Firefly "Sweet Tea Bourbon"

[nblair]

Ok, so I might get my bourbon card revoked for posting this, but here goes.

I was out dusty hunting on vacation and stopped by a liquor store next to the grocery. They didn't have any dusties (not surprising) but I picked up a bottle of Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon. My wife likes bourbon and LOVES sweet tea so I figured I'd pick up a bottle, I even thought it might make a refreshing drink while sitting on the beach.

I poured a little bit and it actually smells like bourbon, it isn't masked too much by the added flavors. I poured a bunch over ice, headed out to the beach and actually enjoyed it (let the jokes at my expense begin)...

It is only 60 proof, and made with "handcrafted Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from the world renowned Buffalo Trace Distillery...then infused with South Carolina tea and real sugar cane."

I have never seen this in Kentucky, not that I've ever looked. I can't imagine it'd be good unless you are on the beach, having a bbq, at the pool, or something like that. If you're feeling dangerous, give it a try.

Hopefully this doesn't go the same route as the Red Gag thread.

:deadhorse:

[Gillman]

I haven't tried this but the idea of tea and some sugar is very much within the bourbon precincts (in flavor). Some bourbon, and rye even more so, has a tea-like taste, the tannins and aromatics can be similar. Tea was added to spirits and indeed to straight whiskey in the 1800's to enhance flavors. No one should be chary of trying these things. Straight bourbon in and of itself has no more validity than such a mixture if well made. Ed Phelan's thread on adding juniper, grapefruit and other aromatics to bourbon is another example of good thinking which can only deepen the palate range of good whiskey.

If it's good it's good, if not, don't repeat.

I still enjoy fine whiskey neat but I like a creative, balanced compound no less.

Gary

[Dramiel McHinson]

If not for explorers like yourself, us onlookers would miss out on a lot. I always appreciate hearing about a first person experience with bourbon products here on SB.com. I am always a little suspicious of endorsements by paid sponsors. They never tell you when a product causes headaches or projectile flatulence.

As popular as sweet tea and bourbon are here in the South, the two together almost sound like destiny. As long as it is labeled correctly we shouldn't have too much defuglety. :grin:

[unclebunk]

If not for explorers like yourself, us onlookers would miss out on a lot. I always appreciate hearing about a first person experience with bourbon products here on SB.com. I am always a little suspicious of endorsements by paid sponsors. They never tell you when a product causes headaches or projectile flatulence.

As popular as sweet tea and bourbon are here in the South, the two together almost sound like destiny. As long as it is labeled correctly we shouldn't have too much defuglety. :grin:

Nice post, Dram. I'm of the same mind. We don't drink sweet tea here in Chicago with the same gusto that folks in the South do, but I fell in love with the stuff after a trip to Mississippi many years ago and still can't get enough of it. (And your lemonade tastes better too, but don't ask me why.) On my most recent trip to Memphis and Mississippi last week I wasn't feeling entirely well and sadly had to skip alcohol altogether, but while sipping some sweet tea during dinner it crossed my mind that the tannins absorbed from oak barrels might make a perfect marriage with the flavor of the sweet tea, so I'm going to make my own and give it a whirl. We might just be on to something here for those hot summer nights that are coming our way!:grin:

[p_elliott]

I have heard/read that those honey bourbons go well with sweet tea.

[unclebunk]

I have heard/read that those honey bourbons go well with sweet tea.

I do know from experience (as suggested by Dave Z) that WT American Honey pairs nicely with hot Earl Grey tea on a cold wintry night, especially if suffering from a head cold or some other minor ailment. But sweet tea coupled with the right bourbon could be fantastic. I'll try it with the WT American Honey and let you know. Thanks for reminding me. (BTW, I bought the American Honey thinking it might be a nice introduction to bourbon for my wife but she didn't care for it for some reason, so I've been left to down it myself. It's too damned sweet straight up but mixed with hot tea or ginger ale, it's really not bad at all.)

[nblair]

It's too damned sweet straight up but mixed with hot tea or ginger ale, it's really not bad at all.)

If anyone does decide to try the Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon I would definitely recommend drinking it on ice despite its low proof. It is pretty damn sweet, the dilution helps and the ice makes it nice and cold on a hot day.

[cowdery]

Does anyone know if this is, in fact, a Buffalo Trace product?

[TNbourbon]

Does anyone know if this is, in fact, a Buffalo Trace product?

[callmeox]

Any clue if it is the high rye or the low rye mashbill?

(ducking)

[nblair]

Yes and no -- according to its website, that's where the bourbon is sourced, but Buffalo Trace doesn't own the brand

[fishnbowljoe]

I've tasted the Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Bourbon, and I must admit that it wasn't too bad. I have yet to see the Firefly in my area. Joe

[cowdery]

In October 2008, Firefly Distillery and Sazerac Company formed a joint venture to manufacture and distribute Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka at Sazerac's Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky in order to meet the growing market demand. Through this joint venture Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka was able to be distributed to all states by March 2009.

For more go here.

[TNbourbon]

At retail, the original Firefly -- and, then (up till my departure from retail liquor sales in 4/09) its variations -- was very popular with customers from the onset. Buffalo Trace did a smart thing connecting itself to this 'star'. The unexpected, overwhelming demand wasn't a random accident -- it tasted good, and like what it claimed to be!

I haven't been in too many liquor stores lately, but I will look for this bourbon-tea combo. I enjoyed the earlier Firefly renditions, and the bourbon-tea combination, for reasons advanced earlier in this thread, seems a natural (not to mention cultural, in these parts) union.

One Charles K. Cowdery notes in Volume 7 of The New

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Foodways: "...Walker Percy wrote in his 1975 essay Bourbon, 'Bourbon does for me what the piece of cake did for Proust'...".

Likewise could be said for sweet tea by most other, more prosaic 'Suth'rens'. Heaven may be a goal too high for many a redneck to assure with any certaintly prior to death, but bourbon and tea are known, earthly quantities by which to cast an upward glance...

[ebo]

I just heard a commercial for Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Bourban on the radio today. At the end of the commercial, there was a blurb: "look for the new Jeremiah Weed Cherry Bourbon"... like Red Stag doesn't suck enough, we need another one on the market.

[Phantos]

I tasted it.

tasted like that spicy AA oak...

so I am guessing the high-rye.

and it was damn awful.

BLASPHEMY!:hot: :grin:

[jburlowski]

FWIW, Jay at the Party Source says, "Well, it's not hideous."

[Gillman]

One way to get more out of these drinks is add more bourbon.

Gary

[cowdery]

I've never lived in the Deep South, but I lived in Kentucky for almost ten years and I never heard the term "sweet tea." I was familiar with the drink, it was just called "tea." If you wanted the other kind, as I invariably did (I'm not a sweet tea fan), you had to very carefully ask for "unsweetened iced tea." If you just asked for "tea," especially in summer, you got sweet tea. Sort of like they don't call it 'Chinese food' in China, it's just food.

[craigthom]

I've never lived in the Deep South, but I lived in Kentucky for almost ten years and I never heard the term "sweet tea." I was familiar with the drink, it was just called "tea." If you wanted the other kind, as I invariably did (I'm not a sweet tea fan), you had to very carefully ask for "unsweetened iced tea." If you just asked for "tea," especially in summer, you got sweet tea. Sort of like they don't call it 'Chinese food' in China, it's just food.

[cowdery]

One thing to keep in mind about products like this. Consumer packaged goods companies need a constant flow of new products. New products are frequently targeted at young consumers, because they're new to the market so who knows what the hell they want. Products that involve some alcohol, some sugar, and a good story, are cheap, quick and easy to make. By contrast, just about any whiskey project except a flavored whiskey or whiskey cordial, is going to be pitched at a less-desirable older consumer, and it's going to take a lot more time, trouble and money to develop, especially if you do it right. Those cheap and easy products don't have to catch much fire to be profitable. Companies like Sazerac invest very little in marketing products like this, so if it catches on even a little it can make nice money.

[callmeox]

My experience is that when ordering tea in the south at an establishment where they carry both kinds, the staff would inquire "sweet or not?"

And yes, I said both kinds.

[cowdery]

I've heard the "sweet or unsweetened" or "sweet or not" question more over the years, even in Kentucky.

Even being given that choice was a culture shock to me. A restaurant serving iced tea pre-sweetened was completely foreign. How would they know how sweet it should be?

I can recall being served pre-sweetened iced tea on a couple of occasions and thinking how odd that was that someone would presume to sweeten your sugar for you.

Are there, in fact, set proportions for authentic Southern sweet tea?

My observation would be that the marketing of something called "sweet tea" as a characteristic Southern beverage is a fairly recent phenomenon, but I'd be curious if anyone older than 40 who grew up in the South ever heard the term "sweet tea" as a child.

[nblair]

I worked at Morton's in Louisville for about 4 years. Being an upscale corporate restaurant based out of Chicago, sweet tea is something they obviously didn't push in their restaurants.

I'll tell you what, people in the south love them some sweet tea. I got more dirty looks over people having to add sugar to their tea than any over/undercooked steak throughout the years.

[OscarV]

but I'd be curious if anyone older than 40 who grew up in the South ever heard the term "sweet tea" as a child.

I didn't officially grow up in the south, but with family here and down there the south grew up in me.

All I remember is it only being called ice tea and it came sweet.

I remember my Grandmother making it in a big glass jug and I always liked to see the tea being poured into the suger, lots of sugar.

The "sweet tea" term is probably new so that Yankees don't get shocked with sweetend ice tea in resturants down south.

As a matter of fact I was suprised to get ice tea unsweetened in a resturant the first time I had it up here, I thought all ice tea was already sweet.

BTW, what's the deal with that lemon wedge y'all stick on the glass? If I wanted lemonade I'd have asked for it.