Canada recalls Bombay Sapphire over extra alcohol content

Bottles of Bombay Sapphire London Dry Gin have been recalled across Canada after a batch was found to contain 77 per cent alcohol by volume, almost double the advertised amount. 

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario issued a recall for 6000 bottles of the gin after its quality assurance team revealed the error.

However, it was one unsatisfied customer who was responsible for the original tip-off: “A regular connoisseur of Bombay Sapphire gin realized that the taste profile was off,” a Bombay spokesperson said Thursday.

And despite a nationwide effort to destroy the affected bottles, more than 1000 remained unaccounted for in Ontario alone, reported Canada’s National Post.

Bacardi spokeswoman Amy Federman said the over-proof gin “inadvertently” entered the bottling line at a third-party bottling plan in the UK, when “they were switching from one bottling tank to another bottling tank.”

Bacardi also said the affected batch was believed to only have been sold in Canada, and was shipped there late last year.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said no illnesses associated with the gin had been reported, but that the recalled gin should be thrown out for returned to the shop where it was bought.