What started as a means to an end when there was a hand sanitizer shortage has led to a community-wide effort. Back in mid-March, shortly before stay-at-home orders were issued both locally and statewide, the crew at WeldWerks Brewing Co. noticed how difficult it was to find hand sanitizer and started brainstorming. By sourcing Everclear from local liquor stores and combining the ethanol with aloe vera, WeldWerks was able to produce a pallet of 4-oz bottles to donate to first responders, medical professionals and the public.
“Our goal was to produce enough sanitizer to meet the needs of our community, but we had no idea how great that need was,” says WeldWerks Co-Owner and Head Brewer Neil Fisher. “This prompted us to secure partners to help us significantly scale up production.”
Tapping into the WeldWerks Community Foundation, the brewery’s charitable arm, to help fund the project, the brewery looked to the FDA’s provisional formula for hand sanitizer and local partners to produce upcoming batches. WeldWerks partnered with Pine Bluffs Distilling in Wyoming and Tower 56 Distilling in Greeley to produce the ethanol, Amcor Packaging in Denver and Pepsi Distributors in Colorado and Wyoming who donated bottles and packaging materials, and Innovative Label Solutions who provided labels. This week, the brewery teamed up with the yet-to-opened Molly Brown Distillery in Denver, and Root Shoot Malting who has donated corn.
“To date, together with our partners, we’ve produced over 1,300 gallons of hand sanitizer that’s been distributed to over 300 hospitals, medical facilities, city and county municipalities, nonprofit organizations and essential businesses across Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska” says Fisher. “We are on track to hit somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 gallons by next week.”
WeldWerks has also received help from their nearby neighbors Wiley Roots; the latter will be releasing Howl at the Moon Together, a blood orange hard seltzer that will be available at Wiley Roots Brewing Company on Wednesday, April 22, as well as at participating Denver area liquor stores. All profits will be donated to the WeldWerks Community Foundation to support their ongoing hand sanitizer efforts.
Moving forward, the brewery will continue to fulfill as many orders as possible for hospitals, first responders and organizations. In order to keep this project going, the brewery is accepting donations. If you are interested in contributing to WeldWerks’ hand sanitizer project, please send an email to [email protected].
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