Highwood distillery retools in coronavirus crisis: Making desperately needed hand sanitizers

On Monday morning, Eric Falberg, a co-owner of the 28 Mile Distilling Co. in Highwood, was stirring a vat of mash, destined to become desperately needed hand sanitizer, with demand soaring as the coronavirus pandemic continues to explode.

When 28 Mile opened last summer in the northern suburb, the intended use of the gleaming stainless steel tanks and stills were to make vodka, gin and bourbon. Buildings at 454 Sheridan Rd. — once housing a linen company and a hotel — were transformed into a welcoming distillery, bar and outdoor courtyard.

That business model changed in a snap with orders to shut down and stay-at-home as coronavirus cases grew in Illinois and across the nation. With the pandemic, it has been near impossible to find hand-sanitizing products to buy.

Distilling is distilling, it turns out, whether for spirits or sanitizers.

To address the emergency need for hand sanitizers, on March 18, the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau — the agency regulating distilled spirits makers — issued an emergency order allowing companies already holding permits to “immediately” start producing hand sanitizers through June 30. “These measures are generally authorized ... in disaster situations,” the agency said.

The only condition was the manufacturers had to follow the recipe provided by the World Health Organization: Hand sanitizers had to be made of specific amounts of denatured or undenatured ethanol, glycerol and hydrogen peroxide.

Falberg and his partners, his brother Gregg and Matt Greif, the head distiller, decided to jump into the hand sanitizer business. And so the 28 Mile Hand Sanitizer was born, financed with about $50,000 from the partners.

“Think about it, we’re in war right now with the virus,” Falberg told me. Manufacturers have to be nimble. “We have to think like that.”

They also had to scramble to find work for their employees. During the summer, the 28 Distillery employed 20; 14 were on the payroll before they had to shut down. Falberg’s aim is to rehire the bartenders and servers, putting them to work labeling bottles, shipping and other related jobs.

Falberg hopes to soon employ up to 30 workers because demand for hand sanitizers is so high.

“We have to ramp up. I have a lot of orders already. So we have no choice anymore. We’re going to ramp up to 24/7,” said Falberg, who is also a Highwood alderman. Falberg, 50, and brother Gregg, 53, also run a propane business.

On Monday, the mash was a mix of corn and barley. On Tuesday it likely could be something else. “We are distilling everything we have,” Falberg said. The mash stays in the fermenting tanks for two or three days and then goes into the still to come out as alcohol.

Even when the coronavirus crisis winds down, a demand for hand sanitizers is likely to remain because a germ wary public will get in the habit of routinely using the product.

The intent now is to make hand sanitizers a permanent part of the business, Falberg said, since their facility has enough room to house their liquor and now sanitizer products.

“We want to set ourselves up to be one of those vendors that can supply these products. ... We feel we can produce.”

Falberg said they were donating hand sanitizers to local police and fire departments — first responders are a priority — and if possible some nursing homes. Some Lake County law enforcement personnel already came by with their own containers to get some of the donated first batches.

Falberg said his team would be selling 16 ounce bottles of hand sanitizers to, among others, Whole Foods and Sunset Foods, a north suburban grocery chain. The hand sanitizer will be available in gallon jugs for commercial users, such as FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service.

The last step in the making of hand sanitizer is adding the other ingredients to the alcohol. The aim is large scale production. “Our goal is a thousand gallons a day,” said Falberg.

Said Falberg on Monday, “All the ingredients just came in. We’re making it tomorrow morning.”

Contributing: Tyler Lariviere