MAY 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 23
WHOLLY MOLI
HAND SANITIZER
DISTILLERS REFINE CLEANERS
Hand sanitizer remains a hardto
find necessity two months after
the coronavirus pandemic first hit
Long Island, but local craft distillers
have switched from making booze to
cleanser to help flush the scourge.
Fighting COVID-19 with alcohol are
Baiting Hollow-based Long Island
Spirits, Sagaponack Farm Distillery,
Twin Stills Moonshine in Riverhead,
Better Man Distilling Co. in Patchogue,
and Black Momma Vodka in
Wheatley Heights — all of which are
now distilling hand sanitizer instead
of hooch.
“We have to be ready to shift how
we are serving our community and
consumers in the midst of this crisis,”
said Vanessa Braxton, president and
CEO of Black Momma Vodka. “If I
didn’t own a distillery and manufacturing
facility I would not have been
able to pivot so quickly from producing
vodka to making hand sanitizer.”
LI’s spirits makers are not alone, with
distilleries across New York State
and the nation following suit — even
Melville-based cosmetics giant Estee
Lauder is switching gears to manufacturing
hand sanitizer. But as part
of the hard-hit hospitality industry,
distillers are worried the pandemic
may put them out of business.
“Distillers are doing their part to help
their communities by converting
facilities to make hand sanitizer for
first responders, health care workers,
and the public,” Spirits United,
the advocacy arm of the American
Distilling Institute, wrote in a letter
to Congress requesting relief for the
$180 billion industry’s 1.6 million
employees. “However, these local
businesses fear they may not be able
to survive during
this crisis. This
would be an incredible
loss to
the American
economy.”
Although hand
sanitizer isn’t
as fun or lucrative
as liquor,
the distilleries
are taking the new
mission seriously.
Better Man Distilling
shipped its first cases
of hand sanitizer to
the Patchogue Fire
Department and
Patchogue Volunteer
Ambulance
Company.
Abby Gruppuso, the
distillery’s head of operations,
said, “It’s important to us to get
this out into our local community
to our friends and neighbors
who are on the front lines.”
Although local distilleries'
tasting rooms
are temporarily closed,
most are still selling
whiskey, moonshine,
and other liquors in
addition to sanitizer. Of
course, buyers should
only drink the former,
not the latter.
-TB
Abby Gruppuso
with Better Man
Distilling Co.’s new
hand sanitizer.
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