Do I detect American Oak in this hand sanitizer? American distillers are mixing something different.
As evidence started to build that the coronavirus would cross national borders, Americans rushed to store shelves and started stocking up on hand sanitizer as one of the defenses against the spread of the virus.
I, too, joined the hand sanitizer hunt and caveat this by saying that we are not preppers by nature. We are, however, mass consumers of hand sanitizer since our son is currently immune compromised while he is in the midst of cancer treatment. It’s a matter of practice that there is a bottle of hand sanitizer in every room of our house, in our cars, and in our backpacks and bags. Having an immune compromised family member means we already go through things like Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, and soap on a rather regular basis. If it’s in this house, it’s been hit with some form of household disinfectant. Our dog doesn’t trust me with a Lysol can.
So, I found myself running around Northern Virginia and searching the internet in a failed hunt for one of our most important household items—hand sanitizer (toilet paper is a close second). I even ended up purchasing rubbing alcohol, glycerin, and aloe in the event that we’d have to start making our own.
You see, up until recently, there have only been a handful of US manufacturers of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. This small group of suppliers had the demand covered. However, as the coronavirus pandemic spread, the demand far outpaced the supply and suddenly shelves were empty.
As reported recently in the Wall Street Journal, manufacturers are focused on getting the supply to hospitals and other large institutions in order to stave off community spread. In addition to the Journal, local outlets around the country have highlighted small and large distillers alike repurposing their alcohol stores and production equipment into churning out hand sanitizer.
That’s not to say you can go straight to washing with Tito’s. In fact, just a few weeks ago, Tito’s Handmade Vodka had to run a public awareness campaign to discourage the use of its product as a component for homemade hand sanitizer. Drinking alcohol at 40% is nowhere near the strength needed (at least 60%) to rub out the coronavirus. Now the Houston-based business is shifting to make 24 tons of hand sanitizer. They’ll also be giving it away for free to those most in need.
What’s impressive to some is that there was no government mandate for these manufacturers to change their production lines over to something that the community needs. In Washington, policymakers are debating whether or not the Defense Production Act should be invoked in order to meet demand.
“Distillers have become an important part of not just local and state economies, but local communities as well,” says Courtney Armour of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. “As communities face this public health crisis, distillers are producing hand sanitizer in the hope that we can be of help to those in need, including local medical personnel and first responders, whose efforts are so important to all of us during this crisis.”
In fact, the best thing government can do in this instance is loosen regulations so that distillers can produce disinfecting alcohol (96%). For instance, one regulation that would be easy to change is making sure that they are not penalized by federal excise taxes on the alcohol used for the manufacture of hand sanitizer.
However, when you see the interviews of the distillers, you’ll see that it was just common sense to entrepreneurs to do the right thing by their communities and their customers. The market needs something, and they can provide it. In many cases they are even doing it as charity while still paying their employees.
There are many more stories like this coming in from all around the country. Please share yours with us. Tell us the story of an individual, business, or organization that’s showing us America At Its Best. We want to tell their story.
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