By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer

Lowcountry vodka lovers can now fill their glasses with a local version of the spirit—FireFly. And it’s flying off the shelves, creators Scott Newitt and Jim Irvin said.

Newitt, general manager of North Charleston-based wine distributor Coastal Wine, and Irvin, co-owner of Irvin-House Vineyards on Wadmalaw Island, created FireFly vodka earlier this year.

The 80-proof beverage debuted in March at the Charleston International Antiques Show and hit local restaurants, bars and liquor stores in early April, with about 200 cases sold in the first eight days, according to Newitt and Irvin.

FireFly sells for about $17 for a fifth, $20 for a liter and $27 for a gallon.

The product, which is distilled in Florida but flavored with muscadine grapes grown on Wadmalaw Island, is not only the first Lowcountry vodka, but also the first legally produced spirit associated with the Palmetto State, Newitt and Irvin claimed.

Irvin’s muscadine grapes are the crucial ingredient in FireFly vodka. The grapes are made into wine and then shipped to a Lake Alfred, Fla., distillery, where small amounts of the wine are infused in vodka that has been distilled five times to achieve purity.

Vodka often has a fiery sensation on the palate, and Newitt and Irvin say the muscadine wine makes the “fire fly away”—hence the name “FireFly.”

The product is bottled at the Lake Alfred distillery, one of three U.S. distilleries that bottles vodka in large quantities, Newitt said. FireFly’s first production run totaled about 5,000 cases.

Sipping vodka

For several years, Newitt had wanted to create a Lowcountry vodka. He considered using Carolina Gold rice as the signature Lowcountry ingredient, but the rice turned out to be too expensive and wasteful.

Newitt’s trip a year and a half ago to a California distillery that used grapes in vodka gave him the idea to team up with Irvin to create a muscadine-flavored vodka. Newitt distributes Irvin-House Vineyards’ muscadine wines.

Because a license for distilling and bottling liquor costs more than $50,000 in South Carolina, Newitt and Irvin turned to the Florida distillery.

Production began in February, with Irvin hauling 350 gallons of muscadine wine down to Florida.

Although Newitt and Irvin did not disclose the cost of their FireFly operation, Irvin said he invested his entire retirement fund in the enterprise.

The only setback the vodka producers encountered was in labeling their product. They wanted to include on the label the phrase “Southern Sipping Vodka,” but the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives denied Newitt and Irvin permission to use that phrase, citing that the South is not a geographical region associated with vodka.

“Muscadine Wine Flavored Vodka” is the phrase Newitt and Irvin ended up using.

Newitt and Irvin have submitted FireFly vodka to the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago and expect the institute to come out with a rating any day now.

A high rating from the institute, which rates the taste and quality of a variety of spirits and whose beverage buying guides appear in national magazines such as Wines & Spirits, could translate into hefty sales, Irvin said.

Vodka is the nation’s top-selling spirit, especially among Americans born between 1960 and 1980—the so-called “Generation X,” according to Irvin.

Meanwhile, Newitt and Irvin are marketing FireFly through vodka tastings and sales of FireFly T-shirts, hats and other paraphernalia.

FireFly vodka is sold only in South Carolina. Newitt and Irvin want to see how sales pan out during the next 18 months before they sell the product in other states.

If FireFly turns out to be a success, the vodka duo will attempt to create a Lowcountry rum, Irvin said.

Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.

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