During the coronavirus pandemic, there is a run on cleaning supplies, including hand sanitizer.
It is sold out online and if you are lucky enough to find it in a store, it is limited to one per customer.
"Just the one thing we kept hearing is that nobody can get their hands on sanitizer," Bill Rogers, owner of Liberty Call Distilling said.
When the COVID-19 outbreak hit, Rogers decided to pause making spirits and shift to making hand sanitizer.
"We’re selling it to people who can afford to buy it — the big corporations that really need it for their employees," Rogers said. "Amazon, for example."
In just a couple of weeks, Liberty Call has sold thousands of gallons to the city of Los Angeles, the Port of San Diego, UPS, and to the U.S. Postal Service. Rogers said he has also supplied local hospitals including Kaiser, Sharp HealthCare and Scripps Healthcare.
"People saying, 'Hey I need 50 gallons, I need 100 gallons, I need 1,000 gallons,'" Roger said.
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Thanks to those sales, Liberty Call is now giving away free bottles of hand sanitizer every weekend in Barrio Logan.
"Just to give back to the community," Rogers said. "Everybody is so thankful and happy that we’re giving it out."
Liberty Call's sanitizer is based on a vodka recipe.
"It should have been really high-end vodka selling for $50 per bottle," Rogers said.
Liberty Call recently spent nearly a million dollars renovating its distillery in Spring Valley and building a new restaurant and tasting room in Barrio Logan that was supposed to have its grand opening last week.
"And none of that happened," Rogers said.
Everyone at Liberty Call Distilling is pitching in right now.
"Our head bartender is filling sanitizer, our chef is out bottling with us," Rogers said. "We’re trying to keep people employed."
Rogers had to cancel shifts for dozen employees who were scheduled to start work this month at the new restaurant.
Liberty Call is not the only local distiller making hand sanitizer and giving it away or selling it at a low cost. The San Diego Distillers Guild has a list online of nearly a dozen alcohol makers in the county who are also making sanitizer.
Bottles of Liberty Call hand sanitizer are given out every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1985 National Ave. in Barrio Logan.
