A giant steel ball filled with Swiss gin has disappeared from Lake Constance. The company that makes the gin, Ginial, was trying to infuse the alcohol with a unique aroma by submerging the spirit at the bottom of the lake for 100 days.
Lake Constance, which is located at the meeting point of Switzerland, Germany and Austria, is used by the company to infuse their gin. The 800-kilogram metal ball is filled with gin, submerged under the water, attached to a concrete block and matured for 100 days. When the firm’s workers went to locate the ball, they went armed with coordinates to make sure they could easily locate their precious cargo.
However, after searching for two days, it became clear to the diving team that they were going to need to search a larger area, so with the support of commercial diver Roger Eichenberger and the Maritime Police, Ginial tried again and again to locate the gin ball, but to no avail. Now, according to the Swiss newspaper Blick, it is assumed that all 230 litres of gin in the 800-kilogram ball have been stolen.
"They were absolute professionals," Ginial CEO Cello Fisch told Blick. Fisch noted that the thieves must have been very experienced, as stealing the gin would only be possible with boats and specialist equipment able to lift the heavy steel ball from the lake.
Aside from the missing gin, the firm now has several related problems to deal with too. Most of the 395 bottles of gin that would have been made from the stolen supply were already sold, so there is now a risk that customers will not be able to get their orders in time. There is also the issue of insurance - since the case is so unusual there is a lack of clarity over who will pay for the loss of and damage to the missing ball.
The police are still making enquiries in an attempt to find out what happened to the gin ball. They have appealed for any witnesses to come forward.
This article originally appeared on IamExpat in Switzerland.