Pittsburgh-based Wigle Whiskey is donating all of the hand sanitizer it is making to the Pittsburgh Public Safety Department for distribution across Allegheny County.

The company last week announced it would begin making City of Champs Sanitizer in its Strip District distillery after receiving approval from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and the federal government. It is following World Health Organization production guidelines.

“Right now we are not having any of that for sale,” said Corey Summers, the general manager. “All of that is being donated to the Pittsburgh Office of Public Safety for distribution to first responders, health care organizations and high risk groups in Allegheny County.”

Summers said Wigle would continue making the sanitizer as long as necessary.

The company joined distillers across the country in producing hand sanitizer with supplies running thin during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have received thousands of phone calls, emails, text messages and social media requests for this sanitizer,” Wigle said on its Facebook page. “We have one staff member who we’ve dedicated entirely to answer the phone to handle all the requests coming in. We have so many calls that when someone does call in it is challenging to hear them speak because there are 2-4 other calls trying to get through.”

The company said it knows there is high demand for hand sanitizer.

“We know how desperate you feel,” Wigle said. “We, alone, are not able to produce enough to satisfy the need. We will do the best we can to produce as much as we can.”

Wigle has tasting rooms and bottle shops Downtown and at Ross Park Mall and a barrel house and whiskey garden in the city’s Spring Garden neighborhood.

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