Bombay Sapphire Gin Is Being Recalled for a Very Funny Reason
There's a good reason booze, beer, and wine bottles are labeled with how much alcohol they contain, since taste and flavor can easily convince you something is much less potent than it actually is. It's also important that those labels aren't lying to you, as a Canadian liquor distributor is learning the hard way after having to recall a big batch of Bombay Sapphire Gin for accidentally containing nearly twice (!) as much alcohol as it's advertised to. Whoops!
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According to the CBC, Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin is being recalled in at least eight provinces after the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's quality assurance team discovered that some of the iconic blue bottles being distributed hadn't been properly diluted, and contained a whopping 77% alcohol content, or nearly double the 40% it is labeled to.
In a statement from Bacardi -- which owns Bombay as well as several other major liquor brands -- the company claims the mistake was made while some bottles "inadvertently entered the bottling line during a short period of time" while bottling tanks were being changed, and only 1.14-litre bottles of Sapphire are affected. They also claim that 1,000 cases, at most, were affected. That's still a lot of overly potent hooch.
The affected bottles were sold in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Alberta, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, though it's unclear exactly how many were purchased. The remnants of the bad batch has since been pulled from shelves, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says that it hasn't gotten anyone sick. However, Bacardi is urging anyone who picked a surprisingly strong bottle before the mistake was noticed not to drink it. "We do not recommend consumption of this product," they said. Anyone who did pick up a bottle with a product code of L16304W printed on the bottom can return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Then again, why not just pour in half the amount of gin you'd typically add to your cocktail? Or just settle in and enjoy a significantly boozier G&T? No one wants to see a bottle of Bombay go to waste.
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