Like many of its competitors, Castle & Key is making more than alcohol in its historic distillery on McCracken Pike. The distillery recently donated 50 gallons of hand sanitizer to the Woodford Emergency Management Department, which distributed it to local first responders. Castle & Key co-owner Wes Murry said when stores started running out of hand sanitizer, he wondered, “Can we make it?” The answer was yes – and Murry said it wasn’t that hard to make. “You take 100 percent alcohol and you mix that with hydrogen peroxide, glycerin, water and some denaturing items … and you … mix it in a big tank and you bottle it. And that’s what we’ve been doing,” he said. Murry said their initial goal was to support first responders, local hospitals and other health care workers, then realized those in the food service, trucking and the oil and gas industries needed it too. “All these industries are still up and running and in just as much need, really – keeping the supply chain of America going,” Murry said. “Everybody’s in need of it and we’re making a whole bunch of it now.” Murry said last week, they produced 25,000 gallons of hand sanitizer and the company will continue to make the stuff “this entire time.” He said they’ve shut down tours and events through the end of May and hope to reopen to the public in some capacity in June, and while their spirits business is down at least 50 percent, they haven’t furloughed any of their 96 employees. “Our goal is to balance the health of the company with the needs of our team and so far, we’ve been fortunate enough …” he said. Murry acknowledged the COVID-19 pandemic is yet another unexpected challenge on the journey that began when they purchased the property in April 2014. “That’s a fair analysis. It cost more than we thought, it took longer than we thought. We had a flood a month before we tried to open up to the public. And now, we were literally six months from releasing our first aged spirit – kind of a seminal moment for our company – and COVID-19 hit, so yeah, no shortage of obstacles,” he said. Employees continue to produce the company’s signature gin and vodka, bourbon for aging – and hand sanitizer. They hope to release a rye whiskey this fall,” Murry said. “We’re still running 24-7,” he said. “We’ve had to change the way we run to respect social distancing and providing additional PPE and making sure everybody’s safe …” Monday, Murry said the hand sanitizer will be available for purchase on the company’s website this week, and that he was working on a plan to donate one bottle for every two purchased. He called his staff a “really resilient team.” “We’re trying to do what we can,” he said. “It’s just tough. It’s a tough time and it’s one of these moments in our history where we all need to step up and help those who need the help and not worry about, necessarily, how it gets done or what the long-term impact is. Your fellow man needs help, so you’ve gotta go help him.”
‘Your fellow man needs help, so you’ve gotta go help him’
