High Wire Distilling is not a typical craft distillery. Yes, it’s the Charleston’s first distillery since Prohibition, which dozens of other distilleries can claim in their respective locations. Yes, they make bourbon and rye, like most American craft distilleries. But it’s how High Wire Distillery in Charleston makes their whiskey and what they focus on that makes it unique.
Located in the heart of downtown Charleston, High Wire Distilling is both a distillery and a tasting room that doubles as a bar with great cocktails. They are best known for their bourbon and ryes, but they also make several types of gin, amaro, and vodka.
While celebrating my birthday in Charleston, we took a tour of High Wire Distillery in Charleston and learned why it’s not your usual craft distillery.
Why High Wire Distilling in Charleston is Not Your Usual Craft Distillery
The owners apply their bakery background to distilling.
It’s not often that a baker turns into a distiller. But that’s the history behind High Wire Distilling. After Scott Blackwell and his wife Ann Marshall sold their bakery business, they turned toward opening a distillery. A distillery combined their passion for small business with their love of artisanal spirits.
And while at first thought a baker and a distiller seem like distant industries, Scott applied his knowledge of artisanal grains to distilling spirits. Using local, unique ingredients as the base for High Wire’s spirits is what sets the distillery apart from the start.
They use local grains and revived a nearly extinct strain of corn for whiskey.
Not only does High Wire Distilling use artisanal, locally-grown grains, they revived a nearly extinct type of corn for their bourbon. Jimmy Red corn was notoriously famous for being a bootlegger’s grain of choice for moonshine. But when the last known bootlegger growing the corn died in the early 2000s, Jimmy Red corn almost died with him.
Luckily two ears of corn were rescued from his plot and given to a local farmer and seed saver. Eventually the corn made its way to High Wire owner Scott Blackwell, who tested its whiskey-making characteristics in a batch of 100% corn bourbon. It was so fantastic, Scott wrote a grant to Clemson University, who figured out how to bring the corn back from extinction. (J. Henry Bourbon in Wisconsin has a similar story.) Now five farms throughout South Carolina grow Jimmy Red corn for High Wire.
What makes Jimmy Red corn so perfect for whiskey? For one, it doesn’t need wheat or rye for flavor because it has enough on its own, notably nutty marzipan, sweet cherry, and minerals. Because of the flavor, the corn even makes great grits. (Look for them on restaurant menus throughout Charleston.) It also has a high oil content, which gives the whiskey a creamy mouthfeel.
They focus on terroir.
While experimenting with Jimmy Red corn, they discovered that the flavor changes based on the soil it’s grown in. This is known as terroir, a French term that is usually applied to wine but is gaining more traction in the whiskey world. The theory goes that a region’s climate, soil, terrain, and tradition all affect the spirit’s taste.
Five farms grow Jimmy Red corn for High Wire, and the distillery segregates the corn from each farm because the resulting bourbon tastes slightly different. High Wire even released a single barrel from one farm so people could compare the flavor profile to the regular Jimmy Red Bourbon. And High Wire’s rye whiskey even uses rye grown locally in St. George, South Carolina.
High Wire Distilling’s dedication to locally grown grains isn’t limited to whiskey. They also use Charleston Black Tea and Yaupon holly, the only North American caffeinated plant, for their amaro. This focus on little details earned High Wire Distilling a James Beard nomination for Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Producer in 2019. They were the only Southern nominee in the category.
They are constantly experimenting with new spirits.
Before High Wire settled on 100% corn mashbill for their Jimmy Red Bourbon, they did dozens of trials with different mashbills, adding wheat or rye into the mix. But they liked 100% corn the best. They’ve also experimented with different yeast strains. Similarly, they discovered the best mashbill for the rye is 100% rye. Now that they’ve got the mashbills worked out, they’re experimenting with finishing the bourbon in Oloroso sherry butts and rye in port pipes.
But that’s not all. Recently High Wire made a peach brandy using South Carolina peaches. It sold out the weekend it was released. Now they’re aging bourbon in the peach brandy barrels, just to see how it tastes.
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After the tour we tasted three of High Wire’s whiskeys. And the Jimmy Red Bourbon actually lived up to all the hype we’d learned. The nose has heavy vanilla and oak, with a hint of corn; while the palate has corn and vanilla balanced with great spice notes of clove and nutmeg, and hints of black pepper. It was lovely.
Touring High Wire Distillery in Charleston
Tours of High Wire Distilling are available Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at certain times for $10/person. Reservations are recommended, and available online. The tasting room is open for cocktails and flights on a first-come, first-served basis.
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