Shine Distillery Turns Alcohol Waste Into Free Hand Sanitiser

With decreasing foot traffic, an American distillery has found a smart way to encourage customers to pay a visit and stock up on some spirits, with the world’s most in-demand item at the moment – hand sanitiser.

Shine Distillery & Grill in Portland are using the waste they produce from creating spirits to make their own brand of hand sanitiser. Up until recently, they’ve been using the waste alcohol to clean their bar but when a customer asked owner Jon Poteet to use some of the excess to create homemade sanitiser the venue decided to take things into their own hands.

Shine Distillery in N. Portland is now bottling hand sanitizer to give to customers. The owner said they already used the concoction to clean around the place anyway! It’s made from a byproduct of the alcohol they bottle. 80% alcohol, xanthan gum, and a little water. pic.twitter.com/OnGuBIs0WM

— Audrey Weil (@audreytweil) March 10, 2020

Ponteet proceeded to confirm the legalities of creating the product, noting that “we did our research and checked with the controlling authorities and come to find, as long as we’re not making a medical claim or selling it, we’re allowed to give it away,” he explained to local outlet KPTV. 

Taking the super-strong 80% concentration and adding Xanthan gum to thicken alongside water, Shine was able to slap a label on the product and give it away to customers. The response has been positive so far with everyone appreciating the rare bonus with their alcohol and it’s nice to see small businesses innovating in these hard times.

Also if you’re looking for ways to kill the time while we’re in COVID-19 induced lockdown, here’s a list of 101 things as prescribed by BH.