Tito’s Handmade… hand sanitizer?

Tito’s Handmade Vodka. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for NYCWFF)

by: Billy Gates

Posted: Mar 23, 2020 / 11:41 AM CDT

Updated: Mar 23, 2020 / 12:04 PM CDT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — At the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, Austin-based distillery Tito’s Handmade Vodka said its vodka wouldn’t make a good hand sanitizer.

Now, they’re close to delivering something that will.

In a tweet Sunday, the distillery announced they’re nearly done with an ethanol-based hand sanitizer that they’ll give out for free.

While we advise that you cannot use our vodka as a hand sanitizer, our distillery has been working hard to get all of the pieces in place to begin production on 24 tons of hand sanitizer that adheres to industry and governmental guidance. Please see attached for more information. pic.twitter.com/c5pTzVOvv1
— TitosVodka (@TitosVodka) March 22, 2020

The distillery will make 24 tons of hand sanitizer after the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau authorized production by permitted distillers. Hand sanitizer has to be at least 60% alcohol in order to be effective. Don’t drink it, either.

“While we don’t have all the details quite yet,” the tweet reads, “we do know we will be giving it away for free to our community and those most in need.”

Driftwood’s Desert Door Distillery donated 1,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to the Austin Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in Texas.