Head Brewer Garret Haynes (right) and Brewer Sam Bethlehem are spending a good chunk of their time at Troubled Monk Brewery this week social distancing, and bottling not beer, but hand sanitizer. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

the right recipe

Local brewery takes to crafting hand sanitizer

Mar 21, 2020 | 6:30 PM

Something’s brewing at Red Deer’s Troubled Monk, and we don’t mean craft beer.

It also isn’t infused with hops, nor does it have a funky name (yet), but the hand sanitizer being concocted at the brewery does work.

Owner Charlie Bredo says it was a common sense thing to start doing.

“There are a lot of breweries in the United States doing this, and we’re in a really unique position because we’re already licensed to handle alcohol,” he points out. “We did some digging and found a recipe from the World Health Organization that’s been vetted and proven to be effective.”

The recipe calls for a mix of alcohol, glycerin and hydrogen peroxide, all of which were ingredients readily available to Bredo’s team.

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“COVID-19 hit everybody like a bus. Ten days ago, life was just peachy, and we knew this problem was somewhere but it didn’t affect us. Suddenly, we all realized this is a very real problem for people here,” he says.

“We also thought this would be a good way to diversify our income. But in terms of helping, we thought let’s do something we’re already set up to do. We can give some of this to people in need, as well as charities and non-profits.”

Bredo notes doing this also keeps his staff working when otherwise hours would likely be cut.

“There are also a bunch of businesses who are legitimately happy to pay a fair price for a product they can’t get elsewhere.”

Bredo says they do recognize some individuals will also be hoping to snag some for home use, but the hope is that they can avoid panic-buying.

The sanitizer, of which more than 500 litres was made last week, has been bottled into one gallon containers, as well as smaller individual ones.

“Some of the ingredients I bought, we’re sharing with a brewery in Calgary, and they shared with us too,” he says. “At the end of the day, all we have is our community and the people around us, and the sooner and closer we band together, the better life will be.”

Bredo encourages people interested in acquiring some of Troubled Monk’s hand-crafted hand sanitizer to follow their social media accounts.