By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer

When Jim Irvin and Scott Newitt, producers of Wadmalaw Island-based FireFly vodka, introduced their muscadine-flavored beverage last year, their South Carolina spirit was being distilled in Florida.

The reason was the distillery license fee: Florida charged only $800 every two years while South Carolina charged a hefty $50,000 bi-annual fee.

That scenario will soon change for this company that touts its spirit as the first vodka associated with the Palmetto State,

In June, the South Carolina state Legislature passed a law lowering the Palmetto State’s distillery license fee to $1,000 every two years.

Thanks to that piece of legislation, Irvin and Newitt will no longer distill FireFly vodka in Lake Alfred, Fla., where they paid to have their product distilled, but instead will distill it in the Lowcountry.

The vodka makers are searching North Charleston and Charleston for a 6,000-square-foot facility with an 18-foot ceiling—a place big enough to contain large, stainless steel distilling tanks, said Irvin, co-owner of Wadmalaw Island’s Irvin-House Vineyards, whose muscadine grapes are used to flavor FireFly vodka.

The Palmetto State’s cheaper distillery license fee will make FireFly a thoroughly South Carolina product and it will spark growth in the state’s distillery industry, said state Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, who along with Reps. Dr. Jimmy Bales, D-Eastover, and Kristopher Crawford, R-Florence, sponsored the bill. 

“Economically, it will create more jobs,” said Limehouse, who described the state’s former $50,000 fee as “exorbitantly” high and a factor that discouraged small business owners and entrepreneurs from entering the distillery business.

The lower license fee “brings South Carolina up to date with the rest of the country,” Limehouse added.

The reduced fee makes South Carolina more competitive with neighboring states seeking to attract distilleries. For example, the license fee in North Carolina and Tennessee is $1,000 a year, Irvin and Newitt noted.

“The passage of this legislation will not only open more opportunities for statewide business, but attract companies from across the country to setup distilleries,” said Newitt, co-owner of FireFly and general manager of North Charleston-based wine distributor Coastal Wine.

Grabbing a slice of the nation’s distilled alcohol market is a worthwhile pursuit, Newitt

added.

In 2004, the U.S. distilled spirits industry contributed $103.4 billion to the nation’s economy, a figure representing 30% of the economic impact of the entire alcoholic beverage industry.

Additionally, distilled spirits injected more than $6 billion into state and local coffers, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a national trade association based in Washington, D.C.

The five-year goal for FireFly is to provide nearly 50 jobs, sell 100,000 cases of vodka in 40 states and contribute more than $8.9 million to South Carolina’s economy, said Irvin.

FireFly currently is distributed in South Carolina, Georgia and New York.

Irvin and Newitt have applied for their state distillery permit and will then apply for a federal permit. They expect to be ready to start distilling their vodka in the Lowcountry by January 2008. Their goal is to produce up to 8,500 cases per month. Currently they produce about 2,000 cases monthly.

Vodka is the nation’s top-selling spirit, and consumption is on the rise. Between 2002 and 2005, the number of 9-liter cases of vodka sold in the United States rose from 39.4 million to 45.9 million, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.

Vodkas infused with citrus flavors and spices are growing more popular with the public, the council also noted.

FireFly vodka is infused with muscadine wine produced at Irvin-House Vineyards. The 80-proof vodka is distilled five times. Vodka often produces a fiery sensation on the palate, and Newitt and Irvin say the muscadine wine makes that fire “fly away.” Hence the name

“FireFly.”

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

FireFly has received accolades from F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal, which rated the vodka three stars out of a possible five; Santé, a magazine for restaurant professionals; and the Chicago-based Beverage Testing Institute, which rated FireFly higher than such internationally known brands as Absolut.

Irvin and Newitt intend to produce other FireFly vodkas, such as peach, strawberry and pumpkin. Additionally, they plan to create a spiced rum.

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

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