VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A family distillery in Holly Hill that stopped everything to help others is now feeling impacts they never expected. 

Jeremy Craig, Head Distiller at Copper Bottom Craft Distillery​ spent Friday morning packaging some special limited edition rum. It’s a lot different from what he was doing exactly a year ago. 

“Last year we were knee deep in hand sanitizer,” said Craig. 

Last March the Craig's switched from using their alcohol to make spirits to instead using it to make hand sanitizer, giving it away for free. 

“We didn’t really consider the impact of shutting down the business, it was just pivoting to see if we could produce something that would help the community,” said Jenni Craig, Jeremy's wife, who handles marketing for the distillery.

While they thought they’d only do it for a few days until the stores restocked, they ended up making the sanitizer through December. 

“It would be hours before we were opening and yet the line was formed around the building,” said Jenni Craig. 

They invested much of their own money to give away 5,000 gallons of the stuff, risking losing their business just to be able to help out.

“We had it to go some really interesting places, I mean, the Secret Service came and got some, there was actually 50 gallons that went to an aircraft carrier that was off the coast of Florida that ran out of hand sanitizer,” said Jeremy Craig.

While they made it through and have since switched back to making the hard stuff,  they are now feeling some unexpected impacts.

“I get daily lots of people saying yeah I am local but I found you through the hand sanitizer," he said. 

Those that benefited from their hand sanitizer and now coming back, this time to buy liquor.

That is sending the distillery's once hurting bottom line surging to record highs, which It's puts them in a spot now that they never could have dreamed of a year ago

“I think the feeling by businesses is that people quickly forget and inn this case they have not forgotten and they have been here for us and helped our business continue to grow," said Jenni Craig.  "The community rallied especially when we didn’t have tourism over the past year but we have continued to come out and support us and our family and our family dream”

The business is now doing so well, they’ve now even been selected to be the official rum of Jeep Beach weekend, which is coming up in April in Daytona Beach.