New gin raises funds for abortion charities
US-based Republic Restoratives Distillery has announced that it will donate proceeds from the sale of its new Dissent Gin to the National Network of Abortion Funds.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, the Washington DC-based distillery, which is owned by women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, has released its Dissent Gin, which is inspired by the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg. “We are proud to be a small, woman-owned and LGBTQ-operated American business with a voice,” said Republic Restoratives Distillery co-founder and CEO Pia Carusone. “We had to do something. We knew it was coming. We felt it in our bones. All we could think was what would Ruth Bader Ginsburg do? How would her dissent read? And how can we honour the woman who made dissent an act of revolution? “Millions of Americans live in communities where safe and legal abortions were just banned. The war on women is raging but we won’t be silent. Like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we dissent and we’re going to fucking fight.” Created by gin master and bartender Nicole Hassoun, the 45% ABV Dissent Gin is cold smoked and offers savoury notes of pepper, allspice, bay leaves, ginger, lemon, mandarin orange and hickory smoke. The Dissent label was designed by artist Rose Jaffe, best known for her two-story mural of Bader Ginsberg and work on the infamous Black Lives Matter Plaza. Jaffe’s brightly-coloured depiction of women acknowledges reproductive justice through its symbolism of togetherness, resistance and power. The gin joins Republic Restoratives Distillery’s family of spirits, which includes Civic Vodka, a nod to civic participation; Madam whiskey, inspired by US vice president Kamala Harris; and Purpose Rye, a ‘reminder of the necessary connection between values and action’. The company’s earliest offering was Rodham Rye, named for former senator and one-time presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Each 750ml bottle of Dissent Gin is offered at an RRP of US$79 with proceeds benefiting the National Network of Abortion Funds, which provides money to community and indigenous organisations to supply funding, travel, lodging to pregnant people in need of abortion care. In June, Speciality Brands committed to raising funds for an employment charity.
