{"id":1319013,"date":"2020-03-22T22:02:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T04:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=994896"},"modified":"2020-03-23T07:37:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T13:37:22","slug":"marble-distilling-shifts-to-hand-sanitizer-to-help-during-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/marble-distilling-shifts-to-hand-sanitizer-to-help-during-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Marble Distilling shifts to hand sanitizer to help during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Connie Baker, head distiller at Marble Distilling co. mixes a new batch of hand sanitizer at the distillery in downtown Carbondale.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em>
<\/i> Buy Photo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Carbondale business Marble Distilling Co., known for infused vodkas and liquors, is branching into the hand sanitizer market to help with shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Marble Distilling closed their tasting rooms in Carbondale and Aspen a few days before the governor ordered all restaurants and bars to close their dining areas on March 17.<\/p>\n

Bartenders and front-of-house staff moved to the back, doing deep cleans and bottling product. Then staff read an article about an Oregon distiller using their grain alcohol to make sanitizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought, well, we could make hand sanitizer,\u201d head distiller at Marble Connie Baker said.<\/p>\n

The distiller started distributing the sanitizer gel last week for free to people in the community while they ramp up production.<\/p>\n

Not normal times<\/strong><\/p>\n

Typically, compounding and selling hand sanitizer would require permits, but not during the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really aren\u2019t a lot of regulations. In normal times, there would be a lot more,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the federal bureau announced that it would not levy an excise tax as long as the alcohol used in the hand sanitizer was denatured \u2014 a process that renders the alcohol undrinkable.<\/p>\n

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Water is added to the mixture to loosen up the hand sanitizer.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em>
<\/i> Buy Photo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Any distiller with an existing permit can immediately produce hand sanitizer from ethanol alcohol if they follow certain guidelines, according to an order from the bureau\u2019s acting administrator<\/a> released March 18.<\/p>\n

The lifting of the tax also helps Marble give away the hand sanitizer to anyone who needs it.<\/p>\n

All a person has to do is go to the back of the Carbondale Marble Distilling tasting room, with their own bottle, and knock for service.<\/p>\n

Anyone who orders a bottle of Marble spirits from the distiller\u2019s fledgling delivery service will also get a small vial of hand sanitizer \u2014 depending on the availability of bottles.<\/p>\n

Waiting for bottles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Baker said Marble hopes selling hand sanitizer to local retailers will help offset the lost revenue from bars and restaurants.<\/p>\n

The \u201cbiggest hiccup\u201d in the hand sanitizer business is finding bottles, Baker said. They have ordered bottles, but there seems to be a supply shortage there, too.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Connie Baker, head distiller at Marble Distilling Co. mixes a new batch of hand sanitizer at the distillery in downtown Carbondale.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em>
<\/i> Buy Photo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

While the shift to distilling the hand sanitizer is partly about keeping the business viable, Baker also wants to provide a service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just going to try to go into some mass production here, and see if we can make enough to keep everybody sanitized,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

It could also help the business retain their staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get them on the bottling line, or help with the hand sanitizer, or run deliveries just to keep them employed,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

Every business is feeling the effects of the COVID-19 shut down, and Baker hopes to see more creative solutions.<\/p>\n

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The hand sanitzer is sifted through a strainer during the final step of production.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em>
<\/i> Buy Photo<\/a><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIf we work together as a community, I truly believe we\u2019re going to get through all of this. It\u2019s not going to be easy, but we can help each other out in any we can,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connie Baker, head distiller at Marble Distilling co. mixes a new batch of hand sanitizer at the distillery in downtown Carbondale.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent Buy Photo Carbondale business Marble Distilling Co., known for infused vodkas and liquors, is branching into the hand sanitizer market to help with shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Marble […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-30 07:02:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319016,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319013\/revisions\/1319016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}