On May 7, Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery delivered 800 bottles of free sanitizer to the Sechelt Hospital Foundation and the Sunshine Coast Community health care professionals.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Jeremie Dyck

Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery has teamed up with a Vernon brewery to make even more hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The distillery has donated more than 40,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to essential service workers across Canada. It started repurposing its spirits into hand sanitizer roughly nine weeks ago, aiming to fill a gap with the current hand-sanitizer shortage, said president Tyler Dyck.

On average, they get between 100 to 150 requests per day for sanitizer from organizations across Canada, he said. The distillery originally intended to support essential workers in the Okanagan, since they have locations in Kelowna and Vernon, but that’s since expanded, he said.

And they’re able to keep going into the foreseeable future, with the help of their 'superhero' campaign, which allows the public to get a free bottle of hand sanitizer when they purchase a bottle of gin. Proceeds from the spirits sales goes back into making more sanitizer, Dyck said.

READ MORE: Okanagan distillery donates thousands of hand sanitizer bottles to healthcare workers

“On a daily basis we have people that come in and they also feel good about giving back,” Dyck said. “It’s been pretty heartwarming and inspirational.”

Recently, the distillery has partnered with Vernon’s Okanagan Springs Brewery, since they had beer that wasn’t being used since restaurants have been closed, Dyck said.

With the extra beer, they’ve been able to create an additional 700 bottles.

Other organizations that are in need of hand sanitizer have also supported the distillery by buying bottles for more than the $10 per bottle cost to make them, he said.

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Sitting on B.C. liquor boards, Dyck said cheaper beer and boxed wines are selling well, but craft distilleries and more expensive brands of wine and liquors are being hurt by the pandemic.

“What’s really saving this initiate is the superhero program. If the public supports that, then not only do they get access to sanitizer, but it powers it forward. As long as there’s support there, then there’s the power to move forward,” he said.

Dyck thinks there will be a need for hand sanitizer in the coming months with how long it could take to create a vaccine for the virus and with the quantity of sanitizer that’s currently available that meet Health Canada regulations.

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