Coronavirus: Martha's Vineyard Distiller Donating Sanitizer

MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA — The bourbon is still aging and the vodka fermenting at the Martha's Vineyard Distilling Co. during the new coronavirus health crisis. Yet, what has kept CEO and Distiller Nick Peters busy over the past seven weeks has been the sanitizer product that has helped keep an entire island a little safer.

When Gov. Charlie Baker made the announcement to close bars and restaurants on March 15, Peters knew that a lot of his wholesale liquor sales were going to dry up as well. He admitted it was hard for him at first to consider what to do now that the business that steadily grew for four years had largely lost its customer base.

Then, with the help of a little research and guidance from industry trade groups and oversight agencies, he followed the trend of other distilleries throughout the country in transforming part of his liquor operation to one making sanitizer.

"There were shortages everywhere," Peters told Patch. "When you run out of something on an island there's not much you can do until the stores get more in. Then I was looking around and saw people who had it were upping the prices really high."

Instead, Peters started selling Martha’s Vineyard Distilling Co.'s lavender- and eucalyptus-infused sanitizer for a reasonable $5.99 per bottle. And Peters came up with the idea of to give back to the island that has been his home nearly his entire life through offering to donate one bottle to first responders for every bottle sold.

"It took off really fast," he said. "I didn't think it would take off that fast. I put the 'buy one, donate one' post online and the next day we were sold out."

While Peters said he has the capacity to produce plenty of sanitizer, he ran out of the little plastic bottles and sprayer tops needed to package them. He said he has about 40 or 50 left with a screw-on cap for online sales as he awaits a deliveries of about 10,000 bottles through six different companies with which he has placed orders.

"You kind of learn to adapt and move forward," Peters said. "Because we deal with a product that people consume we are already a lot more cautious with our operation. We are always very aware of keeping a sanitary environment with our manufacturing and bottling process."

In the meantime, he has continued to adapt to help meet the needs of his neighbors through filling liter bottles typically reserved for bourbon and vodka with sanitizer for donation to police, fire, EMS, the Coast Guard station, food pantries and small construction sites that have reopened on the island under strict sanitizing guidelines in the past week.

He said he estimates he has distributed about 2,000 bottles — with about 300 sold and the rest donated.

"It's nice to be able to help out where you can," Peters said. "We figure if we can help out now where we are doing it to help more than doing it for profit, then maybe that goodwill will come back on us in the future."

(If you have a story of a local business or organization that is looking to lend a hand to those in need during the new coronavirus pandemic,or lift spirits amid social distancing and isolation, Patch wants to let people in your community know about it. Contact Scott Souza at Scott.Souza@patch.com to help us spread the positives during this uncertain time.)

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