A CARDIGAN distillery is pulling out all the stops to provide free hand sanitising gel to those in need during the on-going coronoavirus pandemic.

In the Welsh Wind Distillery, based at the Gogerddan Arms, near Tanygroes, has scaled back production of its regular award-winning gins to produce World Health Organisation (WHO)-recognized hand sanitiser for local authorities and other public-facing organisations.

Business owner Alex Jungmayr said: “There is a clear need for this product and we are in a position to follow WHO guidelines to produce it in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.”

And as he spoke to the Tivyside, Alex agreed to supply 20 bottles to local Post Office van drivers and a further 20 bottles to someone providing care to the elderly.

“While we have closed the distillery to the public and some of our staff are able to work from home, those responsible for distilling the alcohol are all totally behind me in favour of carrying on working to produce the product as they can see how desperately it is needed,” said Alex.

“We are following strict guidelines and the rules have been relaxed on the duty we usually pay on alcohol to produce the sanitiser.

“Primarily, we would like to provide it to local authorities and other frontline groups who can distribute it as they see fit.

“WHO requirements stipulate that the sanitiser should be 75% alcohol. Ours is 80 per cent and mixed with glycerol and hydrogen peroxide.

“Perhaps there are other distillers or manufacturers of ethanol out there who would also like to help and we could point them in the right direction too.

“This is all about looking after our local communities and making sure people stay safe. We are making it available to the local area and to fulfil that need. We are not putting a cap on production and whatever we can do, we will.”

About the distillery

In the Welsh Wind distillery was founded in January 2018 at Plas y Wern, Tresaith by local distillers Alex Jungmayr and Ellen Wakelam.

Originally planning to distil their own ‘In the Welsh Wind’ gin, the distillery changed course when they were approached by Baravin in Aberystwyth to create a bespoke gin for the popular bar.

In the Welsh Wind bottled and shipped their first order of gin in early 2018 and haven’t looked back.

Since then, the distillery has developed and distilled gins for 20 companies and organisations across the UK, producing 32 different gins.

Gin from the distillery has been served at Glastonbury and the National Eisteddfod as well as Pembrokeshire’s The Big Retreat Festival.