CULLMAN, Ala. – Back in May, The Tribune caught up with Gary “Sarge” Sargeant, owner of Hawg Engineering, as he was in Arizona assisting SynCardia Systems, LLC, the only producers of Total Artificial Hearts in the world, with production of FDA-approved hand sanitizer. The company needed help setting up a distillery and called Sarge, who set out with a 120-gallon copper still to lend his knowledge in the distillery process.
Sarge is now back home with plans to open up a distillery here in Cullman. He will produce the high-quality hand sanitizer under his new LLC, Wolf Creek Sanitizer. He said on the company’s website, “The combination of decades old-world moonshining and state-of-the-art medical manufacturing provides you with the peace of mind that our products perform at the highest level of safety and will continue to do so day in and day out.”
Sarge plans to convert an existing building, in front of Hawg Engineering, into a distillery capable of producing at least 400 gallons of hand sanitizer a day.
“We are looking at right now, the first still delivery, the 15th of July,” he said. “We will be hiring, prior to that, just because we have capital upgrade; there will be electricians and plumbers. I’ve already got one distiller I don’t have to train. He already knows how to make alcohol. We will be hiring and training people as we increase capacity.”
Wolf Creek hopes to employ at least 20 people from July to September.
Sarge said he hopes to bring other knowledge he gained from SynCardia to his own business.
“Their people believed so much in their core mission, manufacturing artificial hearts, that’s why they are there,” he said. “That’s a mission in their life and they’re helping. So is sanitizer, I mean, I don’t need this to be an 8-5 paycheck for somebody. I want them here because they have a feeling of community and contributing to this calling. You are helping the country out. You are part of the solution and not the problem.”
He continued, “What we are going to be doing, making sanitizer and making the alcohol, it’s not easy and takes patience. Versus making drinking liquor, your results are not nearly as productive. If you are making drinking liquor with the same amount of effort and the same amount of cost, I can make three times the product and sell it for twice as much. There’s a lot of effort for a limited production, but in my opinion, there’s a higher reward because of what we are trying to do. We are trying to help.”
Sarge said Wolf Creek Sanitizer was approved last week to have “Approved by the FDA” on its labels. Bottling of Wolf Creek orders will soon begin in Arizona, but Sarge is excited to bring the manufacturing and packaging to Cullman County.
“Our quality controls and processes, I mean SynCardia, they are sharing everything with me,” he said.
SynCardia also plans to send a representative quarterly to audit processes and procedures to make sure the highest quality hand sanitizer is being produced.
The hand sanitizer can be ordered online, for now, but Sarge will use his existing business as a retail location for the Wolf Creek products to be purchased beginning June 26.
Visit www.wolfcreekusa.com to learn more.
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