Family-Owned Distillery in Frederick Helps Fight COVID-19

Frederick, Md. — The family-owned distillery led by father-daughter team Angel Rivera and Crystal Rivera was supposed to have launched the soft-opening of their high-quality artisanal Puerto Rican diaspora rum called Clandestino in late March, followed by the official grand opening of Puerto Rico Distillery (PRD) in Frederick, MD early in April.

But since mid-March, when the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak reached Maryland, this startup distillery moved their production from rum to hand sanitizer to do their part in helping the community.

“We were supposed to do a soft-opening in March-April and official opening in April. We have been producing rum since March. When all this began, we moved the production from rum to hand sanitizer.”

The first batch of hand sanitizer came out last week and quickly sold out. They are now taking pre-orders online for the second batch of hand sanitizer and are limiting to two 12-ounce bottles per customer on a first-come, first-serve basis. A limited amount of one-gallon bottles is available for purchase to first responders and non-profit organizations. They are also selling their high-quality signature rum Clandestino online. Currently, they have curbside pick-up and delivery on Saturdays within a 30-mile radius from the distillery.