MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shelby County Commissioners approved up to $50,000 to pay Old Dominick Distillery to make hand sanitizer since the product is in short supply at stores.
“Commissioner [Tami] Sawyer put forth a resolution to be able to work with local distillery to utilize their byproducts from their processes to develop and distribute hand sanitizer,” said Dr. Alisa Haushalter with the Shelby County Health Department.
“It’s 60 percent alcohol based and it works,” Sawyer said.
“They’ve been very supportive and wanna do what they can to help us make this happen,” Master Distiller Alex Castle said.
But Castle said there have been a lot of challenges. For one, the federal government didn’t give them permission to make sanitizer until two days ago.
“It does feel like were a little behind the eight ball on it,” Castle said.
Now, they can’t get the ingredients they need. They have alcohol at the distillery, but they don’t have anything else.
“We need glycerol 98 percent solution. We also need a 3 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide. That’s the stuff you can buy in stores to clean cuts but it’s selling out,” she said.
They also don’t have small bottles or containers. They’re hoping to make thousands of three-ounce pieces to give to the health department to distribute to the homeless and in low-income communities.
“We want to be able to help the county out as well as private businesses because they’re hurting as well. to operate they need hand sanitizer. I hope were able to pull this together in a timely manner,” Castle said.
She says they’ll re-assess next week and hope somehow, suppliers pull through.
If you can help them find the appropriate supplies, contact the distillery at info@olddominick.com.
