23 Mar 2020 Liquor producers step up to make hand sanitiser

The demand for hand sanitiser has spiked in recent weeks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, making the germ-killing product hard to come by both in stores and online. With their ample supplies of alcohol, distilleries have stepped up to close the gaps.

According to Nielsen data in the US, hand sanitiser sales were up 470% year over year for the week ending March 7, with the rising number of COVID-19 cases leading to a rush at stores to stock up on health and safety products.

Reports surfaced earlier this month that some were making at-home sanitiser using spirits, leading vodka maker Tito’s to release a statement warning that these crude formulations were ineffective in fighting germs.

Now, distilleries from Pennsylvania to Hawaii are working collectively to alleviate this shortage by using their alcohol supply and ingredients recommended by the WHO to safely produce hand sanitiser for their local communities.

A spokesperson for the American Distilling Institute told the New York Times that an industry-wide survey showed 75% of the 2,000 craft distilleries across the country were considering joining the effort….

BevNet.com: Read the full article here

Breweries and distilleries around the world making hand sanitiser

Health authorities have suggested using hand sanitiser as one of the easiest ways to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

This has lead to panic buying the anti-bacterial gel and, now, supermarkets and chemists are starting to run low on hand sanitiser.

The WHO provides a recipe for making hand sanitiser at home, but its guidelines recommend using a white spirit that contains a minimum of 60% ABV for it to be effective.

Given that most spirits in the UK and Europe are sold at around 40% ABV, this kind of potency is hard to find for everyday shoppers.

As a result, dozens of spirits manufacturers have answered the call and started to make hand sanitisers or high-strength spirits of their own. Some are selling these to local supermarkets, some are asking for donations from their local communities to support charitable initiatives, and some are giving them away to those most in need.

Here are some of the companies making space in their still houses for anti-bacterial gel, from luxury goods giants like LVMH, to state-run alcohol distributors, and micro-distilleries around the world.

TheDrinksBusiness.com: Click through to see which companies have taken up the call so far…