Tasting notes

nose

Fresh, grainy sweet corn with honey, almond, pecan and praline, a note of brioche and a hint of espresso

palate

Creamy and oily; vanilla and honey over walnut and almond, with tart spice and a touch of black pepper

finish

Medium; vanilla with strawberry and raspberry, then chocolate and praline, fading to charcoal and a faint nuttiness

Mash bill

100% Jimmy Red corn. Jimmy Red is a magenta-hued landrace corn named for James Island, just over the bridge from Charleston, where it was grown for decades as a moonshiner's corn until it dwindled to two ears after the last man known to grow it died. High Wire describes it as nutty, sweet and mineral, with so much oil that the fermented mash forms a cap three inches thick. Because the whiskey is distilled on the grain, that oil goes through the still with the mash and gives the spirit an unusually creamy texture.

Why it's craft

High Wire rebuilt the seed supply for Jimmy Red with researchers and farmers, starting in 2014 with 2.5 acres planted alongside Clemson University from seed given by Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills; annual yields now pass 1.3 million pounds. Scott Blackwell and Ann Marshall founded the distillery in 2013, and it mills, mashes, distills and barrels everything itself in downtown Charleston. The Classic is the flagship of the Jimmy Red line, which also includes a Bottled in Bond and sherry- and peach-brandy-cask finishes.