delectable delights

On the table or on the rocks, Firefly Vodka is HOT, HOT, HOT!

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"It's the most phenomenal thing I've ever seen. It's delicious, and it tastes like sweet tea, and it doesn't have a strong alcoholic burn or taste. I can't keep it on the shelves," exudes local wine/liquor pro and owner of The Wine Shop, Debbie Marlowe.

The future does indeed look bright for Firefly, the ascending titan of the local distillery scene. But, by all accounts, it was an unlikely contender born of a crew of three (initial) distillery novices with distillery and wine-making dreams, an ounce of luck and a surplus of muscadine wine.

Firefly began its rapid ascent in 2005 when contractor-turned-vintner Jim Irvin, owner of Irvin-House Vineyards and now co-owner of Firefly Vodka, crossed paths with Scott Newitt, current co-owner of Firefly Vodka. Newitt was running a distribution company called Coastal Wines and Irvin needed a distributor for his muscadine wines.

"After about six months we became really good friends, and I convinced him to come see my still," Newitt says. "It was something I was doing on the side. My dream was to make Firefly Vodka. I want to be the Jack Daniel's of the vodka world. I wanted to use Carolina Gold rice to make the vodka, but I couldn't find it. Jim said, 'why don't you make it out of my wine'; and I said 'That's a great idea.'"

The fledgling company's first product, Firefly Muscadine Wine Flavored Vodka, is made from grain beer and distilled five times. It packs a powerful, 80-proof punch. The namesake of the company, Firefly, was so-named because the muscadine wine that is added to it and later filtered out just happened to knock the abrasive heat out of the vodka and make it "fly away," says Irvin. It didn't hurt that Newitt grew up "just loving fireflies" in his native Louisiana.

"We played around and made and sold 3,000 cases of muscadine wine flavored vodka over two years," says Newitt. "I said, 'Jim, this is doing OK, but we can do better.' There were a bunch of flavored vodkas coming out and no one had done sweet tea and sweet tea and South Carolina are synonymous."

First released in April, Firefly Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka flew out the door in sales, almost exceeding a year's worth of muscadine wine sales in a matter of weeks, with 1,000 cases sold just eight weeks into distribution. Plans are well underway to build on Firefly's success by broadening the product line and increasing distribution i four new distilled liquors will be introduced this month.

"In this kind of business, once you start you can't stop," says Richard Patrick, who handles branding and development at Firefly. "You have to stay in the game, produce new products and figure out creative ways to re-invent yourself."

VODKA - NOT JUST FOR DRINKING ANYMORE

Matt Bolus, former sous chef at The Ocean Room and now local chef/owner of the recently re-opened Red Sky restaurant on Seabrook, shared some ideas on how to put Firefly beverages to creative use in your kitchen.

"To me, sweet tea is immediately Southern, like a barbecue. So, I just started thinking about what would go with tea flavors and kept coming back to smoked duck, then added corn and green beans which are a big part of summer easiness. Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is great to cook with."

For a current list of products and distribution centers of Firefly products, go to www.fireflyvodka.com .

Click here to download recipes