass judgement.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I can’t wait for the retraction and the apology. But where does Oscar’s go to get it’s reputation back. Oh, no one reads this shit anyway.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:35 am
Went to Oscar’s tonight & drank Maker’s Mark. Hadn’t been there for 6 mos, so no i am not a “hard core regular”
August 1st, 2009 at 2:06 am
I heard… though the grapevine… $5.50 for real Maker’s Mark at Oscar”s. $12 at your buddy’s bar the ladder. Time to lawyer up.
August 1st, 2009 at 6:47 am
I would just like to make a couple of comments here.
To the people saying that we should expect low-quality at a dive bar: They shouldn’t be serving it then.
To the people saying that someone complaining about watering down liquor is ruining a business: The person watering down the liquor is choosing to ruin the business.
To the people saying that he should not name the bar until this is proven: You are absolutely correct, he needs to brush up on his journalistic ethics.
Also, I’ve had quite a few Jamesons there when meeting friends and there’s no way it was Jameson, it tasted like friggin’ Old Crow.
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
To whisk(e)y Lover… you need to get your taste buds checked out, because I have been working there for 8 years and have been pouring your Jameson. Trust me …Its Jameson…I open the sealed bottles every Wednesday!!! And Victor, how dare you question my character or anyone else that works there….we are hard working, honest people, and would NEVER, EVER rip anyone off by passing off cheap liquor. It makes me sick to think that there are people like you in this world that would try to destroy a business for no reason, but boredom.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:48 am
Oscar’s is so bad about watering down drinks and other unsavory practices it’s literally the only bar in Philadelphia I won’t patronize. And I go to plenty of Dive bars, McGlinchey’s, Locust Bar, etc.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:23 am
If a restaurant was being investigated for serious health code violations, wouldn’t you want to know about it? If you dropped $200 on a pair of sneakers that turned out to be knock-offs, you wouldn’t be pissed?? You think because it’s done $5 at a time it isn’t stealing? You are being ripped off, people! and possible suffering from a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
A lot of this people writing as supporters of this guy are missing the most important point. As a journalist, he has a responsibility to report facts not just use the media as a forum for his personal complaints about service or quality of a product from a business. If this really is happening – fine, then report it. After proven.
What it really reads like though is an idiot who got a bad drink and instead of being a normal person and simply saying to the bartender – hey, I don’t like this, something is wrong can you address it for me please – called the “authorities” and then wasted his employers media power on a stupid and senseless article. Reminds me of a story I read about a white trash douche bag calling 911 because his taco didn’t have hot sauce. I say to this guy – you’re a Chicken-sh*t loser get a different job and give yours to an unemployed person interested in being a real journalist.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
[...] Here’s the Philadelphia magazine post for the background of tonight’s discussion: Operation Maker’s Mark: The Investigation Continues [...]
August 11th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
@Brian Oscarocks. Have you actually ever read a newspaper or watched TV?? When someone gets arrested for murder, NBC reports it – they don’t wait for the trial. When a member of city council is being investigated – they don’t wait for the investigation to be concluded before broadcasting the fact. And when you get arrested for DUI, as I’m sure you have – the newspaper puts it in the crime blotter right away – regardless of the eventual outcome. You know why??? Because they are reporting the NEWS, not publishing a scientific study.
So PLEASE, next time you’re pretending that you have ethics, try to remember that all you really have is an opinion. And an anger problem.
August 17th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
This idiot created the news, not reported on it. He made the unfounded complaint. because of some personal vendetta against a great bar.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
so whats going on with this??
September 4th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Victor?? please tell us what is going on with this?? We are dying to know?? We keep going to Oscar’s Tavern 1524 Sansom St. PhillyPA, and keep getting good drinks cheap! Nothing is going on, because Vic wasn’t cool enough for the Big O, so he got mad… What a baby, LOSER!
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:46 am
Leaves are turning colors and still nothing from the state police… Maybe Vic will just not be asshole the next time he comes to Oscars…
October 26th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
[...] complaint with the State Police’s Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, whose Officer Tara Amato paid a visit to Oscar’s, confiscating six bottles of liquor. Many of the bar’s devoted patrons and one employee attacked [...]
October 28th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Hey Bobby Drinks, you’re awful quiet since September! What, maybe you’re worried about your fine or license revocation now? Victor looking pretty well vindicated at this point, eh?
The silence is deafening. Thanks for being there, Vic!
December 11th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Anything new with this case? What is the bars penalty?
March 12th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
I’ve read most of the comments here and am just blown away by people willing to be ripped off. Whether it’s a nice place or a dive, you want what you pay for. It’s that simple. In this econ. more and more bars are finding that watering down is very profitable. The consumer is the loser.. If you want to be a loser then you’ll continue to grace these establishments.. Why would you allow anyone including or especially a bar to charge you for a portion of what you actually ordered? ..Cheers to the outer.. I’ve done the very same thing where I’m from.. This has become so common and it needs to stop. It is so common that there is a feeling of intitlement. Let this be a wake up call.. I bet if you go to Oscar’s now, you’ll get a full, fully-loaded drink. You did a good thing..And naming the bar was a good thing.. If the state does little or nothing..or they settle quietly, now you have the story out.. good for you!