JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Craft distilleries are turning away from making hand sanitizer. It was once a sound option for distillers looking to replace income lost from the coronavirus shutdowns and restrictions.
“It’s not a viable market anymore because there is so much available now. I mean you can go into anywhere and find hand sanitizer,” CEO and co-founder of Grey Matter Distillery Paul Grey said.
Bars and breweries were hit especially hard by the pandemic due to limits on capacity at venues and fear of the spread of the virus in public places. In June, the Department of Business and Regulations shut down all bars in Florida.
Actions like those hit the profits of alcohol producers hard, but there was, at the time, a saving grace: hand sanitizer. With plenty of alcohol in stock and demand for sanitizer at an all-time high, more than 800 brewers and distillers across the country quickly ordered small plastic bottles and other inventory to fill in a new and great demand for hand sanitizer. However, it didn’t last.
Even in Florida, where cases had been climbing for weeks, it wasn’t long before big brand-names like Purrell caught up with increased demand and consumers turned back to those brands.
Now several distilleries are stuck with gallons of sanitizer and extra plastic bottles they can’t sell, including St. Augustine Distillery. Speaking to The New York Times, owner of St. Augustine Phil McDaniel said he has more than 10,000 gallons of the disinfectant still in stock.
To make matters more complicated, local distilleries near Jacksonville may have been hit harder than others around the country. Several increased hand sanitizer production for the RNC but once that fell through—companies were left with even more product in inventory.
The New York Times reported that not all distillers turned away from hand sanitizer production. When demand declined, a brewery in Tampa was able to lock in contracts with local hospitals to buy a guaranteed amount of products going forward