I know, crazy right?! If you asked me just one month ago, I would have looked at you cross-eyed…but when life gives you lemons, make limoncello, or in this case, hand sanitizer. Governor Murphy required all non-essential businesses to close by Executive Order 104 on March 16th, 2020, but liquor license holders (distilleries included) were deemed essential and allowed to remain open. For distilleries, the Executive Order was bittersweet because the majority of our sales are derived from on-site bottle sales and our tasting room – which had to be closed to the public. So while we were still allowed to remain open, we could only offer bottle sales for curbside pickup at our distillery through a website we created at https://lbdistillery.square.site.
As it turns out, ethanol (ethyl alcohol – what we distill to make our spirits) is a key ingredient in hand sanitizer. We had a good amount of ethanol in stock from a a recent distillation. When we learned there was a shortage of hand sanitizer that many of our first responders needed out in the field, it was time to get to work. Little did we know that many distillers around the country were doing the same and there was a mad rush to get other ingredients and supplies to make hand sanitizer, namely…bottles. That’s right, as it turns out, because of the alcohol content of hand sanitizer (70-80%) you are required to use a specific type of plastic bottle (LDPE or HDPE) so the alcohol doesn’t deteriorate the plastic.
We spent countless hours online and on the phone to track down the necessary supplies, but persist we did. With the help of John Koutouzakis, our manager at Long Branch Distillery and owner Mark Elia, we are blessed to have been able to supply over 2,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to our local community and beyond. The gratitude we have received from our local first responders, hospital workers, postal workers, public works department, grocery store clerks, State police and many, many others has been overwhelming. As of this writing, we’ve received over 2,000 likes on a Facebook post we published about our efforts. The amount of joy and satisfaction we have gained from providing a simple thing like hand sanitizer to help out those in need in a time of crisis has given us a purpose. We couldn’t be any prouder of those who are putting their own health at risk to protect all of us during this crisis.
Thank you to all of you and God Bless you!