Twisted Path Distillery makes hand sanitizer, 'as fast as I can get ingredients'

MILWAUKEE -- A Bay View distillery that touts "innovative craft cocktails" has had a shift in business goals -- from handcrafted spirits to hand sanitizer.

"I'm making hand sanitizer basically as fast as I can get ingredients for it," said Brian Sammons, the founder of Twisted Path Distillery. "So far, I've made a few hundred gallons."

The cocktail lounge located near 1st Street and Beecher Street where "everything is made from scratch," has now added hand sanitizer to the list amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"We just made 300 gallons," Sammons said.

Brian Sammons

Shortages of hand sanitizer have led distilleries around the world to jump into action in ways they never have had to before.

From post offices to cable companies, businesses have been asking for Twisted Path's help to stay healthy.

"Nursing homes and homeless shelters we've been donating to," Sammons said.

Police departments and fire departments in the area have also requested sanitizer.

“As a distiller, I have the ingredients, which I bought in January when it was clear this was coming and can respond quicker locally than the traditional supply chain," he said. "My hope is that the bigger producers are just a week or two away from scaling up and catching up, but I'll make all I can until they do, or I run out of supplies."

He says the distillery has been following a formula from the World Health Organization.

"Everybody that asks, we've been trying to prioritize higher need," Sammons said.