Lower Saucon Distillery Supplies Health Care Heroes with Sanitizer

Photo caption: Kris and Drew Warner and Kristen Buczynski deliver a batch of Wardog hand sanitizer.

BETHLEHEM - Wardog Spirits, a distillery at Black River Farms Vineyard & Winery in Lower Saucon Township, has temporarily shifted its distilling of spirits to producing hand sanitizer, which is being donated to local emergency workers and healthcare personnel who are on the front lines fighting this pandemic.

Kris Warner, co-owner of the distillery, is a member of the Board of Trustees for St. Luke’s University Health Network, so it was natural that the early shipments went to various St. Luke’s facilities.

"Wardog Spirits and Black River Farms are very pleased to shift distillery production to make high alcohol hand sanitizer for our first responders and medical professionals in our community... We are all in this together,” said Warner, who owns Black River Farms along with her husband Andy. Sanitizers are packaged in three sizes – 2-ounce bottles, 4-ounce bottles and 64-ounce pump bottles that can be refilled as needed.

Inspired by the desire to help during this pandemic, Wardog Spirits converted their mash barrels over to neutral spirits, distilling at 190 proof. Their hand sanitizer is 80% alcohol, which complies with the World Health Organization’s approved hand sanitizer recipe. The alcohol is then combined with glycerin and hydrogen-peroxide, bottled and labeled. To date, over 1,000 bottles of hand sanitizer have been donated to police officers, firefighters, utility workers, emergency medical service personnel and healthcare professionals.

“We will keep one of the Wardog stills running continuously to continue to support regional healthcare heroes and those in need,” Warner added.

For more information about Wardog Spirits and Black River Farms, visit https://black-river-farms.com/.

For further inquiries about Wardog Spirits, contact Andy Warner at 610-348-1722.

###

Media Contact

David Yanoshik, Associate VP, Marketing, 484-526-2476, david.yanoshik@sluhn.org

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 34 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 263 residents and fellows. St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals. St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.