While alcohol can’t cure COVID-19, it definitely can help take off the edge.
Aside from placating fried nerves, distilleries across the county have realized, they’re equipped to offer another service: creating alcohol-based hand sanitizer to slow the spread of the virus. With standard hand sanitizer in a short supply nationwide, distilleries from
Anheuser Busch and Bacardi to local craft makers in the Mid-Hudson Valley are pitching in to help.
“It’s a community effort to help the people on the front lines,” says Sophie Newsome, co-owner of Olde York Farm’s Cooper’s Daughter Spirits, which switched gears last week.
While hand sanitizer does not take the place of hand washing, it is a useful on-the-go fix for health care providers,
first responders in the COVID-19 pandemic, and anyone who can’t immediately get to a sink.
“I never thought that I would be doing something like this,” says Derek Grout, owner and distiller of Harvest Spirits.
So when you’re planning your next escape from quarantine to run to the grocery store, why not plan a trip to your local distillery to pick up some artisanal hand sanitizer and some drinking spirits too, while you’re at it. It might be a long quarantine.
While COVID-19 might have delayed the grand opening of their Newburgh taproom, the Spirits Lab is continuing to sell their spirits and now hand sanitizer with curbside pickup; free delivery to Beacon, Newburgh, and Westchester (with a two-bottle minimum); and quick pick-up Monday-Friday from 12-3pm and Saturdays 12-5pm. The hand sanitizer, made in partnership with Field Trip, a local Newburgh boutique, is sold at $8 per bottle with a portion of proceeds being donated to the Newburgh restaurant community’s GoFundMe. Spirits Lab is also directly donating gallon batches of hand sanitizer to local police and first responders.
Working around the clock with just two employees, Columbia County-based Harvest Spirits is producing as much hand sanitizer for the community as possible. The hand sanitizer is now available for consumer sale at the farm stand in the front of the taproom and available for curbside service. Harvest Spirits will be open daily from 10am-5pm.
Cooper’s Daughter Spirits at Olde York Farm is not selling directly to consumers; instead they are donating every last drop of their WHO-compliant sanitizer to Hudson Valley hospitals, senior care facilities, farmers' markets, and restaurant delivery drivers. On their website, you can make a donation to fund their production, with a percentage of donations going to support furloughed full-time employees. However, Old York Farm is continuing to sell their line of spirits with local delivery, shipping, and drive-thru pick-up from Monday to Sunday, 12-6pm.
With a shortage of bottles, Denning’s Point Distillery came up with a creative way to give back to their community: BYOB. Bring your own bottle and fill up on their brand new hand sanitizer. This offering is free to the public but Denning’s Point is (reluctantly) accepting donations. From 2-5pm on Tuesday-Friday and 12-6pm on Saturdays, you can arrange a no-contact pick up over the phone or even text the order to (201) 264-0919 for their bottled spirits and use the pick-up opportunity to fill up on hand sanitizer.
Although KAS Spirits has is new to making hand sanitizer, the Putnam County distillery has already ordered over 1,000 two-ounce bottles. This work in progress will be donated to local firefighters, hospitals, police departments and starting next week will be sold to local residents. Their taproom is open 10am-6pm on Monday through Friday, but make sure to give them a call first before stopping by.
Hudson Valley Distillers is hitting pause on their high-quality, organic spirits and shifting gears to hand sanitizers. Selling directly to customers, Hudson Valley Distillers is open Friday through Sunday, 2-5pm, providing you with curbside service and delivery for their bottles, cocktail kits, and growlers of their spirits. The hand sanitizer is only available for pick up.
Even though the Taconic Distillery may not be making their own brand of hand sanitizer, they are still giving back to the community by providing the alcohol needed to produce hand sanitizer to local EMS workers, fire departments, and the Dutchess County Emergency Response Center. They will still be selling bottles of their spirits Thursday through Tuesday, 9am-3pm.
While hand sanitizer is beneficial to everyone, right now, the nation's priorities are on protecting the elderly and the first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery, in partnership with their sister business, Black Dirt Distillery has made that a priority by producing hand sanitizer for local hospitals and some nursing homes. Wine, cider, & spirit bottle sales are available everyday from 11am-6pm for curbside pickup. The cafe is open Friday to Sunday from 12-6pm for curbside and delivery.
Halting all spirits operations, The Vale Fox has completely switched production gears to churn out hand sanitizer. They’ve already produced more than 9,000 bottles, in two-, four-, eight- and 12-ounce sizes. The Vale Fox is waiting for their e-commerce portal to go live next week to launch web sales. They also hope to distribute the hand sanitizer to local pharmacies in addition to selling one-, three-, and five-gallon containers to businesses, hospitals, and police departments. For every bottle that is sold, roughly 25 cents will be donated to employees who have been impacted during this crisis.
The hand sanitizer business is tough, especially when materials are running low all over, but the Orange County Distillery at Brown Barn Farms is keeping up with the trend. OCD is giving away gallons to emergency centers, police departments, and dispersing it throughout the community. However, that does not need to stop you from going online and ordering their bottles or cocktails to go. Hours of operation are Friday and Saturday from 2-4pm.
While their brick-and-mortar retail operations are closed, Tuthilltown has shifted is operations to focus on producing and packaging hand sanitizer, ramping up to bottle upwards of 450 liters per day for the health and safety organizations in the local community. They're also
selling their alcohol-based sanitizer retail to individuals at discounted rates, starting at $2.75 for a 200mL bottle. And you can still
purchase your favorite Tuthilltown spirits online for curbside pickup and shipping (free for orders over $150!).
One of the earliest to jump on this (sterile) band wagon, GLM has been making hand sanitizer from aloe vera and their own apple brandy since March 3. The sanitizer is free, but its BYO container. They are accepting aloe donations.
