Mouthing Off | Hong Kong gin brand’s name is obvious bait and UK alcohol regulators bit, but risqué titles are common in bars and restaurants

Oh, for Fok’s sake. The kerfuffle over Hong Kong distiller Fok Hing Gin’s name is a bit ridiculous, and not just for the reason you think.

Indeed, it has all been a storm in a teacup, or rather a shot glass, and the UK alcohol industry’s Independent Complaints Panel gave the label exactly what it aimed for: sensationalist publicity.

The brand name is obvious marketing bait and the Brit regulators fell for it hook, line and sinker. Suckers. In reality, Fok Hing Gin is not particularly clever or funny, nor does it confer reverence to Hong Kong traditional culture of any kind.

I don’t for one second buy their argument that the spirit’s name is a homage to Causeway Bay. The street in question, Fuk Hing Lane, is a tiny back thoroughfare lined with cheap noodle shops and hardware stalls. There is no tradition of beer-brewing, booze-making or even excessive drinking in that back alley.

Let’s just call this what it is: a couple of gin-making blokes thought it’d be a cracker of a gag if their booze had a naughty-sounding name. Fine, a bit juvenile, but no harm, no foul. To their pleasant surprise, in this age of political correctness and incessant trolling, they found a “Karen” to blow up at, to muster a little false indignation and generate a whole lot of attention.

I wonder if the Black Sheep Restaurants group feels a little cheated that Ho Lee Fook, in SoHo, couldn’t rally a protest or boycott of any kind from local morality groups or people desperate to protect this city’s decency standards.