Local distilleries billed thousands for making hand sanitizer, but feds reverse course

Local distilleries stepped up in a big way at the start of the pandemic by making sanitizer instead of spirits.

Instead of thanks, they recently received huge fees from federal officials, saying they did not have approval to do so.

However, some federal officials have recently said that the fine is ridiculous and that companies like Heritage Distilling Company will not have to pay.

The owner of Heritage was shocked that the Food and Drug Administration even brought it up.

“It made no sense; it made no sense,” said Justin Stiefel, the owner of Heritage.

It is not enough that 2020 threw curveballs, but it is the idea that distillers were even told they must pay a fee for making hand sanitizer.

“Thought this was a good idea... 48 hours’ notice at the end of the year to call the distilleries and say, ‘Give us $14,000 or we’re going to shut you down.’ What is going on?” said Stiefel.

When the CARES Act was revised, the FDA said distilleries making sanitizer needed to be reclassified as over-the-counter drug monograph facilities, a title that could only come with a $14,000 fee.

“That $14,000 fee for many distilleries is more money than they made producing and selling the sanitizer,” Stiefel said.

Heritage is one of the hundreds of distilleries that stepped up when hand sanitizer was in high demand, and they did not just make it to sell, but gave it away to people in need.

“We had to go through a lot of steps to get the permission,” said Stiefel.

On Thursday evening, some good news was announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It directed the FDA to stop making distilleries pay what it called an arbitrary user fee.

Stiefel was relieved by the reversal, especially since he said most companies were just trying to help.

“None of us ever thought we’d be making hand sanitizer,” Stiefel said.

HHS added that many small businesses stepped up to fight COVID-19 and they needed to be applauded, not taxed for doing so.

Cox Media Group