OTTAWA -- An Ottawa micro distillery has shifted production from hand crafted spirits to hand sanitizer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

North of 7 Distillery on St. Laurent Boulevard is now producing 500 bottles of hand sanitizer a day.

“There is a huge demand that outstrips all supply,” says Greg Lipin of North of 7 Distillery in an email to CTV News Ottawa.

“We have been selling to construction companies, nurses, retirement homes, first responders. They need it to do their jobs safely and we will help them in any way we will.”

North of 7 Distillery plans to spend the next few months producing hand sanitizer 16 hours a day. They can produce about five hundred 500-milliliter bottles each day.

“We follow the WHO formulation number 1 – which is 80 per cent alcohol, glycerin to slow the evaporation process and hydrogen peroxide to kill spores in the bottle,” said Lipin.

“We manufacture 95 per cent ethanol so we were able to start manufacturing sanitizer very quickly.”

Lipin says hand sanitizer is being sold at an industrial rate to construction companies, retirement homes and frontline workers, just to cover the cost of producing the product.

North of 7 Distillery is selling hand sanitizer for $12 per bottle to the public. You can drop by the North of 7 Distillery on St. Laurent Boulevard between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily to purchase bottles of hand sanitizer.