Illinois liquor distilleries switch to hand sanitizer to help with coronavirus need
Stumpy’s Spirits in Columbia normally makes vodka, gin, bourbon and whiskey, but the small family-owned distillery has switched to hand sanitizer to help with the shortage caused by coronavirus.
Owners Adam and Laura Stumpf, of Waterloo, and their employees have produced about 700 gallons since Monday and expect to produce 5,000 gallons by the end of next week.
“We saw a need for it, and we wanted to help out where we could,” said Emilie Schmersahl, tour guide and sales representative.
The hand sanitizer comes in 750-milliliter bottles, five-gallon buckets and 55-gallon drums, but online ordering has been halted temporarily so the distillery can catch up and fill orders it already has received.
The St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency placed an order and delivered bottles to local emergency responders, including Prairie du Pont Fire Department in East Carondelet.
“It helps because we’ve depleted a lot of our supplies,” Chief John Rosenkranz said Saturday. “It gives us the protection we need to help stop the spread of coronavirus while our supplies are on back-order.”
Rosenkranz noted that the fire department was down to about a quarter of a large bottle of hand sanitizer when it received six locally-produced bottles.
Old Herald Brewery & Distillery in Collinsville also is using some of its equipment to produce hand sanitizer. Each customer who places a carryout food order gets a 200-milliliter bottle (about six ounces) for free.
“I’m not going to be able to sustain my business selling hand sanitizer, but I can offer a bottle with food orders to help keep our restaurant team employed,” said Derik Reiser, who owns the distillery with his wife, Whitney.
Old Herald normally makes gin, whiskey, rum, agave tequila and horseradish-flavored vodka.
In the past two weeks, the staff has produced about 75 gallons of hand sanitizer. Most of it has been donated in bulk to assisted-living centers and emergency responders. Rotary clubs have helped with distribution.
Distilleries across the country are producing hand sanitizer because the transition is fairly easy.
“The bulk of it is high-proof alcohol, so you have to have a special license to produce it,” Reiser said. “Typically, we don’t produce industrial alcohol. It’s a different kind of permit.
“But the federal government issued guidance to distilleries for the production of hand sanitizer and allowed us to produce it as long as we follow FDA and World Health Organization guidelines.”
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Both Stumpy’s and Old Herald had new labels printed for their hand sanitizer.
The label for Stumpy’s acknowledges that the ethanol is being donated by the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The Stumpfs normally use corn grown on their family farm.
“We take our 190-proof vodka, and we add other ingredients (including glycerol and hydrogen peroxide) and follow the World Health Organization recipe,” Schmersahl said. “And then we bottle it and seal it and label it.”
The Stumpy’s hand sanitizer costs $6 for the 750-milliliter bottle, $125 for a five-gallon bucket with a lid and $1,250 for a 55-gallon drum.
“Stay in High Spirits!” the label reads.
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This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 4:45 PM.
