By Tyten Nalley
COLLINSVILLE, IL — The Old Herald Brewery and Distillery of Collinsville is making shifts to stay relevant and to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Owned and operated by Derik and Whitney Reiser, the brewery shifted from its normally offered products and services to begin producing another resource that has been in increasingly high demand: hand sanitizer.
“There was a need that we had a unique ability to help meet due to our ability to produce high-proof alcohol,” said Reiser. “It was an opportunity to support our local community, which we rely upon daily to support our business.”
High-proof alcohol is difficult to manufacture without the proper equipment, making it a valuable commodity in this environment.
This equipment, usually found only at brewing and distilling facilities, allows alcohol to fully ferment and achieve the desired proof, which can range between 100 and 200 proof. Pure alcohol is 200 proof.
With this change in production the brewery has had a few challenges to overcome. One of these challenges centers around production and packaging.
“We normally only bottle products a few times a month but found ourselves needing to package sanitizer daily to meet the need,” said Reiser. “We also chose to donate all of our sanitizer products in order to help ensure we could get it to those who need it most.”
Assisted living center residents, healthcare workers, and first responders are top priority recipients for that sanitizer.
The Old Herald Brewing Company partnered with the Collinsville Rotary Club to identify needs and to help with distribution.
“As word got out, we had to change our phone system and add an auto-attendant to handle increased calls while still being able to serve our curbside and carryout customers,” said Reiser.
Currently the Old Herald Brewing Company is authorized by the federal government to produce hand sanitizer until June 30, but they are hopeful that more traditional producers of sanitizer will be able to meet the increased demand before then.
“We also offered free bottles of hand sanitizer to our customers with each curbside order,” said Reiser, “which has been well received and helped create additional interest and awareness of our curbside business which in turn is helping us to keep our restaurant team employed through the crisis.”
Old Herald Brewing Company hand sanitizer is distributed primarily in Madison and St. Clair counties.