Local breweries band together on new product

“Everyone’s been shut down and running skeleton crews, so that took much longer than we thought. We have the containers, we have the product, we’re just waiting on the labels.”

Leiski expects labels to be arriving later this week with the product then being available to the public by the last week of May or first week of June.

Due to the cost of making hand sanitizer, CrossRoads and Trench decided to work together on the product as a way to split the bill of shipping in packaging, labels, and any additional equipment, while also splitting the cost for ingredients.

When the Province initiated the State of Emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they quickly allowed breweries and distilleries to begin to make hand sanitizer due to the shortage.

“We’re in the alcohol industry, so we have an understanding and the government has allowed us to manufacture it within our scope,” said Craig Schwenning, co-owner of Trench Brewing. “The difference is we’re dealing with 80 per cent alcohol, ethanol, technical grade alcohols. So in that way, it’s different rather than five per cent.”

Schwenning says collaborating with other breweries is nothing unique in the industry, adding to the sense of community, especially at a time of great need.

“In our industry, collaboration is something brewers do. There’s a brotherhood. Daryl, the first year we were involved with the local AleFest, we ran under their licence just so we could be there. We were an up and coming and that’s sort of carried through with our relationship.”

Trench Brewing has already been able to sell their own bottled hand sanitizer for $20 for a 750mL bottle. As soon as the collaborated product becomes available, both CrossRoads and Trench will be selling the hand sanitizer for pickup or included with delivery orders.

by Ethan Ready

Local breweries band together on new product

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