A SALTASH business has been turning half-drunk bottles of gin, whiskey and rum into much-needed hand sanitiser for health workers.

The Krupnikoz distillery, which only opened in February of this year, creates a unique handcrafted honey and spice-infused vodka and other liqueurs.

But the COVID-19 outbreak hit the finances of the micro business hard.

Facing the loss of thousands of pounds of his family’s investment, founder Paul Kozak decided to turn his efforts to helping the community as a way not to let the facility and its resources go to waste.

Following the recipe provided by the World Health Organisation, which gives a higher level of alcohol than many gels available in the shops, Paul had already made and given out a number of bottles to community care workers in Saltash.

His motivation was to protect the most vulnerable people receiving care either in their own homes, or in residential care homes.

But his aim was to get the ‘big still’ at the unit working in order to make 5,000 bottles of hand gel for the NHS.

A call was put out on social media for people to donate their old bottles of spirits, so that Krupnikoz could distil the ethanol out of them to make hand sanitiser.

The response from the public was ‘overwhelming’ says Paul, who was soon receiving trolley-loads of bottles of all shapes and colours, filled with the raw material needed to distil the ethanol.

‘We have been inundated with offers of unwanted alcohol for use in our stills to produce more sanitiser,’ he said.

‘We have supplied bottles to a variety of key workers and to community nurses and nursing homes around Saltash and the surrounding areas, and to the A&E mental health nurses at Derriford Hospital.’

A call for small plastic bottles also yielded a good result, with one local resident donating £100 for the purchase of the bottles.

Collection

Local firm Essa Taxis has been busy bringing the donated bottles from around the local area to the distillery door to keep the production line going.

Anyone who would like Steve from Essa Taxis to collect their donations should call 01752 905905.

Paul is still appealing for more spirits.

‘Krupnikoz can help you play your part – let’s recycle,’ he said.

‘We’re not asking for your best bottle of gin. Maybe an old bottle of spirit that was not enjoyed and pushed to the back of the cupboard. Today we could make use of it.

‘This is an unusual project for an unusual time. We can arrange collection or bottles can be dropped at the distillery when you are going shopping for essentials.

‘I’ll be collecting bottles and making sanitiser until our world goes back to normal.’