b'P A N D E M I CW I S D O MW I T HAT W I S T Story by Trina Kleiston sale in local grocery stores when national brands aniel Kennerson, now 33, andwere zilch. Hajimihalis recalls trying to source pump Jonathan Dorfman, now 36, bothbottles: Id find some place that had some, then Id graduated from Nevada Union Highcall Jon and say, This guy has pump bottles. Hed say, School. They didnt meet until both wereOK, and Id call the guy back, and somebody else had working for a U.S. Department of Defensealready bought them.contractor based in the Loma Rica Industrial area ofThey made hand sanitizer for most of 2020. We Grass Valley. The engineer and the physicist were trying to induce nuclear fusion, but a sideline was seeking abecame one of the largest hand sanitizer We had to figure outproducers in the state, more efficient way to distill corn ethanol for jet fuel. TheDorfman says. contractor eventually shut down, but the duo acquiredWe werent the facility. While nuclear fusion remained elusive, theythinking of it in thathow to take care of those realized their ethanol refinement method could beway at that time, butaround us, then figured out applied handily as a finishing technique to drinkableas it turns out, it was alcohol, and it would pay the bills. In 2017, South Forkwe could take care of the Vodka was born. The name honors the course of theirsome of the best advertising we ever favorite childhood hiking and swimming spots.could have asked for,community, too.Katrina Hajimihalis, now 36, is another NU grad andKennerson adds.Dorfmans wife (they both had been in Mr. BaggettsAs establishments Daniel Kennersonchoir class). She designed the label with the Old Highwayreopened, the little pump bottles stood at 49 Bridge over the South Yuba River; she also heads thetables and cashier counters all over western Nevada marketing and organizes events. The team incorporatedCounty. People remembered with gratitude the label as Satellite Spirits, and they placed their liquor in storeswith the beloved local icon. We were like, yeah, we also locally and around the San Francisco Bay Area. Southmake vodka. Its super-highly rated, you should give it a Fork Vodka had won five gold and silver awards whentry some time, Kennerson chuckles.the pandemic hit in early 2020. Seven out of 10 of ourLOCAL RECOGNITIONcustomer locations were bars or restaurants, and theyMore than two years later, the team is sitting in a local were all shutting down, Kennerson recalls. saloon. A bottle of South Fork Vodka is standing on Meanwhile, panic buying and profiteering exhaustedthe table next to cocktails. A woman comes over with supplies of hand sanitizer, including for the locala smile of recognition on her face. Are you the people hospital. Amid the chaos of the daily news, the teamwho make the hand sanitizer? she says, pointing to the learned it was possible to create sanitizer from spirits bybottle. Shes a local dentist, committed to supporting following World Health Organization protocols. Theirlocal businesses, and she wants to buy more sanitizer for fearwhat are we going to do about our employees?her practice. Kennerson promises to see if they still have Kennerson recalls thinkingyielded to an idea: Weany, and he takes her business card.wondered, would we be breaking any rules if we (madeWhile hand sanitizer sales have faded, the liquor side hand sanitizer) too? Kennerson recalls. The answerof the business is gushing. South Fork Vodka keeps was, maybe, but nobodys going to be upset with you.winning gold medals. Sales have grown 70 percent since Satellite Spirits was among the first in California to get2017, Kennerson says. The company has expanded into an emergency license to make sanitizer from liquor,gina London medium-dry and an herbaceous blend Dorfman says.and is experimenting with whiskey. The team has SANITIZER FOR THE BRAVE partnered with the Truckee-Tahoe Humane Society to We just shifted gears in the span of about tworaise funds, using block-chain systems for online sales of weeks, Kennerson continues. They made their firstdigital art. Improvements are afoot at the distillery, and batch, eventually giving 4,500 gallons to Sierra Nevadathey plan to enlarge distribution in their core market Memorial Hospital for free. We started to hear thestretching from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe.same problem was happening with first responders,But Nevada County remains at the core, the senior care facilities, all sorts of places. They donatedrelationship bonded in the crucible of coming through all over town: to daycare centers, chambers ofthe pandemic together.commerce, private care-givers, postal workers and Helping the community is a good decision, package delivery companies. They packaged the stuffKennerson says.into rubber-corked vodka bottles, and cases of it went 6 Nevada County Business Focus'