A Pennsylvania distillery owner who grew increasingly angry as he saw the skyrocketing price of hand sanitizer has decided to do something about it: He has temporarily converted his operation into a production line for the suddenly hard-to-find, gooey, alcohol-based disinfectant.
Eight Oaks Farm Distillery on Monday filled its first 20 bottles, a batch destined for charitable groups that need hand sanitizer, but have not been able to get it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The family-owned distillery plans to dramatically boost production this week and distribute the bottles to charities, as well as offer them at farmers’ markets where it sells its spirits and through its Web site.
The price: whatever people decide to donate.
Photo: AP
“We are in a national emergency,” brewery founder Chad Butters said. “What’s the right thing to do? The right thing to do is support this community by providing something that is in desperate need. We’ll flood the valley with hand sanitizer and drive that price right down.”
Other distilleries are also putting their spirits to work to help fill the shortage of hand sanitizers.
Green Mountain Distillers in Morrisville, Vermont, is giving away a hand sanitizing solution and Durham Distillery in Durham, North Carolina, is donating one to hospitality colleagues, using high-proof alcohol and other ingredients. Patrons must bring their own containers.
“We wanted to do something that would be as positive as possible,” Green Mountain Distillers co-owner Harold Faircloth said.
Smugglers’ Notch Distillery, also in Vermont, plans to launch a hand sanitizer later this week at its Waterbury and Jeffersonville sites. A portion of the proceeds would be donated to Vermont’s efforts to respond to the virus outbreak.
“I know I have a unique opportunity to help out a little bit and keep my staff employed,” co-owner Jeremy Elliott said, adding that 40 percent of his business comes from bars and restaurants, which are closing in some other parts of the country.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the US trade group has been in touch with federal regulatory agencies, as well as the coronavirus task force of US President Donald Trump’s administration, to clear red tape and “make sure we can be quick and nimble, and fill a need in the marketplace,” CEO Chris Swonger said. “We all want to do our part.”
Government agencies have been very receptive, Swonger said.
At Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, about 115km north of Philadelphia, workers experimented with high-proof alcohol, aloe and glycerin to get just the right consistency. The recipe is based on one published by the WHO.
As word got out about what Eight Oaks was up to, the distillery began hearing from people and groups in need, including a pediatric cancer organization and a woman whose 12-year-old son has heart disease and was desperate for hand sanitizer to help keep him safe.
“I cannot find it anywhere and this virus is especially dangerous to him,” she wrote to the distillery.
Stories like that are why Butters was so disgusted with price gougers, who were selling sanitizer online for more than US$300 per ounce — and why he decided to shift his company’s focus.
“We’re trying to make sure we continue to provide a paycheck for our employees and support our community however way we can do that,” Butters said.
Beyond the humanitarian impulses of individual distillers, the liquor industry also has a vested interest in seeing the virus threat dissipate quickly, given its economic reliance on bars, restaurants and other hospitality and entertainment venues that have been shuttered by the outbreak.
Brad Plummer, spokesman for the American Distilling Institute and editor of Distiller Magazine, said that he has been seeing a lot of talk among distillers interested in converting part of their operations to hand sanitizer.
“The hospitality industry is going to be decimated by this and they are our primary clients. We’re looking for ways to help in the response to this, but also to find other ways to look for revenue streams,” he said.
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