We’ve told the Jimmy Red story on Seelbach’s before. A varietal of corn that was on the edge of extinction. With the help of Ted Chewning and multiple others, Jimmy Red was saved. From there it went on to create a wave of innovation in the culinary world. From two ears in 2013 to millions of pounds produced today, production on Jimmy Red corn has exploded – and Charelston’s High Wire Distillery is celebrating their 10th Anniversary with a special single farm bottled-in-bond release of the grain they, and we, have grown to love.
We only have 60 bottles of this limited release, and one of the only ways to get a bottle outside of visiting the distillery.
Really nice notes of underripe pineapple, caramel, vanilla extract, cornbread, dried soil, and hints of hot chocolate powder.
The palate is tart cherry, dark chocolate, and leather but the chocolate is prominent. An undercurrent of coffee bean, barrel char, smokey vanilla, and ground cinnamon being the most prominent spice but still a plethora of baking spices.
The finish is tart cherry skin, dried cacao, leather, and ground cinnamon.
We asked founders Ann and Scott what turning 10 years old meant for them, and asked about the significance of their stoneware bottles for this special release.
It’s been a wild ride these past 10 years, and like any milestone, it’s a good time to reflect, assess, and celebrate. Entering this industry as complete outsiders, we believe the fresh perspective and ingredients-driven, culinary approach that we took early on has really forged a unique path for High Wire. Turning 10 also carries important weight for us as whiskey makers. We contract-grow, ferment, distill, and age everything that we bottle, and that takes a lot of time and patience. Time to learn the craft, time to hone our skill, and patience to age. Hitting 10 means we’ve had some time to do those things. We certainly feel accomplishment, but we also feel like we’re just hitting our stride which is exciting!
In considering the best way to celebrate turning 10, we immediately knew we would center our achievement on our flagship whiskey, Jimmy Red. In order to make the release reflect our unique agricultural ethos, we decided to bottle our very first Bottled in Bond Jimmy Red expression and celebrate our farm partners by selecting from our single estate barrels produced with Jimmy Red corn from a single farm and a single growing season. As it turned out, the barrels we selected from were produced from corn rescued from Hurricane Florence in late summer 2018 (which you can read all about in this special package).
The history of this stoneware bottle dates back to 2016 when we released our very first Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon Whiskey. A local stoneware company was so excited about our efforts, they offered to make us a custom crockery bottle to celebrate our achievement in helping resurrect this beautiful landrace corn. Our initial release sold out in 10 minutes! Re-introducing this beautiful stoneware bottle to celebrate our 10th Anniversary was the obvious thing to do. We decided to go one step further and develop this beautiful gift box highlighting Jimmy Red corn on each side and containing a booklet about the release and an “easter egg” of a special film about our work with Jimmy Red corn. This gift box is truly reflective of the last 10 years of perseverance, patience, and dedication to our craft. Cheers!
