With a warehouse full of beer slated for a canceled World Beer Cup® competition, the Brewers Association had a dilemma—what to do with the beer. With social distancing measures and distribution laws in place, returning shipments infeasible, and inability to refrigerate the entries long-term, the options were limited.

Beer from approximately 2,700 domestic breweries had arrived at the Colorado warehouse. Most international entries had been stopped at the global consolidation points and had not yet made their way to North America.

The Brewers Association endeavored to make good out of poor circumstances and is grateful to partner with two Denver-based distillers, Denver Distillery and Ballmer Peak Distillery, who are making hand sanitizer and distributing to first responders.

On Monday, a handful of Brewers Association staff and volunteers, led by BA executive chef Adam Dulye, began emptying thousands of cans and bottles of competition beer into 275 gallon totes and delivered the first batch of 1,500 gallons to the distilleries.

Following the World Health Organization guidelines for making hand sanitizer, we estimate that the first batch of 175 gallons will be made and donated next week.

The merry “sanitation team” will continue the process on a part time basis for the next few weeks, or as long as the distilleries are able to use the beer to make sanitizer.  A final update will be provided when the project is concluded.

Thank you to all the breweries whose entries are making a small but significant contribution to providing much needed hand sanitizer for the women and men on the front lines of this pandemic.

Update, April 13, 2020: Labeled and ready for distribution!