Rogue Ales & Spirits Turns Distillery Into Hand Sanitizer Production Facility

Rogue Ales & Spirits in Newport, Oregon has announced that its distillery has been turned into a hand sanitizer production facility to combat the spread of COVID-19. Full release details are below.

Newport, Ore. (March 30, 2020) — Rogue Spirits is producing and packaging hand sanitizer at our distillery in Newport, Oregon to donate to local emergency response and public safety officials. To date, Rogue has donated its ‘Helping Hand Hand Sanitizer’ to fire departments from Newport, Toledo, Waldport, Yachats, Depoe Bay, and Lincoln City, police services, county offices, local ambulance services and Life Flight. It is critical to keep those servicing the community safe and healthy so that they can protect the rest of the country during this public health crisis.

Rogue’s ‘Helping Hand Hand Sanitizer’ is made with 80% ethanol, glycerin, hydrogen peroxide and distilled water and packaged in 375 ml, 4 oz and 16 oz bottles. The Food and Drug Administration changed their guidelines on March 18 to give distilleries permission to start making hand sanitizer for distribution as long as they were abiding by the formula outlined by the World Health Organization. This change allowed Rogue and distilleries around the country to make hand sanitizer because of the shortage.

“There's a massive shortage of so many life-saving supplies right now and we wanted to do something to help,” adds Brian Pribyl, Head Distiller of Rogue Ales & Spirits. “As a distillery, we make alcohol every day, so a hand sanitizer was an obvious way to help. It’s been amazing to watch the entire distilling community come together during this crisis. We can't make gowns, gloves or medical equipment but we can keep a steady supply of alcohol flowing. If we can supply a hand sanitizer to the front-line of this pandemic, even if that means one less thing they have to worry about sourcing, we're calling that a win.”

“What’s really great about our hand sanitizer initiative is that it came about as an employee passion project and their dream became a reality thanks to a collaborative team effort,” adds Jack Waibel, Vice President of Production at Rogue Ales & Spirits. “Since day one we have been dedicated to giving back to our community and are so honored to be able to step up and help in this time of need.”

Rogue’s ‘Helping Hand Hand Sanitizer’ is currently available to first responders in Lincoln county and we are working to make it available throughout the nation to businesses and consumers to help reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus. 

Learn more at Rogue.com.  

About Rogue Ales & Spirits 

Rogue Ales & Spirits, the only farmer-brewer-distiller-cooper in the United States, was founded in Oregon in 1988 as one of America’s first microbreweries. Rogue has won more than 2,000 awards for taste, quality and packaging, and is available in all 50 states as well as 54 countries. Proudly rooted in Oregon soil, Rogue’s beers, spirits and sodas are made with ingredients grown on Rogue Farms in Independence, Oregon. Rogue Spirits are hand-distilled on a 550-gallon still in Newport, Oregon, aged in the thick ocean air of the Yaquina Bay and bottled by hand. Since 2008, Rogue has remained committed to sharing the terroir of Oregon hops, honey, cucumbers and pumpkins one acre at a time by growing its own.