Updated May 05, 2017 10:20:04

Photo: About 6,000 bottles were among the affected batch. (Flickr: LexnGer)

Thousands of bottles of gin have been recalled in Canada, after a customer discovered the alcohol content was almost double what was declared on the label.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario issued a recall for 1.14-litre bottles of Bombay Sapphire gin after an investigation by its quality assurance revealed the bottles contained gin with 77 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV).

A standard bottle of Bombay Sapphire is only 40 per cent ABV.

Canada's National Post reported an unsatisfied customer had tipped off the liquor board after realising "the taste profile was off".

The Post said 6,000 bottles were affected.

They were distributed across the country.

Bottle shops and gin enthusiasts nationwide were urged to check their stocks for the potent batch number, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency stepping in to help track down the rest.

A spokesperson for Bacardi Ltd, the company that owns Bombay Sapphire, told The Post the overproof gin had "inadvertently" entered the bottling line at a third-party bottling plant in the UK "when they were switching from one bottling tank to another".

Topics: food-safety, alcohol, canada

First posted May 05, 2017 08:49:25