Obstacles Worth the Wait as Veteran Owned Business Opens Doors
Like many business plans drawn up on the back of a bar napkin, the road to success is a long and winding one. As was the case for brothers Aaron and Chase Lesher. What started as a simple idea – buy some equipment, fill out some paperwork and start serving drinks – proved anything but easy. Two and a half years after acquiring a location in the Asher Building at the corner of 15th Street and Thomes, Chronicles Distilling opened their doors to the public last Friday.
Aaron and Chase both served in the Marines and have held other jobs in the public sector. But after helping a friend start a distillery in their home state of Nebraska, they felt the desire to give it a shot starting their own distillery. They hand-forged their entire distilling system, a decision Chase says saved them thousands of dollars in the start-up cost of their dream.
“Almost everything is handmade. I’m a machinist by trade and a friend of mine is a welder,” said Chase Lesher, co-owner of Chornicles Distilling. “We built the distilling system ourselves, down to the hand-rolled copper. All the chairs, the tables, the bar, we made everything ourselves.”
The two and a half year wait for permitting and licensing allowed the brothers time to refurbish the space they are in and experiment with different recipies. The two floors they occupy in the Asher Building, built in 1914, required lots of work to unveil the original brick, the hardwood floor and the exposed wood beams. Layer upon layer of plaster was removed from the walls and carpet was removed from the floors. The brick on the main level was damanged so much that it all had to be regrouted.
With a goal of opening in time for Frontier Days this year, the brothers settled on four unique recipies for their launch: Biting Wind corn vodka, Tart Lemon lemonade vodka, Spit Shine corn whiskey and Berry & Barb strawberry rhubarb whiskey. The brothers have plans to introduce more flavors in the near future including a bacon vodka and a watermelon & habanero vodka.
Chronicles Distillery will be open from 9:00am to 10:00pm during Cheyenne Frontier Days. After CFD, they will be open from Wednesday through Sunday, with plans for distillery tours and an expanded menue of craft cocktails along with package sales of their products and merchandise. Future plans include distribution to liquor stores in the region.
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