The Gower Gin Company is following World Health Organisation guidelines to create a product called Glan, meaning clean, which is made up of ethanol, glycerol, hydrogen peroxide and water.

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Company co-founder Andrew Brooks said “We completely transformed our business in a weekend.”

The company has hydrometers on site which measure the alcohol content of its gin and now are used in the production of Glan.

Andrew said “That is our guarantee of accuracy.”

He said orders in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak have soared to such an extent that he, his wife Sian, and their children Owain and Carys are working fat out at their home distillery in Port Eynon.

WalesOnline reports they aim to supply their sanitiser, which helps combat the spread of the virus, to large organisations in bulk. From there it can be distributed in bottles more effectively.

Andrew said “In the last 10 days we have supplied nurses, GPs, hospitals including Singleton, Morriston and Glangwili, care homes and homeless charities.

“We’ve also supplied the 60 new childcare centres in Swansea [for key workers] – they had the sanitiser in gin bottles!”

There have been regulatory processes to overcome, and Andrew said Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi had lobbied on the company’s behalf.

He said there was still a major shortage of hand sanitiser, and that the distillery had received a thousand orders in less than twenty four hours after it first advertised the product.

He reckoned his family could produce up to three thousand litres of Glan per week.

He said “We can’t supply everybody though.

“It’s really emotional. We get people phoning and emailing us with incredibly heart-breaking stories – key workers who can’t get hold of any sanitiser, parents who have children with cancer, people with parents who have dementia.

“Time is of the essence here.”

Andrew said the income from commercial clients and individuals who could afford it was enabling the company to donate Glan to key frontline services.

Some gin is still being bought by customers online.

Sian Brooks, who came up with the sanitiser idea after seeing that Scottish distilleries were already doing it, said “We have been overwhelmed with orders and, in all honesty, it has been quite emotional as people’s reactions have been so positive and supportive.”

Gower councillor Richard Lewis has given £500 of his community budget, money received by all Swansea councillors for local good causes and projects, to the Gower Gin Company.

He’s set up a thirty strong volunteer group with his daughter Francesca to help people who are struggling with the coronavirus restrictions, and praised the distillery’s efforts.

He said “This is fantastic community spirit and brilliant how local businesses have diversified to the current crisis.”