LeNell Camacho Santa Ana
| Owner, LeNell’s Inc.
LeNell Camacho Santa Ana has contributed to the drinks industry as a writer, educator, entrepreneur, brand owner, and consultant. With a bachelor's degree in French and theater and a master's specialty in organizational management, she discovered at 30 that her real passion was the hospitality industry. In addition to her experience as a bartender and restaurant manager, she worked as a salesperson in both retail and wholesale sales in New York City before opening LeNell's, an eponymous wine and spirits boutique retail store in Brooklyn in 2003.
LeNell’s shop boasted one of the largest American whiskey selections in the world, including her very own label Red Hook Rye that is now one of the most sought after expensive bottles in whiskey collections the world over which is listed in Clay Risen’s “The Impossible Collection of Whiskey” book.
In 2006, The New York Department of Small Business Services gave the store "Small Business Of The Year" Award and New York Magazine selected the shop as "Best Liquor Store". LeNell's was recognized by Whisky Magazine as Global Retailer of the Year in 2008 and U. S. Retailer of the Year in 2007, 2008, and 2009.
In 2009, she relocated to Baja California Sur, Mexico where she owned and operated a whiskey haven known as Casa Cóctel, a café and bar in La Paz. She relocated to Birmingham in 2011 and purchased the J. R. Copeland mansion in the Norwood historic neighborhood where she has reopened her retail shop as LeNell’s Beverage Boutique and is working on site development plans to open The Copeland Café next door.
She has had whiskey cocktails featured on various menus in Europe and the US and led whiskey training for bar shows such as Berlin’s Bar Convent, London’s Boutique Bar Show, and New Orleans’ Tales of the Cocktail. She has taught whiskey and cheese pairing classes for Artisanal Cheese and Murray’s Cheese.
Robert Simonson’s book A Proper Drink: The Untold Story of How a Band of Bartenders Saved the Civilized Drinking World featured LeNell. Alan Dikty and Bill Owen’s gave her a nod as a player in the resurgence of American whiskey sales in their book The Art of Distilling Whiskey and Other Spirits: An Enthusiast's Guide to the Artisan Distilling of Potent Potables.
She ran the torch in the Olympics in 1996 and is an Honorary Alabama Colonel. However, her most proud lifetime accomplishment is mothering a sassy daughter.