MINNEAPOLIS — DuNord Craft Spirits was closed on New Year's Day, but there was plenty of drama to close the year.
"I think the first thing out of my mouth was, '2020 is not done with us,'" said Chris Montana, owner of DuNord in Minneapolis.
Montana says he and other owners thought they were being scammed earlier in the week, after getting an alert from the FDA, saying that anyone who produced hand sanitizer during the pandemic, owed a registration fee totaling $14,060.
"We were put into a bucket along with other large drug companies," Montana said. "Everyone in that bucket pays a fee, and no one had thought that we should be exempt, but $14,000 to a small distillers, who get most of their money from cocktail rooms that have been shut down, is massive."
Especially for DuNord, which had to overcame an arson, during the unrest in Minneapolis this summer, shortly after sanitizer production had begun.
"We were just trying to step up to fill the need," he said. "And then it turned into something that ended up saving our distillery. It would have gone out of business, but for the hand sanitizer sales."
And though sanitizer sales only lasted a couple of months; DuNord, Tattersall and Brother Justus distilleries are still making, and donating, sanitizer for child care providers throughout the area. Because the production continues, Montana says it led to the potential of a second fee for 2021, unless they withdrew their FDA registration.
"If we withdraw, then we can't legally produce for them anymore," he said. "They can't afford this stuff. The demand has continued to go up, not down, for them. What are they supposed to do?"
Fortunately, just hours before the midnight deadline, the Department of Health & Human Services stepped in at the urging of the American Craft Spirits Association. HHS told the FDA to withdraw the fees.
"Small businesses who stepped up to fight COVID-19 should be applauded by their government, not taxed for doing so," HHS Chief of Staff, Brian Harrison, wrote in a Tweet.
"Right now, it looks like we're going to be fine and we're not going to get that fee," Montana said. "But you kind of have to believe it when you see it. There's a lot going on in Washington these days, so we're cautiously optimistic."
Though, the there is little doubt about the 2020 fee, Montana says there is still some question about what will happen with the 2021 fee.