St. Petersburg’s 3 Daughters Brewing starts making hand sanitizer

Stories about the coronavirus pandemic are free to read as a public service at tampabay.com/coronavirus. Sign up for our DayStarter newsletter to receive updates weekday mornings. If this coverage is important to you, consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Tampa Bay Times at tampabay.com/subscribe.

• • •

3 Daughters Brewing announced this week in a news release that it has started creating and bottling its own hand sanitizer. The St. Petersburg brewery originally planned to distribute 4-ounce bottles to the public for free on March 19 but is now urging folks to not show up for the product due to the overwhelming community response.

3 Daughters publicized the sanitizer to its Facebook fans in a March 18 post. After the update went up, co-owner Leigh Harting said, the brewery had folks knocking on its doors that afternoon, a flood of emails, calls and texts coming in.

Harting said 3 Daughters doesn’t want to compromise people’s safety amid the coronavirus outbreak and will still give the product away.

“We’re going to work through the city and charity organizations to get it to the public. We could only get 500 bottles on our first order,” Harting said. “We have plenty of sanitizer, plenty of bottles on order. We just didn’t want to have [a large amount] of people show up. We didn’t think it was socially responsible, so that’s why we changed our tactic.”

According to Harting, 3 Daughters plans to partner with charities with the greatest needs, as well as entities like law enforcement that need hand sanitizer and can make a big impact by passing it through to members of the community.

The brewery also hopes to share best practices with other companies in the Tampa Bay area producing sanitizer and help get the product to those who haven’t been able to find it in stores.

Harting said 3 Daughters’ Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau-certified chemist, Desiree Chubb, uses cleansing agents that are already in-house and a thickening agent to make the hand sanitizer, which contains 70 percent alcohol.

“We have to do it responsibly,” Harting said, referring to distribution. “We don’t want to put anybody in a situation where we’re not abiding by mandates. … We want to help to calm the fears and keep people safe. This is an uncertain time.”

Breweries and distilleries around the nation and world have begun churning out sanitizer to support their communities, and 3 Daughters isn’t alone on the local front.

Kozuba & Sons Distillery in St. Petersburg took to Facebook on March 18 to announce that it will shift its resources away from making spirits to focus on the production of hand sanitizer.

“Our hand sanitizer will be made using the highest grade spirit that otherwise would have been used to make vodka,” the post read. “We are following all World Health Organization (WHO) hand sanitizer formulation recommendations. We will have a limited amount available simply because bottles are difficult to come by at the moment. We will do our best to purchase more bottles with dispensers as soon as they become available.”

Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines

Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter

We’ll deliver the latest news and information you need to know every morning.

Loading...

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

The post said that Kozuba’s tours and tastings have been put on pause until future notice, and that the distillery will keep the public updated on when the sanitizer is available for purchase and where.

• • •

Tampa Bay Times coronavirus coverage

EVENT CANCELLATIONS: Get the latest updates on events planned in the Tampa Bay area in the coming weeks.

STORES REACT TO VIRUS: Some businesses adjust hours or announce temporary closings.

BE PREPARED: Guidelines for essentials to keep in your home should you have to stay inside.

STOCK UP YOUR PANTRY: Foods that should always be in your kitchen, for emergencies and everyday life.

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP: See updates and tips posts, and ask questions of our journalists.

FOLLOW OUR COVERAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. Reddit.

LISTEN TO THE CORONAVIRUS PODCAST: New episodes every week, including interviews with experts and reporter.

HAVE A TIP?: Send us confidential news tips.

We’re working hard to bring you the latest news on the coronavirus in Florida. This effort takes a lot of resources to gather and update. If you haven’t already subscribed, please consider buying a print or digital subscription.