The country’s largest spirits distributor Diageo Korea launched a new anti-counterfeiting device Tuesday.

The new device, Windsor Protect, is designed so that a 2-millimeter gap is left between the cap and neck of the bottle once it is opened, preventing the bottle from being resealed once the original seal is broken.

The device, which according to the company is the most efficient of its kind, will be used on 12- and 17-year blends of Windsor whisky, the company said.

Along with the new Windsor Protect device, Diageo Korea’s products will come with previously developed anti-counterfeit devices, the company said.

According to Diageo Korea, the only ways to produce counterfeit Windsor products fitted with the Windsor Protect device is to reattach the 2-millimeter gap between the bottle cap and neck, but this process is impossible without breaking the plastic covering found on the bottle neck.

With Windsor products accounting for about half of Korea’s whisky market, the company has been paying particular attention to preventing counterfeit products.

The company began with a specially designed cap in 2001, and added a hologram seal the following year.

In 2007, the company added a new serial code and introduced the “checker” device in 2008. The checker device is designed to authenticate Windsor products with a section of the bottle cap that is lowered inside the bottle when opened for the first time.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)