So, this happened.
FACEBOOK ISSUES LAST CALL ON WHISKEY SECONDARY MARKET GROUPS, by Nino Marchetti (The Whiskey Wash)
One of the worst-kept secrets in the whiskey lover’s world is the existence of closed Facebook groups that function as a secondary whiskey market, where private bottle sales go on in a grey market style.
To date, the giant social media company has either has been ignorant of these groups, or chosen to ignore them. But today, that was not the case. A number of groups involved in this activity were shut down by Facebook in a virtual raid of sorts, apparently alongside other groups allowing private sales of other items that could be considered controversial.
This "virtual raid" was the subject of much chatter, but as someone who knows very little about shadowy gray worlds apart from the way New Albany's mayor chooses to govern, apparently it has to do with things like this.
Inside the Pappy Van Winkle Forgery Scheme That's Infiltrating Bourbon's Black Market, by Aaron Goldfarb (Esquire)
Empty bottles, lesser booze, foil coverings, and blowdryers
... "There's a crazy problem right now," Riber, a senior accountant in Jacksonville and the author of Bourbonr blog, told me over the phone. "And you just know it's going on when you're seeing empty Pappy bottles selling for 100, 200 bucks online."
It's nothing to do with "craft" beer, right?
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