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Here's a List of the Booze Manufacturers Now Making Hand Sanitizer and Giving It Away for Free

"Any distillery can do it"

By Rain Noe - March 20, 2020

in Covid19 | Coronavirus | Medical

Alcoholic beverage manufacturers have plentiful supplies of the main ingredient required to make hand sanitizer. A bunch of them are making it and giving it away for free.

New York Distilling Co.

It's ironic that in these sobering times, the folks who make stuff to get you drunk are pitching in. A range of companies from LVMH to small-scale distilleries have started producing hand sanitizer, bottling it, and sending it out the door at no cost. As Bloomberg reports,

[Distilleries] are uniquely equipped to make hand sanitizer because the most effective germ-fighting ones are generally made with a base of 60%-plus alcohol, a product that distilleries have in abundance.

Shine Distillery & Grill

Beyond that, basic recipes include aloe vera for moisturizing; distilleries will also add the botanicals or flavorings from their signature spirits as a twist. Portland, Ore.-based Shine Distillery & Grill isn't treating its formula like a trade secret. "I have fielded some calls from Seattle and suggested they contact their local distilleries to tell them what we are doing," says general manager Ryan Ruelos. "Because any distillery can do it."

Litchfield Distillery

The one thing they cannot do, though, is sell their sanitizers: Sales of distilled spirits are strictly regulated by the government and could jeopardize business licenses. Instead, distilleries are giving them away to customers who come through their doors. In some cases, such as at Psychopomp Microdistillery in Bristol, England, donations from customers who take the sanitizer are being given to charity.

Psychopomp Microdistillery

Both Bloomberg and Kottke mentioned several participating distilleries in their articles. We went through their links to put together this list:

Alabama

John Emerald Distilling Company, Opelika

Arkansas

Rock Town Distillery, Little Rock

California

Prohibition Spirits, Sonoma County

Connecticut

Litchfield Distillery, Litchfield

Florida

Copper Bottom Craft Distillery, Holly Hill

Georgia

Moonrise Distillery, Clayton

Old Fourth Distillery, Atlanta

Illinois

For medical organizations only: Koval Distillery, Chicago

North Carolina

Durham Distillery, Durham

New York

New York Distilling Co., Brooklyn

Oregon

Shine Distillery & Grill, Portland

Pennsylvania

Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, New Tripoli

Texas

Bendt Distilling Co., Lewisville

Blackland Distillery, Fort Worth

Milam & Greene, Austin

Vermont

Green Mountain Distillers, Morrisville

Mad River Distillers, Mad River Valley

Smugglers' Notch Distillery, Jeffersonville

United Kingdom

Psychopomp Microdistillery, Bristol, England

This is by no means a comprehensive list; if you know of a distillery near you that's making free hand sanitizer, please let us know in the comments and we'll add it to the list.

Please note:

- Some of these distilleries are, given current events, only open for a few hours a day.

- Some of the distilleries are experiencing packaging shortages and thus have BYOB requirements.

- At press time all of the listed distilleries were providing the sanitizer for free, though some suggested donations would be welcome.

Check their websites for opening hours and details.

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Hans Marvell

4 years ago

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No indication of Carlsberg in Denmark doing this yet, so I'm going to pass it on. Thanks for the useful link.

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Tucker Drake

4 years ago

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A distillery in Nashville is doing it: https://fox17.com/news/local/nashville-distillery-switches-from-gin-to-surface-and-hand-sanitizer

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Sam Ley

4 years ago

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I'll add a shout-out to J&L Distilling in Boulder, Colorado (http://www.jldistilling.com/). I don't believe they are supplying to the public at the moment, but they are making sanitizer for the local fire department at no cost.

Glad to see everyone turning their stills to a quick helpful product like this, hopefully they get the small business support needed to stay afloat after the crisis period has passed.

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Andrew Douglas

4 years ago

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A Beer brewer is doing this in St. Louis.
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/foodblog/2020/03/19/four-hands-brewing-experts-at-hand-stuff-now-giving-away-hand-sanitizer

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