Tucked along the Vancouver Island coastline just south of Campbell River, the 380-acre farm is blessed with the key ingredients for exceptional hand-crafted spirits: fertile barley-growing fields, an underground aquifer providing naturally filtered water, and crisp sea air.

Here, skilled artisans use traditional Scottish distilling methods to craft those ingredients into .

But when was urgently needed to combat the spread of COVID-19? That same know-how began doing so much more.

鈥淟ike a lot of others in our industry, when COVID-19 started, we wanted to help address the immediate need 鈥� creating the sanitizer and shipping free to those who needed it, including 2,000 litres to Vancouver General Hospital,鈥� explains distillery owner Patrick Evans.

Ramping up volume to produce the sanitizer in the most cost-effective way, today Shelter Point has distributed more than 100,000 litres. 鈥淎fter donating several thousand litres of sanitizer initially, it was really important that we provide the product at a fair price, possible by producing on a larger scale,鈥� Evans says.

鈥淎nd our formula doesn鈥檛 add a foaming agent or thickening gel so it doesn鈥檛 dry your hands out. We studied the formula according to the World Health Organization, then used a charcoal filtering process to make it as pure as possible.鈥�

Making a difference a little differently

While other distillers are bottling individual sizes, focusing on larger-size products lets serve organizations like the RCMP, Department of National Defence, Fraser Health Authority, and school districts. For individual bottles, they鈥檝e partnered with Purica in Cowichan Valley.

鈥淚t just took off and now we鈥檝e shipped across Canada,鈥� Evans says. 鈥淲e were working full-on to ensure we didn鈥檛 have to tell people we were sold out.鈥�

Today, a dedicated sanitizer production area is separate from whisky production, with additional employees to accommodate production.

As awareness grows 鈥� and with it the distillery鈥檚 capacity to produce more 鈥� they鈥檙e also now distributing to retailers. 鈥淲e started just wanting to be part of the solution, but we鈥檝e had such a strong demand, this is a long term product for us,鈥� Evans says.

To learn more, visit , and to support the local community, discounts on sanitizer are available for those paying at the distillery, .