Yankee Distillers In Is Giving Away High % Alcohol To Sanitize

Normally Yakee Distillers in Clifton Park is usually making spirits to put in mixed drinks, or on the rocks or to drink neat. However, they're distilling something different now.

Since the coronavirus reared its ugly head, they had the idea of distilling some high-proof booze to use as a sanitizer because any alcohol with over 60% ABV can be used as a good sanitizer.

Apparently, it worked really well and they had the idea then to make hand sanitizer to giveaway to people that needed it. That didn't exactly work out because they couldn't buy aloe vera gel.

Here's what Yankee Distillers said on their Instagram page:

"...scumbags are buying it up everywhere online and reselling it at a huge markup, so we're just sticking with giving away the alcohol, itself."

They did reiterate that this is for cleaning and sanitizing...NOT FOR DRINKING.

View this post on Instagram
Dear friends. We hope you're all doing well, staying healthy, and STAYING HOME, if you can. You're surely aware that bars and restaurants have been shut down for all but take-out / delivery service, and our tasting room is also affected by this prudent cautionary measure. We'll all miss pouring you drinks and sharing stories with you over the bar for a while, but we look forward to picking up right where we left off when we all come out the other side of this, healthy and strong, and stronger as a country for how we're all going to help other get through it, together. This is what makes America great. As much as we're scared about how this is going to affect our families, and our communities, and as uncertain as we are about what this will mean for our business, we look forward to hearing and reading about how you are all doing well, and how you are taking care of each other. We'll be experimenting with a take-out menu, including bottles AND COCKTAILS starting today, and we'll be tinkering with our hours to see what works, and providing updates on our website and social media platforms as those things come together. ..you can also expect pictures of whiskey and pugs, as usual. If you stopped by the distillery during the last week of service, you were aware that we were redistilling heads to produce a high-proof alcohol to use for sanitizing EVERY DAMN SURFACE in the tasting room, and that we were giving it away for free to anybody who wanted it. We'd hoped to pick up some aloe vera gel / vegetable glycerine, or the like, to use to make a hand sanitizer product to give away as well, but scumbags are buying it up everywhere online and reselling it at a huge markup, so we're just sticking with giving away the alcohol, itself. We're *pretty sure* it's alright to offer it, as long as we're not selling it or making medical claims, so that's what we're doing. Just bring a jar, and we'll fill it up for you. To be clear, THIS IS NOT FOR DRINKING. This is for keeping your family safe. Good luck, everybody. We hope to see you all again soon.
A post shared by Yankee Distillers (@yankeedistiller) on Mar 18, 20
20at 10:39am PDT