Bottles of gin that actually contained hand sanitizer were accidentally sold to customers
- The Apollo Bay Distillery outside Melbourne, Australia mistakenly filled and sold bottles labeled as gin with hand sanitizer.
- Distilleries and breweries around the globe began to produce sanitizer amid the coronavirus outbreak to help increase supply.
- The distillery is offering refunds or replacement bottles to customers who purchased the mislabeled bottles.
Distilleries and breweries across the US and beyond started to produce, bottle, and distribute bottles of hand sanitizer in February and March as the novel coronavirus began to spread around the globe.
But one Australian gin distillery outside Melbourne had a mix-up with their products and sold bottles labeled as SS Casino Gin to distributors that were actually full of hand sanitizer, as first seen on Gizmodo.
Apollo Bay Distillery began bottling hand sanitizer like many other facilities worldwide to help contribute to the short supply during the pandemic. But since then, some of their bottles' contents were mislabeled.
"The product is labeled as gin, however it is not gin," the distillery's recall warning reads.
The recall identifies the bottles in question as those sold at the Great Ocean Road Brew House (Tastes of the Region) between 5 p.m. Friday, June 5 until 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 7.
"The bottles are not correctly sealed, they can be identified as having no shrink wrap seal," the recall notice said.
Apollo Bay Distillery's SS Casino Gin, typically contains juniper, cinnamon myrtle, saltbush, and fennel botanicals. Whereas the mixture of 1.45% glycerol and 0.125% hydrogen peroxide hand sanitizer won't kill you, is not meant to be ingested, and can cause dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, thirst, nausea, headaches, and bloating.
The distillery is offering to give refunds or replacement bottles to anyone who purchased gin during the early period of June. People looking to seek a refund or replacement bottle can email info@apollobaydistillery.com.au to contact the distillery.