If you have been able to find hand sanitiser in your local supermarket or chemist then you’re either really fortunate or having a bit of a laugh. For the rest of us, the once innocuous product has become somewhat of a hot commodity. Thankfully a number of local distilleries have switched up their stills to produce hand sanitiser.
That includes South Melbourne distillery Patient Wolf, who has teamed up with Wolf of the Willows Brewing to whip up hand sanitiser. The closure of pubs and bars meant Wolf of the Willows had a lot of its XPA malt beer wash that was going to waste. They sent kegs of it to Patient Wolf who added ethanol and some of its own Melbourne Dry Gin before distilling it into a 70 per cent ethanol hand sanitiser.
Notably, the hand sanitiser has a bonus malt juniper aroma thanks to how it’s distilled (no matter how delicious your hands might now smell, please do not eat them) and claims to kill 99.9 per cent of germs.
You can buy the sanitiser online from either Patient Wolf or Wolf of the Willows, or head into either store to buy direct. The 500ml glass bottles are $28 and are limited to one per customer to avoid ye olde panic buying. Both are still open for booze sales, too.