From backwoods moonshine to modern-day distillates harnessing the flavors of heritage crops, South Carolina’s spirits—and the craft cocktails they create—have a storied past.
American vintners have made wine from America’s native grape, the muscadine, for hundreds of years; after the Civil War, formerly enslaved Africans gathered the sweet clusters, made wine and sold it throughout the state. Today, Long Creek’s Chattooga Belle Farm expands that longstanding tradition by transforming their annual crop into high-octane moonshine, aged brandy and even vodka.
Utilizing a near-extinct corn variety is just part of the interesting backstory of High Wire Distillery in Charleston. For their flavorful Jimmy Red Bourbon, the distillers use Jimmy Red corn, a blood-red heirloom variety once cherished by bootleggers and brought back from oblivion by South Carolina farmer and seed-saver Ted Chewning.
Meanwhile, Palmetto Distillery in Anderson uses an old family recipe to craft its corn- and sugar cane-based moonshines. Tea is South Carolina’s Official Hospitality Beverage and it’s easy to see why: Not only has it been grown in the state since the mid- 1700s, but Summerville is considered the birthplace of sweet tea. In North Charleston, Firefly Distillery was the first to infuse vodka with locally grown black tea (and sugar) to create all-too-easy-to-drink sweet tea vodka.
