Affligem makes disinfecting hand gel with beer and cider

The Affligem brewery in Opwijk, Flemish Brabant – makers of fine doubles and triples – have a new elixir to be proud of: disinfecting hand gel. Guess what they made it with?

Affligem brewers handed over 5,500 bottles of gel today to the Opwijk city council. They made it with distilled alcohol from their own beer.

“We have the technology to distil alcohol from our own beers and ciders,” Sebastiaan de Meester of parent company Alken-Maes told VRT. “When the corona crisis broke, we started thinking of ways that we could use our alcohol to help.”

Aside from wanting to make their products useful in a health crisis, the brewery is – let’s be honest – selling a lot less beer. Restaurants and bars have been closed since 14 March.

While the alcohol is being provided by Affligem, the gel is being made by a pharmaceutical company to ensure that it conforms to health and safety standards. A total of 100,000 bottles are being handed out in Belgium, mostly to hospitals and city authorities.

Photo: Bert Thewissen of the Affligem brewery gives 5,500 bottles of hand gel to the mayor of Opwijk, the appropriately named Albert Beerens
©Courtesy VRT