Whiskey is by far one of the most internationally-beloved types of alcohol. Whether your choice is bourbon or scotch, single-malt or blended, Irish or rye, there are thousands of people worldwide who genuinely love a glass of this bronze nectar that dates back to Mesopotamia.

Of course, as with just about any type of hard alcohol, getting good quality whiskey can often come at a price. While some are content to sip and mix just regular ol' Jack Daniels or Jameson, self-proclaimed whiskey connoisseurs can expect to pay dozens, or even hundreds, of dollars for a single bottle of the rarer stuff.

Plenty of whiskey distilleries make small batches of whiskey that are often said to be that much better than anything you could typically get at your local liquor store, and they often have the price tag to match. Rare bottles of scotch aged for over 25 years can go for more than $300, and that's just for starters!

Suffice it to say, some people take whiskey very seriously, and are more than willing to pay a premium for it. With that it mind, it becomes pretty shocking to discover that a bottle of Macallan 1878, considered to be the most expensive whiskey in the world, was a complete hoax.

Zhang Wei, a 36-year-old Chinese businessman, was staying at The Waldhaus Hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and decided to order a shot of Macallan 1878 at the hotel's bar. The shot cost $10,000; the most expensive whiskey shot ever poured.

However, whiskey lovers who heard the story thought things might be fishy, and contacted Sandro Bernasconi, the manager of the hotel, who then brought in experts from Oxford University to test the whiskey to see if it was legitimate.

The tests revealed that the whiskey was in fact a near-worthless blended scotch dating to 1970; a pretty far cry from the year that was advertised. The research team also found several mistakes on the bottle's label, asserting that it was a fake.

Wei had his money refunded by the hotel, and Bernasconi flew to China personally to apologize to his customer. He stated to Fox News that "When it comes to selling our customers some of the world's rarest and oldest whiskeys, we felt it was our duty to ensure that our stock is 100 percent authentic and the real deal."

Would you ever spend $10,000 on a shot of whiskey? Make sure to do your research before you do!