Sweet tea vodka is a big hit

This time, the tea leaves foretell a winner, or at least a potential one.

Scott Newitt and Jim Irvin are partners in creating flavored vodkas with a Southern twang. Their latest venture is Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka, a 70-proof liquor crafted with real tea, Louisiana cane sugar and their original, muscadine-infused Firefly Premium Vodka. The vodka is being distilled on Wadmalaw Island at Irvin-House Vineyards, which also produces muscadine wines.

Introduced April 20, Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is seemingly flying off the shelves.

"I call it a home run with the bases loaded," says Debbie Marlowe, owner of the Marina ABC store off Lockwood Drive. The liquor store is moving five to seven cases a week.

"We just look at each other and shake our heads. We've never seen anything like it," Marlowe says.

"It's a sensation," agrees Sheila Wagner of Morrill's Liquors on Johns Island. She thinks that tourists, eager to take home a taste of the Lowcountry, are driving sales at her store.

John Aquino, bar manager at Coast Bar & Grill, reports a similar phenomenon. "We're blowing it out; it's selling like crazy."

"Over the rocks with water and lemon, it tastes just like sweet tea," says bar manager Gerhardt Schnibben at Wasabi.

In other words, Sweet Tea Vodka is going down as easy as summertime.

Schnibben says it's selling as well or better than the cult favorite Jagermeister or any of the other flavored vodkas at Wasabi. And unlike Long Island Iced Tea, which contains no real tea, "the flavor is in one bottle — you don't have to mix four things."

Aquino expects it to become a signature drink of the area. "Because it's so local, it might take awhile, but it's totally unique. It's a great idea, it's very unique and very tasty."

Newitt and Irvin are a little bit in shock. They're putting in 12-hour days to keep up with demand, and they're still falling short.

Sweet Tea was the top-selling flavored vodka in South Carolina in May and June, according to Newitt. "We're selling about 1,200 cases a week, and we're out of stock all the time."

"I'm still nervous," says Irvin. "It (the bubble) could burst any second."

The already-stiff competition is getting stiffer, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Industry statistics show the number of flavored vodkas in the U.S. market rose from about 225 in 2003 to 350 last year. They command 14 percent of all vodka sales today, almost double that of 2000.

Sweet Tea Vodka is available only in South Carolina at present, but changes are in the works. The partners plan to ramp up production to 2,000 cases a week and distribute the vodka to 10 Southern states by year's end and 39 states within 12 months. Newitt says it's a matter of setting up distributors, brokers and marketing.

They will have to use a distillery in Florida as well as expand the Wadmalaw facility by 600 square feet to accommodate the growth. Newitt says their goal is to get all production moved into South Carolina over time.

If Sweet Tea's success continues, Newitt expects to be seeing knockoffs as early as January. He wants Firefly's tea vodka to go "as far as possible as fast as possible" so the brand will be first in every market. He believes there's a greater chance of Sweet Tea's long-term success if it establishes itself as the "original."

"We're in a race," he acknowledges.

Not everyone is swooning over Sweet Tea Vodka, though. At Sir Lancelot's Restaurant & Lounge on Johns Island, where pickup trucks predominate in the parking lot, demand is pretty low-key.

"Most of our clientele here are Bud, Bud Light or Beam and Coke drinkers," says bartender Brooke Baker. "It's kind of one of the more girly drinks. But it really doesn't have a vodka taste, which is why people like it."

Teresa Taylor is the food editor. Reach her at food@postandcourier.com or 937-4886.