Guthrie Distillery Making Hand Sanitizer More Available For Oklahomans

Protecting ourselves from COVID-19 has become increasingly difficult due to a shortage of hand sanitizer. But in Guthrie, the local Prarie Wolf Distillery has figured out a way to make hundreds of gallons of the valuable liquid a day.

The distillery is giving the hand sanitizer away to first-responders and selling it to everyone else at a price that recoups their costs. And people from all over the state are coming to Guthrie to get it.

Just last week, the assembly line inside the Guthrie distillery was filling bottles of vodka, gin and other spirits. Now it’s been completely converted to fill a desperate need in a national crisis.

“It’s something we wanted to do to help out,” says co-owner Jonathon Stranger.

Stranger enlisted his co-owner Erik Tekell, a chemist, to work out a recipe.

“I knew that 70 percent ethanol with a little bit of peroxide and a little bit of glycerin would work. It’s a tried-and-true thing. it’s what the WHO recommends,” said Tekell.

Cars line up for curbside sales outside. LaDeana Burnell manages an Enid nursing home and rushed to the distillery to get as much as she could get her hands on.

“I’m just waiting to find out how much they have,” she said.

To keep up with demand, the owners have brought in employees from Osteria and Bar Cicchetti in OKC, restaurants they had to close. And even the federal government has offered to help with supplies.

“We just got a call from FEMA in Washington, D.C. They’re incredibly helpful with the supply chain issues as well as potentially providing for the federal government.”

They are getting orders from all over the nation but said Oklahomans get first dibs. If they can get all the necessary ingredients, they can make 800 gallons a day.

The hand sanitizer is $3 per bottle, and they sell it curbside in Guthrie every day from 1-3 p.m. They are also giving it away with a take-out order at Osteria and Bar Cicchetti.