GALION — The Iron Vault Distillery is busy bottling a different kind of alcohol these days all in the “spirit” of giving back to the community.
The micro-distillery, 134 Harding Way West, is producing batches of hand sanitizer in its 50-gallon stills out back. The much-needed product is going to hospitals, nursing homes and first responders to help combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
“It’s really a big challenge to make if you’re a distillery,” said owner John Bassett, who opened the business in 2017 with his wife, Lori, and longtime friend Sam Thacker. “I’ve got plenty of alcohol. It’s the rest of the stuff that we don’t have enough of.”
The Iron Vault, he said, is following the recipe set forth by the World Health Organization – a mixture of 192-proof alcohol, three-percent hydrogen peroxide, glycerin and distilled water. It’s much thinner, he said, than the store-bought variety made with polymers.
The sanitizer, which has its own special label, has already been delivered in 750-ml booze bottles to nursing homes and to the Marion County Sheriff’s office, he said. The remainder in plastic two- and three-ounce size bottles is being made for the public free of charge.
“We’re not used to this kind of volume. We’ve had over 100 phone calls and dozens of emails,” Bassett said Monday after the distillery – known for its hand-forged spirits – posted a short video on its Facebook page announcing the undertaking, which drew more than 45,000 views.
The video may be viewed on the Iron Vault Distillery Facebook page.
The idea to manufacture hand sanitizer instead of bourbon, whiskey and vodka originated about two weeks ago, Bassett said, when he was talking to his son, a pilot for United Airlines, about the national shortage.
“I thought, well crap, we can make this stuff,” he said.
He called a distillery in Oregon to check on their recipe, then “him hawed” for a few days. Since then, he said, the FDA has waived their guidelines because of emergency orders, making the decision easier for them to launch production of their own germ-killing solution.
They hit a stumbling block though when their regular supplier couldn’t furnish plastic bottles with pump or squeeze tops, Bassett said. But friends Mick Beam and Gary Cassidy canvassed area stores and donated hundreds of travel-sized bottles to the cause. Even his 11-year-old grandson, Christopher Bradford, pitched in to help with the clean-up.
Bassett, who has a full-time computer consulting business, estimates the distillery has already given out 20 large bottles of sanitizer, which must sit in the bottle for 72 hours before it’s opened.
“What alcohol doesn’t kill, the hydrogen peroxide does,” he said.
Residents may stop by the distillery, located in the former Longstreth Memorials building, from 12-6 p.m. Tuesday for a free sample. Because of the high demand, Bassett said the bottles are being rationed at one per person each week.
The Iron Vault is earmarking any donations to the Galion Golden Age Center.