As we all do what we can to limit the spread of the coronavirus, help is coming from an unexpected source.
Pennsylvania’s distilleries.
Many in the region are cutting back on their spirit-making operations and are now making hand sanitizer instead. And some are just giving it away in this time of need.
“Coming from a military background, if I can do something to help, we’re going to do it,” said Pat Devlin, one of the owners of the Tattered Flag Brewery & Still Works in Middletown. “We saw a need, and the need is great right now.”
He estimates the distillery has produced close to 400 gallons of hand sanitizer since they switched over their operations on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Devlin said all of the hand sanitizer produced so far has been donated to those who need it most — first-responders, health-care workers and the like. The demand is great, but he hopes to soon be able to sell it, likely at cost, in smaller quantities to the general public.
Many distilleries in the state and nation are taking similar steps as they swap out vodka and whiskey for the cleansing gel that is about as coveted as toilet paper these days. Eight Oaks Farm Distillery in New Tripoli, near Philadelphia, made national news for their efforts last week.
“We are in a national emergency,” founder Chad Butters told The Associated Press. “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.”
And since then, many other distillers have joined their ranks.
At Midstate Distillery in Harrisburg, they are preparing to switch over their operations to produce hand sanitizer, too, said Dan Healy, one of the owners. On Sunday, they were in the process of cleaning their mixing tanks to prepare them for hand sanitizer production, which they hope to start as early as Monday.
Like other distilleries making the switch, they are following theformula recommended by the World Health Organization, he said, which consists of three main ingredients.
He has plenty of the first ingredient – high-proof ethanol alcohol.
Healy is hoping to get a shipment by Monday of the other two ingredients. Hydrogen peroxide for further purification and a coagulating agent like glycerin. As soon as those are in, he can begin production.
While distilleries normally cannot make or sell hand sanitizer without certain permits, that restriction has been temporarily waived by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to meet hand-sanitizer needs in an emergency, distillers say.
Whether he can continue making spirits will all depend on staffing capacity, Healy said, but right now, the priority is going to be the production of hand sanitizer.
“Our priority is going to be front-line responders,” Healy said. “If we have the capacity to make it available to the public, we will.”
