MAY 7 • 2020 | 17

Traverse City Whiskey turns from 
booze to hand sanitizer to meet 
community’
s needs.

SAM BLAKE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

O

n March 16, when Gov. 
Gretchen Whitmer 
ordered all Michigan 
bars and restaurants to close 
temporarily, Traverse City 
Whiskey Co. was the largest 
whiskey company in the state by 
output and sales, according to 
co-founder Jared Rapp, and one 
of the largest craft distilleries in 
the country. 
Since then? 
“You can’
t believe what’
s 
happened,
” Rapp said. “We are 
taking e-commerce orders in a 
way that we never thought was 
possible.
” 
But TC Whiskey isn’
t ship-
ping any whiskey, brandy or 
cocktail cherries. The Traverse 
City-based distillery hasn’
t even 
made a bottle of booze in five 
weeks. 
Instead, the typically small-
batch operation is producing 
and shipping massive quantities 
— as much as 10,000 gallons a 
week — of hand sanitizer. 
Rapp, who grew up in 
Bloomfield Township and had 
his bar mitzvah at Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, 
founded TC Whiskey with Moti 
Goldring and Chris Fredrickson 
in 2011. Their products, many 
of which are kosher, are now 
sold in bars and retailers across 
the country. In Michigan alone, 
Traverse City Whiskey has 
around 4,000 retail partners. 
In 2019, the company 
opened a Ferndale location on 

Woodward Avenue — its first 
outside of Traverse City — 
called The Outpost. Rapp was 
headed there when he heard 
about the governor’
s executive 
order. By 3 p.m. that day, the 
Outpost’
s general manager Jeri 
Seeley had locked the door.
“It was surreal,
” Rapp 
recalled. 
For a week, Rapp and his 
team desperately sought clar-
ity. With bars and restaurants 
closed indefinitely, about a third 
of their income had suddenly 
vanished. And social distancing 
rendered TC’
s tasting rooms, 
tours and events inactive. “We 
were just totally freaked out,
” 
Rapp said. 
Customers called to ask about 
previously scheduled events, 
and TC didn’
t know what to 
tell them. Meanwhile, the ded-
icated staff of about 50 was left 
wondering whether they’
d have 
paychecks coming. 
Leadership ensured employ-
ees they wouldn’
t lose their jobs. 
Having heard about hand san-
itizer shortages, the company 
figured it could use its on-hand 
“tails” (the alcoholic leftovers 
from distillation, “only good for 
things like vodka and sanitizer,
” 
said Rapp) to help out and keep 
employees on payroll. 
On March 21, TC posted 
a Facebook message: “TC 
Whiskey Hand Sanitizer is 
now available.
” It included 
a link to make a purchase, 

Changing on the Fly

COURTESY OF TRAVERSE CITY WHISKEY

continued on page 18