European brewers and distillers switch production from booze to hand sanitizer
BrewDog, Leith Gin, Verdant Spirits and Pernod Ricard are all getting involved in efforts to ramp up production of hand sanitizer, which has become scarce in many countries due to a massive spike in demand.
The announcements follow a raft of similar efforts from some distilleries in the United States.
BrewDog announced it would start making hand sanitizer at its brewery in Scotland on Twitter Wednesday.
“We are determined to do everything we can to try and help as many people as possible stay safe. It’s time to keep it clean,” tweeted the company.
Another Scottish company, Leith Gin, made its own announcement Tuesday.
The distillery also appealed for donations of small plastic bottles to use as packaging.
“We’ve been asked to switch our production temporarily to make hand sanitiser for our local health workers,” said the company.
In France, beverage company Pernod Ricard said it would donate 70,000 liters of pure alcohol to produce hand sanitizer.
The company is working with Laboratoire Cooper, a major supplier of hand sanitizer to pharmacies in France, according to an announcement Wednesday.
These efforts involve the Absolut Vodka distillery in Sweden; Rabbit Hole (Kentucky), Smooth Ambler (West Virginia) and TX Whiskey (Texas) in the United States; and other facilities in Spain and Ireland.
LVMH said it would use the production facilities of its perfumes and cosmetics brands to produce large quantities of sanitizer.
CNN’s Ya Chun Wang contributed to this report.