Coronavirus In Maryland: Distilleries Using Alcohol To Make Hand Sanitizer, Address Shortage
FREDERICK, Md. (WJZ) -- Hand sanitizer is hard to come by these days, so some distilleries across the country are using the alcohol they make to create it themselves, including one right here in Maryland.
McClintock Distilling in Frederick will soon be serving up a completely different kind of product: hand sanitizer.
"Normally, we are Maryland's first and only organic certified distillery," Braeden Bumpers, co-founder of McClintock Distilling, said. "We make whiskeys, gins, vodka. So now, we have completely switched over production to making hand sanitizer."
It's something they've never done before—but it's necessary—because hand sanitizer is one of the hardest products to find during the coronavirus pandemic.
This new move will help out the community.
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"We're already built to produce large quantities of this," Bumpers said. "So really, the only things that we needed to do was just blend it with these other ingredients."
Bumpers said that by combining the alcohol they normally make with glycerin and hydrogen peroxide, they'll be able to create their first test batch of the sanitizer by early next week.
"This will be the future hand sanitizer right here," he said.
The distillery should create about 1,000 liters of the hand sanitizer and it will go to the people that need it most.
"We are targeting first responders, assisted living retirement communities and non-profits," Bumpers said.
Eventually, Bumpers said they hope to make the hand sanitizer available to the general public in Frederick County.
"While there's still shortages, we just want to keep producing, keep donating, keeping people safe here in Frederick," he said.
Bumpers said right now, they have no plans of selling the hand sanitizer and instead just donate it.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.
