SMALL LOWCOUNTRY DISTILLERY HITS IT BIG, FORCED TO EXPAND

I had my first taste of Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka about two months ago and let’s just say that my previous favorite — Maker’s Mark bourbon — has quickly been replaced on trips to the liquor store.

That is, of course, when Firefly vodka is actually in stock. Because it seems like every time I try to pick up a bottle, the stuff is sold out. Everywhere I go, store owners say they can’t keep it in stock.

The Charleston City Paper explains why:

The nationwide craze for Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka has left South Carolina dry. We’ve even heard stories about people from North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida driving to the state to get their hands on some. To keep shelves and bars stocked, Firefly is going to begin supplementing production of their vodka to Orlando, Fla. They are still trying to provide as much alcohol as they can to South Carolina from their distillery on Wadmalaw Island, but reps say it would be impossible to meet the demand using that facility alone without prices shooting through the roof (which makes us happy). Firefly’s main goal is to keep the production of sweet tea vodka in Charleston, where it was born and bred. They’re looking for a bigger place to move the operation.

I don’t care what they have to do to keep Sweet Tea Vodka on the shelves, they better do it. If not, I’m going to be royally pissed.

And I don’t mean “pissed” like when I go to Wal-Mart and every handicapped space is filled by inconsiderate morons who could probably run Olympic hurdles if they weren’t on their couch 18 hours a day, I mean pissed like when NBC canceled Journeyman. Man, that was a great freaking show.