Panaji, Mar 19 (IANS): One really can't do without a beer in Goa, it seems. In times of COVID-19, it is a Goa-based beer brewing company which could help ease the panic triggered by the ongoing hand sanitiser shortage in the state.

Goa Brewing Co., a two-year-old beer manufacturer, has begun offering hand sanitiser refills free of cost to people, to tide over the crisis.

Speaking to IANS, Ashtavinayak Paradh, chief brewer at the Sangolda-based brewery said, that the hand-sanitiser refill was essentially isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol, which contains 70 per cent alcohol, and serves the same purpose -- maintaining hygiene -- as a hand sanitiser liquid.

"We are offering it free of charge to people because of the coronavirus pandemic. All that needs to be done is, approach us with an empty bottle or a container and we will refill it," Paradh said.

The chief brewer said that 'rubbing alcohol' is just one of the many chemicals which is used to maintain hygiene at the brewery and sparing some in times of the crisis for people at large was in sync with the company's social outreach code.

Goa Brewing Co. manufactures several beers, which include Breakfast Cereal Stout, Saint & Sinner and their flagship Eight Finger Eddie, a beer named after one of Goa's earliest hippies.