How a Little River distillery is making craft sanitizers to help hospitals fight COVID-19
Due to the coronavirus, Twelve 33 Distillery is switching from making craft liquor to craft sanitation supplies to help local hospitals and residents.
When cleaning supplies and sanitizers were some of the first items to disappear off grocery store shelves, the distillery’s owner Kevin Osborn saw an opportunity to help.
Osborn said while he wouldn’t make liquor this strong, his stills can produce alcohol strong enough to put into sanitizer. Currently, he is using the Center for Disease Control’s recipe for hand sanitizer and hopes to be giving it out to residents, hospitals and public safety soon.
“Distilleries are the only manufactures that can produce spirits at the proof it can be effective,” Osborn said. “We felt if we could do it, we needed to do it. People have supported us and we need to support the community.”
Twelve 33, located next to the Dunkin Donuts in Little River, sells liquor by the bottle, offers distillery tours and serves cocktails at its bar. While it will still be selling bottles, the recently distilled alcohol will be put into the sanitizer to give it cleaning power.
The proof of a liquor is double the alcohol percentage in it. An effective hand sanitizer is at least 60 percent alcohol or 120 proof.
Osborn started last week distilling his liquor to high enough levels to be used as a cleaner in hopes of making sanitizer. He said a lot of his supplies have gone into producing the alcohol for these sanitizers.
Osborn is using the “middle cut” of the distilled spirit that would normally go into bottles of craft vodka instead of the “head” that comes out first and is unsafe to drink. While no one should be drinking hand sanitizer, Osborn felt using the “head” would be cheaper but could also make the product unsafe.
Once the liquor is strong enough, he will mix it with water, glycerin, hydrogen peroxide and a little bit of lavender extract for smell. Once it’s all mixed, the alcohol percentage is about 70 percent, 140 proof, according to Osborn.
“That’s much higher than the required alcohol,” he said. “It’s just a math equation when you blend it all out.”
Right now, Twelve 33 is still mixing the sanitizers and figuring out how it wants to distribute it. Osborn said you can check the distillery’s Facebook page for updates on distribution times.
For the first week, Osborn hopes to give out the sanitizer for free to anyone who needs it, but you’ll need to bring your own container.
The distillery ordered special bottles for sanitizer. Once the bottles come in, Osborn said they will begin charging a “nominal fee” just to cover the bottling expenses. You can also pick up a bottle of their liquors while getting sanitizer.
It’ll be free for public safety and hospitals for as long as they need it or until supplies run out.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 11:27 AM.
