After spending seven years as a corporate lawyer on Wall Street, Jonathan Hensleigh, decided to try his luck as an action film screenwriter in Hollywood. Aaron Chepenik, aged 45, studied film in college in upstate New York. He did stretches in construction and truck driving prior to going into commercial real estate and later, the bar business in Los Angeles. Little did they know their paths would cross to co-own a successful distillery in Vegas…
These two very zigzagging roads united in Las Vegas, where the unlikely business twosome opened The Griffin on Fremont Street almost a decade ago. In another movielike plot twits, the men have taken on a new part: creators of artisinal, premium vodka and whiskey.
The Nevada H&C Distilling Co. was launched without all the hullabaloo in January. Both spirits won awards at this year’s World Spirits Competition in San Francisco: Smoke Wagon won a gold medal, and Silver Dollar, a silver.
The bottles were sensibly created to conjure up recollections of the Wild West. Smoke Wagon Bourbon is named after the Colt single-action revolver, known as the “pistol that won the West,” Hensleigh explains. The glass has raised sagebrush detailing, a nod to Nevada’s national flower.
Their Silver Dollar vodka decanter features an implanted duplication of the Morgan silver dollar, which they had to get a consent for, from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to use. According to Chepenik, it’s thought of as the ugliest piece of U.S. currency due to the unappealing representation of Lady Liberty. The original coins were created out of silver from the bountiful Comstock Lode near Carson City, which was mined in the late 1800s.
Off the trodden path
Inside the metal-sided, fluorescent-lit granary, the men sit on folding chairs, among crates, vats and apparatus. The owners like to say the distillery is a “two-man operation,” denoting themselves. The duo have established a partnership founded on shared interests and confidence in their efforts. “We’re drinkers, and we’re bar owners, and we like nightlife. It’s not for people who aren’t part of that world,” Hensleigh claims.
H&C’s products are gaining fame among those who are in that world, like Adam Carmer, owner of the Whisky Attic in Las Vegas, who said the high rye bourbon is dinstintive for its smoothness in spite of its high alcohol content. “It’s 100 proof and it drinks like it’s barely 80 proof. It’s shockingly smooth and light.”
Why Las Vegas?
Both men acknowledge the serendipitous conditions that led them to Las Vegas. Chepnik’s lucky break came when he rented space to Michael Peter Balzary, for his famed Silverlake Conservatory of Music, as well as to VICE News.
In the meantime, Hensleigh was eavesdropping on subway conversations on the way and from his company law career, retooling the discussion to practise writing scripts, which had been a long-time aspiration. After practicing law for a few years, Hensleigh took the plunge, packed up and moved to Hollywood to work as an action film screenwriter, later moving off to directing.
Back in 2003, the two met at a bar in Los Angeles called the Chalet, which Chepenik owned and Hensleigh visited often. Conversation sparked and before they knew it, they decided to open two new bars together — the Griffin in LA and its sister bar of the same name on Fremont Street in Las Vegas.
The shift from owning a bar to producing spirits sold there may seem somewhat odd to some, but Hensleigh states it’s a natural way to explore into the business in a profounder way. H&C (H for Hensleigh, C for Chepenik) started with vodka because of its relative effortlessness in manufacturing, but soon branched out into bourbon since they noticed more people ordering whiskeys at their bars.
Hensleigh provides legal services and financial insight to the flourishing company thanks to his background in law, whereas Chepenik is more involved with the design, construction and the functionality of the company.
Their partnership is built on a foundation of trust, and knowing one another’s fortes and how to put their talents to best use.
The duo have kept things relatively drama-free in their 12 years as associates. “When we do argue, nothing’s ever ego-based because we’re both self aware,” Chepenik explains. “Nothing ever escalates; everything is kind of nipped in the bud.”
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