This is a story about beer, distilling, and the coronavirus.  More accurately, it’s about how Plymouth’s Dirty Water Distillery, teamed up with local brewers to make (yet another) good use of beer and address a critical need during a time full of uncertainty.

Studies have shown that alcohol-based hand sanitizers are a pretty good way to help control the spread of infectious diseases. During the Covid-19 pandemic, governments and health organizations promoted “hand hygiene” as an effective preventative tactic. Ethanol is a particularly good killer of viruses such as Covid. And ethanol, by virtue of fermentation, is the alcohol we consume when we drink a 7 percent ABV double IPA (or any other beverage under the purview of the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission). Sadly, however, drinking a double IPA will not cure you of the virus. The alcohol works on contact only and, even then, only in high concentrations.

The pandemic – especially in its early stages – took a toll on the brewing industry. Beer that had been canned sat on shelves awaiting distribution to retailers.  The alcohol that the beer contained was lost when the brew became too old to sell and was thrown out.

Beer itself is not much of a disinfectant. The alcohol content is too low and, as anyone who has ever stepped foot in a dive bar can attest, it becomes a sticky, stinking goo upon drying. But there is a way to extract the ethanol in beer into a purer form: distilling. The distillation of fermented grains is how alcoholic spirits, such as vodka and whisky, are produced. Commercial distillation can extract alcohol that is up to 95 percent pure (190 proof Everclear anyone?), more than sufficient for an effective hand sanitizer.  

Pepi Avizonis understands both the frustration of disposing of brew and the process of distilling ethanol from fermented grain. He holds a PhD in physics and is one of four partners in an engineering consulting business in San Diego. But he lives on the South Shore and keeps himself otherwise busy as the owner of Dirty Water Distillery and its subsidiary, Llama Nama Beer Labs, both at Cordage Park. In 2020, when Dirty Water and Llama Nama were located at 10 Water St, Avizonis came up empty on a local search for cleaning products for the distillery.  He also noticed a severe shortage of hand sanitizers on the shelves of local stores. One thing led to another, including the identification of a recipe from the World Health Organization, and the idea of producing its own hand sanitizer became a reality at Dirty Water. The other ingredients for making a hand sanitizing gel were readily available – glycerol and hydrogen peroxide. 

After a few trials, Dirty Water found it could produce an acceptable sanitizer. The company used its “knowledge of brewing to help produce more ethanol using several beer recipes that we short-circuited to generate more alcohol at lower cost,” Avizonis said in a recent interview.

Dirty Water and Llama Nama began their community service slowly, dispensing free two-ounce bottles at the Water Street. Avizonis reached out to Plymouth’s other brewers at the time, IndieFerm, Mayflower, and Second Wind, and found that their aging beer inventory situations were similar to that of Llama Nama’s.

Word of the conversion of the distillery from spirits to hand sanitizer production spread and other small batch distillers replicated the process. But Dirty Water was the first in Massachusetts to do it, and brewers from as far away as Nightshift Brewing in Everett were soon sending outdated beer to Plymouth.

Dirty Water produced so much hand sanitizer that Avizonis started to give it away beyond its Water Street site. With the help of Paul Sullivan, then the public face of Sullivan Tire, it began to distribute sanitizer first to the Town of Plymouth’s fire and police stations and then stations across Plymouth County.  Avizonis was happy to see the product put to good use.

“Anyone who asked for it was given sanitizer for free,” he said.

Recipients included hospitals, retirement homes, the IRS, and the USPS. He estimates that Dirty Water produced and distributed more 2,000 gallons of the sanitizer over the course of the pandemic. 

Eventually, hand sanitizer production scaled down at Dirty Water as it became more readily available at retail locations. And as the public health crisis abated, Dirty Water switched back to producing spirits for drinking.

That might have been the end of Dirty Water’s experiment. But brewers continue to have beers that, for one reason or another, they cannot sell.  And while less frequent than during the pandemic, Plymouth’s brewers occasionally still have beers they might have to destroy.  

Dirty Water continues to make good use of those expired cans. It now distills an alcoholic beverage using much the same process as it did in making hand sanitizer (without, of course, the glycerol or hydrogen peroxide). The hops in the beer add a slight aromatic flavor.

Dirty Water is forced label this concoction “spirits distilled from grain and distilled with hops.”

“Very catchy,” said Avizonis.

The clunky name is needed because the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is very particular as to what constitutes “whiskey,” and the hops in the beer prohibit the use of that label on this new beverage. 

But in honor of its origins, Dirty Water continues to refer to the making of these spirits as its “Corona Project.”

So, if you want to try what is otherwise whiskey distilled from local beer, you can stop by the Dirty Water and Llama Nama location at Cordage Park. Spirits currently available include those derived from Second Wind and Mayflower beer.

Hans Tarbush, one of Second Wind’s owners, has tried Corona Project spirits distilled from Second Wind’s Abundance of Cushions double IPA.

“I was surprised at how good it tastes,” he said.

Llama Nama Beer Labs and the Dirty Water Distillery are located at 49 Cordage Park Circle (Bay 2); in the back of the park, next to the old railroad tracks. Llama Nama beers are served exclusively on-tap at that location, although to-go can are coming soon.  Its Spruce Tip Pale Ale is a standard favorite and is accompanied Hefeweizen, light lager, kolsch, and red ale styles. Also on rotation are hazy IPAs, an ESB (English style “Extra Special Bitter”), and hefeweizen.

Dirty Water Distillery also produces a variety of flavored vodkas, gin, and the occasional whiskey. 

Paul Boyd, a Plymouth resident, is a retired professor and faculty director of the MBA program at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. His research has focused on growth and success in the craft beer industry.

Credit: (Paul Boyd photograph)
Share this story

We believe that journalism as a public service should be free to the community.
That’s why the support of donors like you is critical.


Thank you to our sponsors. Become a sponsor.