Pine Bluffs Distilling looking to help make a dent in sanitizer shortage

A small, Wyoming community is looking to make a big impact. Pine Bluffs Distilling is making hand sanitizer to be sent to workers who need it, like first responders in Laramie County. Their effort is bringing the community together – with everyone from firefighters to police to Pine Bluff residents coming to help bottle the concoction.

When the owners of PBD heard about other distilleries using their shut down facilities to make hand sanitizer, they wanted to join in.

“If there is this demand for this,” co-owner Chad Brown said, “Why don’t we try and do this and see what we can do?”

So, the folks at Pine Bluffs Distilling got to work. Being a farming community, they knew they had the resources to make the alcohol. The alcohol being distilled is made from a Pine Bluffs staple: corn. For the sanitizer itself, it’s an 80% alcohol mixture with glycerin and hydrogen peroxide.

In typical Pine style, they had plenty of another resource in the form of helping hands to bottle the sanitizer. This includes some out of state help, with a few folks from Weldworks Brewery in Greeley, CO pitching in.

“We’ve got Cheyenne fire Department, we’ve got Pine Bluffs Police department, a National Guard member is here,” Chad said, “And we’ve got just some individual volunteers as well.”

Pine Bluffs Police Chief Chance Walkama was in attendance, one of two police officers on site today. Chief Walkama says the last time the distillery bottled the sanitizer, seven officers helped out.

Between the distilling and the volunteers, the distillery has this process down.

“We cook on Monday,” Chad said, “We will have alcohol ready on Friday… Today we should have over 1,000 liters of hand sanitizer.”

Chad says the sanitizer will be sent out in coordination with Cheyenne EMS. He adds that the sanitizer is also FDA approved.