Northeast Montana News

Several distilleries across the U.S. have begun shifting their business to producing hand sanitizer in an effort to help the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Crawford Distillery in Havre, Montana, is a distillery that has begun hand sanitizer operations. All hand sanitizer the business produces is given away for free. 

"The first batch went out to the elderly and first responders and health care workers," Neil Crawford, co-owner of the distillery, told Havre Daily News. "We're trying to get it to the most critical people in need first. This second batch we're going to give it out to anybody who needs it."

Crawford owns the distillery with his wife, Alyssa, and the two of them are in the process of bottling a second batch of hand sanitizer, which they will be giving away to the community. Part of the batch will be held back to specifically give away to the at-risk population, Crawford said. 

"We're holding some back for people in need," he told Havre Daily News. "We get a lot of average Joes who come in and want some, but if you have a health condition or you're elderly you know, we've been holding some back for them."

He also said the process to make the hand sanitizer has been a community effort. Walmart supplied the distillery with free bottles for the first batch of sanitizer, Crawford said. 

"Walmart stepped up big time with that, we've got to give a big shout out to Old Station Brewing, they brought us several hundred gallons of beer that we've distilled out and turned into sanitizer," Crawford told the paper. 

Old Station Brewing also supplied Crawford with two fermenting machines. 

"It's been a community effort and we appreciate the support," Crawford said. 

Unless Crawford's hand sanitizer operations become financially unstable, he said he and his wife will continue distributing the sanitizer for free. 

"We're just playing it by ear, we're going to keep it free as long as possible," he told he Daily News. "Hopefully it helps people out."