Local brewery Beau’s refuses to cry over spilled beer
Partnership turns kegged beer into hand sanitizer
(April 23, 2020) Dunrobin Distilleries and Beau’s Brewery are proud to announce their partnership in the fight against COVID-19. The two local businesses have joined forces and combined resources to begin producing an extra-strength hand sanitizer.
Dunrobin Distilleries has supplied a still for installation in the Beau’s brewing facility in Vankleek Hill. The equipment will be busy distilling Beau’s beer into pure alcohol, then mixed with other ingredients to produce an extra-strength hand sanitizer. Dunrobin Distilleries had purchased the equipment for use in a new facility in Stittsville, ON to be opened in the Fall. The temporary installation at Beau’s will allow the production of hand sanitizer to begin almost immediately.
On Beau’s end, the building had the electrical requirements and space to accommodate the still. Additionally, Beau’s has several thousand kegs of beer in inventory that can no longer be sold to bars and restaurants. As a fermented liquid with alcohol present, the excess beer is a suitable base ingredient to distill into pure alcohol and produce the much-needed supply of hand sanitizer.
“We didn’t want to be idle victims of the pandemic, so we took action,” Steve Beauchesne, CEO of Beau’s Brewery said. “By partnering with Dunrobin to produce hand sanitizer, Beau’s becomes a meaningful part of the fight against COVID-19, and our recovery from it. We know that wherever this sanitizer goes, it will make a real difference in the health outcomes in those communities.”
“We understand the importance of the situation and the unique opportunity available to us by being one of the few companies able to produce a hand-sanitizer,” says Dunrobin Co-Founder Adrian Spitzer. “Only through this partnership with Beau’s were we able to pivot so quickly. They had the resources and the facility to help increase production and accelerate our processes. We are motivated to help ‘flatten the curve’ and have confidence that our efforts will result in a healthier Canada.”
The sanitizer will be produced and packaged onsite at Beau’s. It will be supplied in 3L bulk containers to front-line health care workers and essential businesses in Ontario, to help keep everyone putting themselves at risk by providing essential services safe. A portion of the sanitizer produced will be donated to assist not-for-profits or other groups caring for the most vulnerable sectors of Ontario communities.
The still was commissioned and made operational the week of April 13 – packaging and shipment of the sanitizer is set to begin late April/early May. Many pre-orders have already been placed by organizations in need, and it is expected that the demand will exceed the supply.