England brewery urged to withdraw Kalika beer

Madhu Patel

CHICAGO: Upset Indians in Chicago and across the county have strongly pitched with the Ashby-de-la-Zouch – Derbyshire, England based Tollgate Brewery to withdraw its “Kalika IPA” beer dubbing it hugely insulting to the Kali devotes.

Label of Tollgate’s “Kalika IPA” beer (described as “Well hopped dark gold IPA”, under its Light Beers category) carries image of Hindu goddess Kalika (or Kali).

Spearheading the protest Rajan Zed, president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said Goddess Kalika was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used in selling beer for mercantile greed.

Any inappropriate usage of deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.  Goddess Kalika or Kali, who personifies Sakti or divine energy, is widely worshipped in Hinduism, one of the oldest religions in the world with 1.1 billion followers.

Tollgate Brewery in East Midlands, a member of Society of Independent Brewers, is a 6-barrel Real Ale craft brewery, nestled in the heart of the National Forest. Founded 2005, it 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.