Members of the Hindu community have urged East Midlands based Tollgate Brewery to apologise and withdraw its Kalika IPA beer.
The light beer, which features an image of Hindu goddess Kalika or Kali has been labelled “highly inappropriate” and caused great upset.
In a statement in Nevada, USA, President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed said that the goddess is “highly revered in Hinduism and is meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines, and not to be used in selling beer for mercantile greed.
“Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees, he added.
“Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously.”
Goddess Kalika, who personifies Sakti or divine energy, is widely worshipped in Hinduism and is considered the goddess of time and change.
Tollgate Brewery, which was founded in 2005 is a member of the Society of Independent Brewers and describes itself as “Traditionalist in style” and “A microbrewery with a big ambition”.
It also has three Micropub outlets in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicester and Duffield.
A spokesman for Tollgate Brewery said: “Kalika is no longer brewed. We have no cask stocks at the brewery. There are no plans to brew it further.”
