Hindu activist urges distillery to withdraw gin

The president of the Universal Society of Hinduism is urging French producer Distillerie Awen Nature to discontinue Gin Ganesh and issue an apology, calling the product ‘highly inappropriate’.

Religious leader Rajan Zed said the producer’s Gin Ganesh was ‘inappropriate’ as it was named after a god and used Hindu symbols. The bottle’s label features an illustration of a blue elephant that replicates the Hindu figure.

Zed added that the elephant-headed Hindu deity was meant to be worshipped and not used to promote a gin. Furthermore, linking Ganesh with an alcoholic product is ‘very disrespectful’, Zed argued.

He continued: “Distilleries should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivialising of divine Hindu deity to be displayed on a gin bottle.”

Gin Ganesh is bottled at 44.8% ABV, and is aged in French oak casks and Armagnac barrels. It is made with juniper berries, ginger, turmeric, cardamom and cloves.

Based in Brittany, Distillerie Awen Nature produces spirits that are flavoured with plants, such as absinthe, Cognac, gin, rum and vodka.

The Spirits Business has approached Distillerie Awen Nature for comment.