“We wanted to do the right thing for our first responders,” founder Scott Calame said.
Calame said 300 bottles of hand sanitizer were donated to the city of Leander for its first responders and essential employees, including the fire department, police department and building inspectors.
The distillery began its hand sanitizer production a few weeks ago. The first batch made about 50 gallons of sanitizer.
Hydrogen peroxide is one of the necessary ingredients in sanitizer, and it was taking longer to arrive due to slightly broken supply chains. Calame said the distillery had asked the community for any hydrogen peroxide they could offer, and many community members were able to donate bottles.
“So that was—it was kind of neat,” he said. “You know that the customers participated in it, and it really was a community effort.”
The distillery also made available its reverse-osmosis distilled water to people who need it for medical machines. About 30 gallons have been given to people who were unable to find distilled water at stores, and Calame said the business will continue to make it available for those who medically need distilled water.
Calame suggested checking the machine or with health care providers to see what type of water the machine requires first.
Future hand sanitizer batches will be larger, at about 250 gallons, and will be sold to the construction industry, which Calame said is in dire need of it. He said the distillery may also donate to senior-living facilities and home health care workers.
Calame said a decision to sell public hand sanitizer sales will be made next week. More information will be available on the business's website, Facebook page and email list.
For now, the tasting room and direct bottle sales are no longer available at the distillery, Calame said.
“We have to balance the need for making hand sanitizer along with our need to continue to supply our distributor,” he said.
