Vodka, Whiskey Producers Make Hand Sanitizer Amid Coronavirus

As U.S. consumers rush around in search of hand sanitizer amid the coronavirus, distillers nationwide are using their supply of alcohol to make the product. American demand for the product pulled out ahead of supply weeks in the past as consumers bought up supplies and and the largest American brand geared its inventory toward hospitals as well as other organizations, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Eight Oaks Farm Distillery in Pennsylvania moved its production line from vodka, as well as whiskey, in recent times to hand sanitizer. The firm is providing the community and nonprofits with its sanitizer. The distillery is hardly alone and among an increasing share of companies implementing processes to make sanitizer by pausing production of spirits or utilizing extra alcohol.

“We have the processing equipment, and we know the skill sets, and we have the people,” Eight Oaks Farm Distillery Chief Executive Chad Butters said, according to the report. “Let’s get to work making this. We are just going to push it out.”

French spirits company Pernod Ricard SA, for its part, is producing sanitizer at facilities and providing others with alcohol to manufacture to the item. And LaRose Industries LLC Chairman Lawrence Rosen said his toy firm is changing some machines that fill liquid at facilities to produce hand sanitizer.

In separate news, H&M had announced that it would utilize its supply chain network to aid hospitals that require supplies such as gowns and masks in the European Union. The move is an effort on the part of the firm to assist in curtailing proliferation of the coronavirus.

The fashion brand is now trying to discern what is needed most at the moment and how its supply chain could help. A spokesperson for H&M said per past reports, “The EU has asked us to share our purchasing operations and logistics capabilities in order to source supplies, but in this urgent initial phase, we will donate the supplies.”