VALLEJO, Calif. (KRON) – From producing spirits to hand sanitizer, it’s a sign of the times.
In the past month, a Mare Island distillery has transformed its business into a hand sanitizer factory and the desperately needed product is helping hospitals, police departments and municipalities all over the Bay Area.
An assembly line made up of furloughed restaurant bartenders, waiters and waitresses bottle up and package hand sanitizer at the Savage and Cooke Distillery on Mare Island.
Owner Dave Phinney feels fortunate to be able to provide the work for those who would otherwise go without a paycheck due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ll continue as long as there’s a demand, and I’ve been saying it only half jokingly, it’s the only time I’ve been in business and I hope we go out of business, because then there would no longer be a need,” Phinney said.
Phinney says his business pivoted two weeks ago from distilling rye, bourbon and whiskey to blending and producing hand sanitizer.
His tasting room will remain closed while a shelter-in-place remains in order, so he figured producing hand sanitizer would be a good fit.
“We didn’t think too much about it. We didn’t do a budget or anything. We just said, look we’re gonna call it making a bet, but we gotta do what we can to help,” Phinney said.
Master distiller Jordan Via says they’re producing 15,000 gallons of sanitizer a week with a goal of reaching 60,000.
That would amount to more than 2.4-million four ounce bottles of FDA approved sanitizer.
The first batch was made with yet-to-be barreled whiskey. They’re now using denatured alcohol instead.
“The first stage is pretty much the same, distill alcohol up to a required proof. From there, instead of putting it into barrel, we’re blending it with vegetable glycerin, and hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide is there to clean up the solution for any bacteria or viruses that might be alcohol tolerant,” Via said.
The distillery is giving some of the sanitizer away to organizations helping the homeless.
At up to a 40-percent discount of the pre-pandemic rate, they’re also selling the product to Bay Area hospitals, police and fire departments, post office district’s and municipalities in need.
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