This distillery is pivoting production to make hand sanitizer

Beak and Skiff distillery is shifting its production to make hand sanitizer amid the coronavirus outbreak. President of Beak & Skiff Apple Farms Eddie Brennan joins Zack Guzman to discuss.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: Throughout all of the coronavirus crisis we've been tracking here on the show, we've been highlighting a lot of moves from small businesses around the country that have been shifting production from what they would normally be doing to production would help in the battle against coronavirus. And we are seeing that happen-- play out in multiple states, including our own state here in New York.

Our next guest is the owner of a business that's shifted from making various alcohol products related to apples and shifted to creating hand sanitizer for people around the country. That, of course, is Beak & Skiff located in Lafayette, New York. And the president of the company, Eddie Brennan, joins us now on the Hangout.

And, Eddie, walk me through the decision as a business owner here to shift from what you're normally doing to creating a product that you have little experience in-- dare I say no experience in when you're thinking about creating hand sanitizer as a distillery. What was that process like, and what made you want to do it?

EDDIE BRENNAN: Yeah, well, it was-- for us, it was-- it was fast and furious. So it was-- you know, the team really pulled together, kind of seeing what was happening throughout the community. And there was a lot of discussion on, you know, should we do it? And the state liquor authority came out with new guidelines saying that if-- you know, if a distillery had ethanol or had the potential to produce ethanol that we could have the opportunity to jump in the fight.

And really, the process of making hand sanitizer is not all that-- all that complicated, right? So 80% of what's in a traditional hand sanitizer is isopropyl alcohol or ethanol, and we're making ethanol 24/7 here at Beak & Skiff.

So, you know, what we said-- what we decided to do as a company was repurpose 100% of our production within our distillery and move it completely to hand sanitizer. And it's-- you know, most of what we're making-- we're donating a lot, but we're also selling some to local businesses who are deemed essential in the community. So that's been great, and it's been great to see the team kind of pull together. The entire company has rallied around this.

And, you know, we don't have a traditional hand-sanitizer bottle, but we've repurposed some of our cold-brew coffee or fresh cider bottles and put our hand sanitizer in that. And, you know, at the end of the day, the ingredients are relatively simple. And, you know, we've just been trying to make this full force.

And it's amazing. There's local hospitals in the community. You know, there's police-- you know, different police precincts and fire departments. They can't have-- they don't have access to hand sanitizer right now, and they're out there trying to-- trying to fight in the community and save lives. So it's been great to be able to pivot from, you know, a product that isn't essential in vodka and gin and hard cider and be able to help people.

ZACK GUZMAN: Depends on who you ask, man, and I will say that. But I love the ingenuity to shift here from those products to hand sanitizer. As a business owner, what was that like, though, as you were weighing kind of the shutdown or the way that your business might be impacted through this to say, all right, I want to dedicate resources, manpower to actually get this product on shelves? And then also-- well, it sounds like you're donating some-- also trying to make a profit here to kind of sustain the business because we've heard so much about businesses shutting down and having to furlough workers.

EDDIE BRENNAN: Right. So there's-- yeah, there's the balance, right? We need to sell some of it to be able to purchase more ingredients to make more to donate. But for Beak & Skiff, you know, we've been embraced by our local community. We see about 300,000 people in the fall season who come and pick apples. And for us, it was a way to really step up and give back to our community. So we were excited to be able to do that.

It's allowed us to retain a lot of our employees who can now be shifted from the production of some nonessential products into making this hand sanitizer, so that's been great. I mean, we're all about, you know, keeping as many people on the payrolls right now as we can.

You know, just three weeks ago in New York state it was hard to find people that wanted to work at a distillery or wanted to work at a place like Beak & Skiff. You know, the job market was very tight in that sense. And, you know, now we look three weeks later, and, you know, you look at jobless claims today. It's unbelievable what's happened. So we're all about trying to retain as many people as we can right now and fight through this.

ZACK GUZMAN: Well, congratulations on finding a way that not only helps you retain your own workers but helps the community as well. Got to applaud efforts like that, and really appreciate you coming on and sharing your time to discuss how you're able to do it. But Eddie Brennan, president of the Lafayette, New York, based Beak & Skiff apple farms, appreciate you taking the time, man. God bless.

EDDIE BRENNAN: Yeah, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.