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Okanagan craft distillery looks to make hand sanitizer amid COVID-19 pandemic

Okanagan Spirits is waiting on bottles and some red tape before offering distillery-made product
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Officials at Vernon’s Okanagan Spirits are rubbing their hands at the prospect of a locally created hand sanitizer.

Okanagan Spirits hopes to soon be able to give customers a hand sanitizer made at the distillery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We started about a week, week-and-a-half ago after we started seeing distilleries in the United States doing it,” Okanagan Spirits CEO Tyler Dyck said.

“We are still sorting out the legalities and making sure were not giving away a product that’s going to harm the public,” said Dyck, who is also the head of Craft Distillers Guild of B.C.

The sanitizer is made from alcohol that, when running a distillery, is at the so-called “front.”

It’s alcohol powerful enough to run a vehicle.

After its treated and made into sanitizer, the distillery is looking to create personal-size safe bottles of the product that, ideally, comes with a pump or a mister. It would be a perfect size for individuals or for workers such as police and firefighters.

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Labels for the product have been made. The company just needs to find some pumpers, bottles and sort out some legalities before offering it to the public.

“We are expecting our shipment of individual-size sanitizer misting bottles very soon,” Dyck said.

The sanitizer, of course, is not safe for drinking purposes.

Dyck said Okanagan Spirits is doing its best to supply care homes and local institutions that are directly related to the care of at-risk individuals with what it can.

READ MORE: Loss of revenue, temporary closures and staff reduction among impacts 90 per cent of B.C. business experiencing as a result of COVID-19, survey says

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roger@vernonmorningstar.com

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Roger Knox

About the Author: Roger Knox

I am a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. I started my career in radio and have spent the last 21 years working with Black Press Media.
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