Firefly Vodka update from The State

WADMALAW ISLAND — Scott Newitt had this dream for years: He wanted to make his own vodka.

He was doing well, working since 2000 as a general manager for a large wine and spirits company along the South Carolina coast after spending 10 years as a regional manager for Gallo wines.

But he kept coming back to this idea about making liquor. He already had the still — a 55-gallon stainless steel and copper one built for him years earlier in Cincinnati.

The location — and the timing — were perfect.

Vodka was already being made out of grapes. Why not muscadines?

Critter names were taking off on wine labels, with new, younger wine drinkers flocking to brands like Yellow Tail. So why not fireflies? (“The most magical creatures,” Newitt said.)

Microbreweries were hot, so why not market a micro-distillery like a microbrewery, growing its market through the Internet, word of mouth and college internship programs. Micro-distilleries were already up and running in places like Oregon and California.

The two were determined to give it a try. And Firefly Distillery was born.

At first, the laws governing distilleries meant they couldn’t afford to make vodka in South Carolina. So the first Firefly brands, including the company’s original muscadine wine-flavored vodka, were made in Florida.

But when they persuaded the Legislature to change the law in June 2007 (dropping the distillery manufacturer fee from $50,000 to $1,200), they had the ability to start playing around with recipes and making small batches of vodka — flavored with things like coffee — in Newitt’s old still.

Newitt still had his day job, traveling around and meeting people in the wine and spirits business. He met some folks in California who were making green tea vodka.

Things started clicking again.

“I said, ‘Jim, there’s a tea plantation right here,’ “ Newitt said of the nearby Charleston Tea Plantation.

Wadmalaw Island, smack in the middle of the S.C. Lowcountry, seemed the perfect place to blend two Southern staples — sweet tea and muscadines. Newitt figured they could take sugar from his home state of Louisiana and S.C. tea and make a vodka that Southerners are nearly genetically programmed to love.

And with Irvin’s understanding of the process used to make wine, distilling spirits was a natural next step.

In April, Firefly Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka was released.

Newitt estimated they’d be in six or seven Southern states the first year and bottle about 20,000 cases of sweet tea vodka.

“I thought it was enough to leave my full-time job and build from there,” he said.

It was more.

Again, a lot of stars were lining up in their favor.

One was an internship program they started with College of Charleston students, who would talk to bar managers, learn to be entrepreneurs and spread the word about sweet tea vodka in downtown Charleston. (That internship program grew to 36 schools this month, including nearly all SEC schools, along with universities such as Penn State, Texas and Michigan.)

The word started spreading by early summer. College students and tourists went home from the S.C. coast, having tasted the “vodka with a Southern accent.”

At the same time McDonald’s kicked off a national ad campaign, pushing its sweet iced tea all over the country. Also, green tea and its health benefits were being touted everywhere. Tea consumption has grown dramatically in the United States in the last five years.

The key to going big-time is getting a big liquor distributor. Firefly was picked up by one of the largest — Republic National.

They started spreading the word, getting into the Myrtle Beach market in the bustling months of May and June.

In August, Firefly was the hottest vodka in South Carolina. They moved into Tennessee and North Carolina that month. Firefly was in 12 states by the end of September.

And they were running out of money.

The business was growing too fast for them to keep up. They were working 24/7, bottling 300 cases a day by hand at the Wadmalaw location. (The tea no longer comes from the nearby tea plantation; the demand by Firefly was too great).

By Sept. 1, they were in a serious money crunch. They knew there were competitors out there, and they knew they wanted to be the first to market sweet tea vodka across the country to earn their place as the original.

They found a distillery to partner with Firefly (Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, Ky.; its parent company is Sazerac). The company dealt with Firefly’s financing issues and started producing the recipe for sweet tea vodka to sell around the country. (All of the sweet tea vodka sold in South Carolina is still made at Wadmalaw, however.)

The vodka is sold in 30 states now, and is expected to be in all 50 by March 1. Although the company has other brands, including Firefly Muscadine Flavored Vodka, the sweet tea vodka is the biggest seller. And this weekend the company will introduce its newest creation — a straight, unflavored vodka.

The creation of sweet tea vodka also resulted in a lawsuit filed by a former employee in October.

Richard Patrick claims he came up with the idea and created the product sold as Firefly sweet tea vodka. The owners of Firefly deny that.

“There is a fundamental disagreement over the creation of the product. That’s at the core of it,” said Patrick’s attorney, Clay McCullough of Charleston.

McCullough said he expects it will be a year to 16 months before the case is resolved.

“One thing we’ve been consistent on is we think it’s a fantastic product that will be wildly successful,” McCullough said.

Are Newitt and Irvin surprised at the success? Maybe a little. But they believed from the start they had a winner on their hands.

In the South, sweet tea has been around since 1850, so drinkers didn’t have to acquire a taste for it, Newitt said.

In other parts of the country, its link to South Carolina is part of its appeal, he said.

“It’s from the South and about the South,” he said. “And in places like New York and California, there is really this romance with the South, with things associated with the South.”

HOW VODKA IS MADE

Vodka is different from other spirits. While whiskey is made from grain and rum is made from sugar, vodka can be made from just about anything — potatoes, grains, beets, sugar, fruit and honey.

The secret is in the distillation.

At Firefly, it starts with the muscadine wine made at Irvin-House. The wine gets to 14 percent alcohol during the fermentation process.

Once the wine is ready, it goes in the still. There, through a series of temperature changes, the alcohol is captured. After that, it is mixed with sugar and tea (which is brewed and concentrated).

It then sits at least 48 hours before bottling begins.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

About Irvin-House Vineyards and Firefly Distillery

• From January through mid-March, the grapevines are pruned at Irvin-House Vineyards. Grapes grow only on new growth, so the plants must be pruned each year.

• By late July and August, the grapes are so heavy the canopy nearly hits the ground.

• The vineyard produces 100 tons of grapes a year on 11½ acres. It produces five varieties of wine, along with vodka.

• For more on Irvin-House Vineyards (including information about tours), see charleston wine.com

• For information on Firefly Distillery, see fireflyvodka.com