Cardrona Distillery offering free hand sanitiser to local community and businesses

Cardrona Distillery is offering free hand sanitiser to local individuals or businesses in an effort to help keep the community safe.

As of this morning, people can take their clean spray bottles to the cellar door at Cardrona Distillery and have them filled up with sanitiser made on the premises.

Cardrona Distillery owner Desiree Whitaker says this is one way the company found to help the local community, which is already hurting from the effects of Covid-19.

Cardrona Distillery says it is the way it found to help the local community. Photo / Facebook

Cardrona, much like the wider central Otago area, heavily relies on tourism as its main industry and is already feeling the impact of the Government restrictions on non-essential travel and closed borders.

"It's obviously an incredibly uncertain situation and worrying times for everybody," she told the Herald. "Just in the last few days, tourism numbers have dropped off."

"This community will suffer. Tourism has to be our biggest industry," Whitaker added.

From today and for as long as they can offer it, the distillery will refill spray bottles for locals at its cellar door.

Individuals and businesses can visit the premises and get up to 500ml of hand sanitiser per household per week.

As soon as the distillery put up the announcement on Facebook, the local community praised their generosity.

"Fantastic, good on you Cardrona Distillery, true Kiwi spirit! We'll get through this," one person commented.

"What an awesome gesture," someone else said.

Spray Sanitizer. As COVID-19 increases in severity, Cardrona Distillery has been working on a way to help our...

Posted by Cardrona Distillery on Saturday, 21 March 2020

Moreover, rather than getting their sanitiser for free, other local businesses offered to trade it for some of their product as well.

"I'm happy as well to supply you guys with morning smoko! One great deed deserves another," wrote a local cake company.

One of the local fish and chip store also said it would exchange the sanitiser for some fish and chips.

The community midwives were also grateful for the offer and intended to stop by to take it up.

Earlier this week, Good George Brewery in Hamilton also announced they were getting their first batch of sanitiser ready, which will be distributed for free for locals.