Gulf Coast Distillers, the largest distillery in Texas, announced the emergency repurposing all of the firm’s production and bottling lines, for the manufacturing of hand sanitizer, to meet the extraordinary community demands generated by the COVID-19 crisis.
To date, Gulf Coast Distillers donated over 20,000 32oz bottles of the alcohol-based sanitizer, dubbed C4U Hand Sanitizer, to Houston first responders and various non-profit organizations. That equates to approximately 4,000 gallons of sanitizer.
Gulf Coast Distillers’ president & CEO, Carlos de Aldecoa, explains “We are inspired by the way our community has responded to COVID-19 and humbled to be a part of the solution to those in critical need of infection-control products. Our staff has received hundreds of thousands of requests from public retailers, hospitals, first responders, and others throughout Texas. What started as a shift of some of the lines, later became a full out shifting of all our operations to produce the sanitizer and support of our community in their time of need. Our distillery that had been running nonstop 24x7 for the past 4 years, has been put on hold and all resources are now dedicated to the production of the sanitizer.”
To date, Gulf Coast Distillers has produced over 30,000 gallons of C4U Hand Sanitizer on their dedicated production and bottling lines and have shipped to the Houston Police Department, Houston Zoo, Texas Medical Center facilities, several petrochemical companies, utility districts, and chambers of commerce, among various other organizations. Bottles will be sold soon, to the public, at retail locations.
When asked about the value of the hand sanitizer to their company, Union Pacific responded, “Mr. de Aldecoa's company, Gulf Coast Distillers, has very recently been an absolute lifesaver for UP because of his willingness to make and sell hand sanitizer and disinfectant to keep our train crews, mechanical forces, and other employees protected during this COVID-19 pandemic.”
The State of Texas is seeking critical equipment for medical providers, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection-control products. If you have products and equipment available for the state to consider procuring, please visit https://texas.gov/#covid19
The Gulf Coast Distillers industrial-scale distillery and bottling operation is located just east of downtown Houston and produces Giant Texas Bourbon, BJ Hooker’s Vodka and other brands. The distillery’s tasting room, Ben’s Den, has been temporarily closed to the public.
Additional information and updates will be made available via the newly created C4U Hand Sanitizer Instagram Gulf Coast Distillers website, gulfcoastdistillers.com, and Gulf Coast Distillers Instagram page.
