Porn-star rum back on Liquor Mart shelves

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This article was published 14/02/2013 (4958 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ron de Jeremy is headed back to Liquor Mart shelves, as Manitoba Liquor Control Commission has found nothing inappropriate about the product.

Bottles of rum bearing the name and likeness of adult-film star Ron Jeremy had been removed following a customer complaint, said Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries spokeswoman Karen Hiebert, describing the decision to remove the product as a matter of erring on the side of caution.

“We’ve reviewed the decision and decided to return the product to our Liquor Mart shelves,” Hiebert said in a statement. “In this case, we felt there was nothing inappropriate about the product name or its label.”

In January, 26 Liquor Marts in Manitoba began selling Ron de Jeremy, a seven-year-old premium rum produced in Panama. The Manitoba Liquor Control Commission ordered 60 cases of the 80-proof rum, which retailed for $43.75 before taxes for a 26-ounce bottle.

The name of the product is a play on words, as ron means rum in Spanish while the 59-year-old Jeremy is one of the world’s best-known porn stars. The Ron de Jeremy product line was launched in 2010 and is marketed as “the adult rum” with a “long, smooth taste” on the company’s U.S.-based website.

The bottle’s label features Jeremy’s face but no reference to his work in thousands of pornographic films. The product went on sale in 26 Manitoba Liquor Mart stores on Jan. 24 but was removed from Liquor Mart shelves nine days later, said Andreas Runesson, managing director of operations for Simplicity Wines, the product’s Winnipeg-based importer.

The product will return soon, Hiebert said.