Keeping spirits high: Distillery owner converts production line to produce hand sanitiser amid coronavirus outbreak

‘We all want to do our part,’ says distillery trade group

A distillery owner has taken the coronavirus crisis into his own hands by temporarily converting his operations to produce hand sanitiser, which has seen prices soar since the outbreak began spreading globally.

Brewery founder Chad Butters, whose distillery is located in Pennsylvania, decided to start producing hand sanitiser and distribute them to charities and farmer’s markets where he sells his original product.

The Eight Oaks Farm Distillery produced its first 20 bottles of hand sanitiser on Monday, which is to be sent to charitable groups that have faced difficulties procuring the alcohol-based disinfectant as the pandemic sparks panic buying across the nation and the world.

Mr Butters told the Associated Press the “right thing to do” during this national emergency was to “support this community by providing something that is in desperate need”.

He plans to “flood” the local market with hand sanitiser in order to deflate prices. People can decide how much they can or want to donate to get hand sanitiser produced by his family-owned distillery.

On their website, Eight Oaks Distillery said: “We have temporarily shifted our distillation process from spirits to hand sanitiser in order to support our community, hospitals, assisted living homes and beyond!

“We are doing this solely on donations, so anything you are willing to donate will help tremendously during this national emergency.”

Mr Butters was disgusted by stories of price gougers who hiked up prices of hand sanitiser online amid the crisis. Vulnerable people in need of the product but who were unable to get any due to stockpiling or overinflated prices reached out to him once news of his production line went public.

He said: “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.”

The distillery followed a recipe by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which calls for 96 percent ethanol or 99.8 percent isopropyl alcohol and 98 percent glycerol. Aloe is added in Eight Oaks Distillery’s recipe as well.

Distilleries in Vermont and North Carolina are also converting their production lines to counter the hand sanitiser shortage, and giving away or donating the hygiene products.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group, said it has been working with federal regulatory agencies and the government’s coronavirus task force to enable the distilleries the work quickly and “fill a need in the marketplace”.

CEO Chris Swonger said: “We all want to do our part.”

There are over 6,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US, and 116 people have died from the disease.