Small businesses around the country are showing signs of resilience and innovation, as they always do in the face of adversity. When they are able to combine their strength and ideas with a community-driven mission, special things happen.
Boundary Oak Distillery is located in the heart of Kentucky, in the small town of Radcliff in the shadow of the US gold bullion repository at Fort Knox. Like other distilleries around the country Boundary Oak has joined the strategic supply chain for providing hand sanitizer to first responders and communities in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.
Owner Brent Goodin and the Boundary Oak team, known for their small batch bourbon, American whiskey, amber, and moonshine, have retooled production away from their beloved spirits to meet nationwide demand for hand sanitizer, which includes some of the same ingredients as their normal products.
Goodin’s recipe, taken from World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control guidelines, combines alcohol, water, hydrogen peroxide, and glycerol. The additive glycerol contains both antimicrobial and antiviral properties. Part of the family business, his youngest son, Thomas, compounds the ingredients to form the base product, as Boundary Oak is using spray bottles, donated from the surrounding community, as containers for its hand sanitizer.
After confirming that they could, indeed, produce the hand sanitizer after inquiries from local medical professionals, Goodin and the Kentucky Distillers Association reached out to Senator Mitch McConnell, along with officials in the US Department of Treasury and the Food and Drug Administration. In late March, Boundary Oak was given temporary authorization and emergency licensure to retool its operations and produce the much-needed sanitizer.
Once labeled, each bottle is shipped to first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight. In additions to EMS technicians, hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes across Kentucky should see Boundary Oak product over the next several weeks.
Celero is proud to serve Goodin and the team at Boundary Oak Distillery through a payment processing partnership between Elmhurst Financial and The Cecilian Bank, headquartered in nearby Cecilia. Founded in 1903, The Cecilian Bank is Kentucky’s 16th largest bank, with more than 200 employees providing a variety of banking services from 19 branch offices in seven counties of the commonwealth.
Please join us in saluting the Goodin family and team at Boundary Oak Distillery, a great example of the enduring spirit of American business.