Craft Distillers Step In to Ease Hand Sanitizer Shortage

The federal waiver, issued March 18, will remain in effect until at least June 30.

About 300 distillers are producing hand sanitizer, according to Chris Swonger, president and chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States trade group. That includes many of the biggest names in the industry, such as Pernod Ricard and Bacardi, but also small-batch distillers in almost every state.

"Everybody is pivoting to help the community,” he says.

Many made the switch even before the government formally waived production restrictions.

"We had already been doing it a couple of days,” Cotton says. “TTB was being really supportive and flexible by saying, ‘We know everybody's already doing it. We're going to let you do it under your permits for the next couple months.'"

Kyle McNeel, director of operations at Cotton & Reed, shows off one of the Washington, D.C., distillery’s signature rums and its new hand sanitizer.

Jordan Cotton

Sanitizer for essential services

Some distilleries, such as Eight Oaks in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania; Ugly Dog in Chelsea, Michigan; and Catoctin Creek in Purcellville, Virginia, are donating their sanitizer to essential services such as hospitals, senior living facilities and first responders and soliciting public contributions to support the effort.

Most of Cotton & Reed's supply is going to fire and EMT stations in the District of Columbia and to organizations providing groceries and other help to service-industry workers who have lost jobs to the pandemic.

The distiller also is handing out small bottles at its retail shop — where customers can make purchases through a sidewalk-facing window to maintain social distancing, Cotton says.

For other companies, the switch is a means for both community service and economic survival. With a business model that relies on people going out and socializing, “many of these craft distillers are being crushed” by the coronavirus slowdown, Swonger says.

Karrikin Spirits Co., a distiller, brewery and restaurant in Cincinnati, will sell its sanitizer to institutions and agencies providing essential services, including fire departments, hospitals, nursing homes and police.

That's allowing the company to maintain health insurance for its workers, who were laid off en masse after Ohio ordered restaurants and bars to close, and to rehire some for sanitizer production and distribution, marketing director Matt Groves says.

"When a hospital buys from us, they'll be paying us directly for that, and that money will be put to use for our ultimate goal of putting people back to work, putting a little bit of money in their pockets and making sure they have health care coverage during a public health crisis,” Groves says.

Scott Jendrek started making spirits at Patapsco Distilling after a career in biotechnology.

Scott Jendrek

A toast for a vaccine

Jendrek initially planned to make small quantities of Patapsco's sanitizer to give to customers, but high demand prompted him to scale up. Now the bulk of his supply will go to medical facilities in central Maryland via sales to local government health agencies.

"It helps me pay the rent and keep the lights on and not have to lay anybody off,” he says. “It's not like we're going to be gouging the government. We just want to be able to survive."

Production will kick into high gear this week, Jendrek says. He still plans to fill small bottles to give out in and around the distillery, although he warns users that the World Health Organization recipe Patapsco is following is “very liquid-y, not what Americans would consider hand sanitizer."

And he has an invitation to his biotech peers who come up with a treatment that curbs the pandemic.

"After they're successful, come on in,” he says. “I'm gonna pour you a drink."