With hand sanitizer in dire need due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Central City Brewers + Distillers knew they had a unique opportunity to step up and help.
‘Cause really, who has more alcohol on site than a distillery?
“As a brewery and distillery we certainly have the ability and the technical know how and a very strong team to get this accomplished and we felt there was a real opportunity to help in the fight against the coronavirus and the frontline workers that are ultimately trying to mitigate the spread,” said Brendan Yep, VP of Sales at Central City Brewers + Distillers.
Central City recently partnered with the City of Surrey to begin making large batches and smaller size sanitizer in support of Canadians, especially front-line workers.
After receiving guidelines from the World Health Organization, Central City’s team of more than 250 went to work earlier this week and have been working non-stop to get it in medical workers hands.
“It’s been a whole team effort and they certainly do deserve the recognition,” said Yep. “They’ve been working around the clock to ultimately procure not only the source ingredients that go into making hand sanitizer but also things like bottles, labels, and caps, that are a little uncommon for breweries and distilleries to have on hand, on mass, for hand sanitizer.”
Central City’s brewmaster Gary Lohin with a bottle of hand sanitizer
Yep says their first batch will be donated free of charge to medical health facilities in dire need of sanitizer in Surrey (the list provided by the City of Surrey). It will then be sold to medical health professionals, doctor offices, shipping companies and more, with many companies already getting in touch to pre-order.
As for Surrey residents, smaller quantities are expected to be available towards the end of next week at the Central City Liquor Store (12922 115 Avenue, Surrey) and the liquor store attached to their Bridgeview brewery ( 11411 Bridgeview Dr, Surrey).
“We’re all in. As long as there’s a need and a demand, we’ll dedicate as much as our resources as we possibly can to support the fight.”