MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis-based whiskey distillery is switching gears, producing hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Old Dominick Distillery partnered with Shelby County to make as many as 10,000 units of hand sanitizer to distribute to lower income communities and homeless people in Shelby County.
The partnership was brought about by Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who sponsored a resolution in the County Commission that allows Old Dominick to use emergency funding to produce the hand sanitizer.
The plan hit a roadblock when the distiller couldn’t get all the materials needed, but Sawyer said getting the word out recently moved the process along.
“Once it hit the news last week old Dominick was able to get help,” she said. “It opened the supply chain process. People were willing to help across the country.”
Sawyer said they’ll make 4,000 bottles by next week. Those will go to homeless shelters and the Shelby County Schools meal distributions. After that, commissioners will decide what groups in their districts get the rest.
The county is paying the distillery $50,000 for the project, but Sawyer said that won’t cover everything. The distiller is also putting money toward the project as a community service.
“I’m excited about this,” she said. “We have to think outside the box right now to do health initiatives and do what we can.”
Or in this case, thinking outside the bottle.
“In this unprecedented time of crisis, the Old Dominick team wants to help our community anyway we can,” said Alex Castle, master distiller and senior vice president of Old Dominick Distillery.
Old Dominick representatives said they expect full-scale production of hand sanitizer to begin next week.
“Once I was notified that distilleries were legally allowed to start producing hand sanitizer, I began studying the two formulas provided by the World Health Organization which Distillers are required to use,” Castle said. “My chemistry skills were a little out of practice, and I wanted to ensure that my team and I were more than prepared to start test batches the moment the raw materials were delivered.”
