A Driftwood distillery shifted gears from liquor to hand sanitizer and has donated 20,000 bottles of it to the Hays County Sheriff’s Office and police departments in Austin, San Antonio and Houston, among others.
Desert Door, known for its premium spirit that uses Texas sotol, has pivoted its production to help those on the front lines during this historical global pandemic.
Desert Door Co-founder Ryan Campbell said the company has no intention of commercially selling any of the sanitizer, which is needed to protect first responders from COVID-19 as they work.
“Everyone can stay at home and wash their hands, but law enforcement has to be out on the field. They don’t have the luxury of washing their hands all the time. We realized that this is a need for law enforcement, not
a want,” Campbell said.
The need became apparent to Desert Door owners when SXSW was cancelled in February. The team used a hand sanitizer recipe recognized by the Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization.
The recipe includes distilled water, glycerin, hydrogen peroxide and amped-up alcohol distillation to meet the recommended sanitation levels. Campbell said the switch was easy, because they got bulk ingredients before demand rapidly increased.
Now hydrogen peroxide and glycerin prices have nearly doubled in price.
The Hays Free Press spoke to a local cosmetics company, which switched to producing hand sanitizer,
and they said they can no longer produce hand sanitizer due to the ingredient price increases.
Desert Door has plenty of ingredients, but ironically is running out of places to find small bottles for distribution. Campbell assures customers that the hand sanitizer production is going well.
“I recently bought a new filling station that was supposed to be used for our new product, but it’s only been used as the main production line for hand sanitizer, serving 270 bottles at a time,” Campbell said.
The best thing to come out of a product change, Campbell said, is the ability to help during a time that many people feel helpless.
“I have never been prouder of this company. Every employee didn’t hesitate to pivot and pour their heart into this new product. This gave us all a new sense of purpose during this time, so I am just grateful for my team and everyone who is doing their part,” Campbell said.
The Hays Free Press would like to remind readers that washing your hands for a full 20 seconds with soap and
water is the best defense against COVID-19. In addition, you can make homemade hand sanitizer using rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and aloe.
