Customers at the Griffin might soon be able to order cocktails crafted with spirits made down the street. Nevada H&C Distilling Company, owned by Griffin co-founders Jonathan Hensleigh and Aaron Chepenik, has been quietly distilling over the past couple of months—and Chepenik says bottles of its Silver Dollar Vodka could be released as early as this month.
Last week, H&C got City Council approval to purchase more than three acres adjacent to its current Mesquite Avenue operation. It adds 19,000 square feet to the footprint and is expected to create dozens of new jobs. Economic & Urban Development Director Bill Arent said in a news release that H&C’s expansion will contribute to the area’s synergy and revitalization. Chepenik agrees. “We already have a symbiotic relationship with Tenaya Creek,” he says of the nearby brewery. “They’re looking at buying some of our old barrels to do a barrel-aged beer.”
That dynamic echoes Las Vegas Distillery partnering on barrel-aged beers with neighboring brewery CraftHaus in Henderson’s Artisan Booze District, a specialty corridor enabled by state legislation. We can only hope that the change to city code that allowed H&C’s operation will draw other players to give the urban core its own boozy ’hood.
