Sikeston distillery begins manufacturing hand sanitizer

Friday, April 17, 2020

By Alex Wallner ~ Standard Democrat

Food Giant assistant general manager Justin Blanchfield holds a bottle of Hex hand sanitizer, on Friday, April 17, 2020. (Alex Wallner/Standard Democrat)

SIKESTON — A worldwide pandemic causes many people to rethink their way of living.

Since the coronavirus, COVID-19, caught Americans by surprise in mid-March, hygiene and staying healthy has been at the forefront of everyone’s mind.

Locally, one distillery is manufacturing hand sanitizer to ease the worries, in hopes to try and reduce the number of people affected.

Sugarmill Distillery in Sikeston is now producing Hex hand sanitizer

Submitted photo

Sugarmill Distillery produces Hex hand sanitizer, a product that is not the standard traditional gel that most people are accustomed to using.

Nearly one decade ago, Sugarmill Distillery came into existence, spearheaded by Matt Heckemeyer — a fourth-generation farmer — along with his father Tony and brothers Joe and Andrew.

“Matt started Sugarmill with sorghum syrup and vinegar,” real estate agent and sister Holly Heckemeyer said. “It has grown to include vodka, whiskey, and now hand sanitizer.”

After retiring from the Navy, Matt returned to Sikeston to help start-up this new venture.

Heading into this year, Holly Heckemeyer said that Matt was bound for big things — which did not include hand sanitizer.

“When COVID-19 hit the U.S. along with all the shortages, our customers started calling,” Matt Heckemeyer said. “They asked what we could do to help fill the gaps that traditional sources were left out. We went to work to get a product online quickly to do our part in the crisis.”

Demand was needed and needed quickly.

However, with a limited number of exported goods available, Sugarmill Distillery was in a bind from selling its product.

“The demand has increased,” Holly Heckemeyer said. “Many of the U.S. manufacturers were not prepared for this kind of overnight demand. Unfortunately, most of the ingredients, the bottles, it’s all out-sourced from overseas, and with those countries being shut down, plastic bottles have been a tough obstacle because all of those are produced overseas.

“I’ve talked to multiple distributors and packaging suppliers, and it’s 6-10 weeks to get the boat from China. There are items on the water now, but it’s going to take some time to get here. Everything on the water now is spoken for, so it’s going to take months of constant supply for us to catch up.”