Distilleries Produce and Donate Hand Sanitizers as the Price for an Ounce Hit $300 [Video]

• Distilling companies now manufacture hand sanitizers amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
• The online selling price for an ounce of hand sanitizers hit $300.
• Philadelphia’s Eight Oaks under the directive of Chad Butters shifts company focus to help the community.

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Eight Oaks Farm Distillery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania converts manufacturing operations into a production line for hand sanitizers in an effort to contribute to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The formulation for these hand sanitizers, containing high-proof alcohol, aloe vera, and glycerine, is World Health Organization-approved.

The Distillery filled their first 20 bottles on Monday, and the pipeline of production is projected to increase this week. The products will be distributed at farmers’ markets where it will be sold depending on how much people will decide to donate.

 “We are in a national emergency,” said Chad Butters, owner of the distillery. “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.”

Eight Oaks Farm Distillery is not alone in this, other companies also help fill the shortage of hand sanitizers. Green Mountain Distillers in Morrisville, Vermont and Durham Distillery in Durham, North Carolina are also donating hand sanitizing solutions.

“We wanted to do something that would be as positive as possible,” says Harold Faircloth, owner of the Green Mountain Distillers.

Smugglers’ Notch Distillery directs their Waterbury and Jeffersonville plants to produce hand sanitizers later this week to contribute to the efforts made in response to the coronavirus outbreak in Vermont.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer Chris Swonger from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States has worked with federal regulatory agencies and the coronavirus task force to clear red tape and “make sure we can be quick and nimble and fill a need in the marketplace.”

Pediatric Cancer Organization, among many groups, and the mother of a 12-year-old boy with heart disease in desperate need of hand sanitizers to help keep her son safe have reached out to Eight Oaks following the news of their production.

The letter from the mother was sent to the distillery, explaining the situation. “I cannot find it anywhere and this virus is especially dangerous to him,” she says.

Eight Oaks decided to help people with these stories, especially now with the online selling price for an ounce of hand sanitizers hit $300.

“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.

Brad Plummer from the American Distilling Institute, editor of Distiller Magazine, says that a number of distilling companies are 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.

Source: ABC News