Due to the coronavirus pandemic Holladay Distillery in Weston closed its welcome center and canceled all of its tours a few weeks ago.
Shortly after, when the distillery learned of the hand sanitizer shortage, they decided to help people protect themselves and others by making their own.
They went to work on developing an FDA-approved hand sanitizer formula with the intention of moving forward quickly with production.
“We wanted to donate back to the community,” Jordan Germano, communications manager for McCormick Distilling said. “Our team worked tirelessly on establishing the current formula that meets all federal requirements. Our priority was to produce a safe and effective sanitizing solution that would meet the needs of healthcare facilities and first responders throughout Missouri and Kansas.”
Although this is the first time the distillery has ever made hand sanitizer, Germano said they have learned a lot about the process and once they were able to establish an approved formula and source the ingredients, switching the line over was done in a short amount of time.
The company has produced and donated 15,000 half-gallon bottles and produced and sold 48,000 200 ml bottles all in one day.
“The production process is seamless once the proper ingredients have been sourced,” Germano said. “We are working at the mercy of the supply chain on the availability of the ingredients used to produce Helping Hands Sanitizer.”
Since distillery operations have been classified under the essential business category, the team at Holladay is hard at work but the company has modified the production schedules to maintain a safe environment that follows all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
The distillery has temporarily paused bourbon production to focus on the production of their other brands as well as more sanitizer production.
“Our employees are happy to have a hand in giving back to the community during this time,” Germano said. “We are all working together towards a common goal and it has been a great initiative for our team to focus on during these uncertain times. I am proud to work for a company that puts people first. We recognized a need and our team was determined to use our resources to step up and show our support for the community in a way that is unique to our business.”
Although the distillery is currently sold out of the sanitizer the company is working on the logistics of running another batch soon due to high demand.
Go to holladaydistillery.com/helpinghands for updates about availability and to be put on a list for restock notification.