Long lines of drivers show up for La Crosse Distilling hand sanitizer

Drivers lined up at the La Crosse Distilling Co. and other locations on Sunday to pick up free bottles of hand sanitizer made by the local brewing company.

From noon-2 p.m., people driving up to the designated sites received one free bottle each of the sanitizer, to be used to fight the COVID-19 virus.

The La Crosse City Hall parking lot reported running out of its supply well before 2 p.m..

“Even with the growing demand to address the needs of those individuals with compromised immune systems,” La Crosse Distillery posted on Facebook, “and those on the front lines of this pandemic — ensuring the most at risk individuals have access to hand sanitizer — we are honoring our word to provide hand sanitizer to our community members.”

The sanitizer also was made available in Onalaska, Holmen, West Salem, La Crescent, and Viroqua.

“It is important that we come together as one community to help each other during this time,” the distillery continued in the post. “We would like to thank our local police and firefighters for partnering with us to make this possible. As always, we encourage all of you to put your health and the health of your loved ones first.”

All the business’ house spirits are distilled from a certified organic ethanol base. The distillery said, 10 days ago, that allowed its production team to develop an 80 percent alcohol antiseptic topical solution.

“As COVID-19 continues to influence nearly every aspect of our personal and professional lives, the health and well-being of our community is top of mind,” Founder Nick Weber said last week. “Amid all the negative, we saw an opportunity to make a positive impact. This is our small contribution to our community and a slight nod to finding the positive in every situation.”