Review #130: High Wire Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon

Review #130: Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon, High Wire Distilling

COST: $60 for 750mL bottle

AGE: 2 yrs

MASH BILL: 100% Jimmy Red corn

PROOF: 95

High Wire Distilling is based in my home state of South Carolina. I’ve passed on picking up a bottle of this for a while because I really wanted to do a tasting at their distillery for my first experience. However, I have a friend that recently picked up a bottle and gave me a sample of it as part of a gift. So, without further ado, let’s check it out!

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: Auburn color (1.5), fat, fast legs and gives the appearance of a mix of oil and water.

NOSE: Lots of nuttiness, mostly almond, ample amounts of cherry and vanilla, slight Dr. Pepper vibe, and a dusting of cinnamon and nutmeg. This is generally a verry intoxicating nose and well balanced.

PALATE: Creamy and soft mouthfeel, cherry and caramel lead the way, a light cinnamon follows. I’m really not getting much else. For this being 100% corn I was expecting a lot more corn notes, but alas, they’re not there.

FINISH: This has a long finish with a youthfulness to it. There’s a buttery note left on the palate along with some caramel and cherry. I get a hint of wood but it’s quickly lost, making it very hard to pinpoint the flavor profile, but seems like fresh oak. There’s also a little ethanol that’s left making it feel like a sweet heat.

RATING: 6.4/10

VALUE: 5.7/10 (This takes into account price, overall rating, age, and proof. See my spreadsheet for more details.)

OVERALL: Unique! I’m digging it! This may be the best 2 year old whiskey I’ve ever had. It’s got a fantastic and well balanced nose. The palate is very monotone, but what I taste isn’t bad at all. I think it could just use a little more depth that would come from some flavoring grains. While I’ve been very on the fence for their 7yr bottle for $130, but I’m actually thinking about diving in for it now after trying this standard offering (I’m certain I’ve spent more on worse whiskey).

Photo courtesy of www.HighWireDistilling.com

Behind the Bottle

High Wire Distilling is all in on Jimmy Red. And I love it!

For decades, Jimmy Red corn was a very popular corn used by bootleggers to make moonshine. It is a vibrant red corn that was very rich and oily, allowing it to impart more flavor than standard dent corn. With origins in Appalachia, Jimmy Red corn made its way down to the coast of South Carolina. There was never a lot known about Jimmy Red corn other than it was the moonshiner’s corn of choice through the years.

In the early 2000s, the last bootlegger known to grow Jimmy Red corn passed away, and the variety nearly died with him. As the story goes, only 2 ears of Jimmy Red corn were rescued from his plot and were gifted to Ted Chewning, a local farmer. Chewning was a seed collector and had his own seed library of rare and nearly extinct crops. He had been known to revive other varieties of corn, beans, watermelon, etc. that were near extinction.

Chewning set off to revive Jimmy Red corn by using some of the kernels from those two ears to grow a small crop the next year and then harvest more kernels. He did this for multiple years until he had a sufficient seed collection to be able to do something with it. Lucky for him (and us), the restaurant boom in Charleston at the time had a heightened focus on local heirloom crops and farm to table menus. This resulted in a few well renown chefs in the Charleston area procuring Jimmy Red corn to make dishes featuring this unique grain: grits, cornbread, pancakes, etc. were being made with Jimmy Red. Eventually, the Jimmy Red trend took off in the culinary world with it being featured in dishes across the US. Eventually, this variety of corn with rich history in distilling caught the attention of Scott Blackwell and Ann Marshall, founders of High Wire Distilling.

In 2014, Anson Mills, a meticulous grower of Jimmy Red, gave enough seeds to High Wire Distilling to grow a 2.5 acre plot of Jimmy Red corn in partnership with Clemson University. They produced enough corn that year to distill 2 batches of bourbon. Each year going forward, High Wire has expanded their plot and are now producing over 1.3 million pounds of Jimmy Red corn.

High Wire Distilling has helped bring what was nearly extinct two decades ago to the star of the show in their lineup, showing us exactly why it used to be a moonshiner’s favorite grain of decades past. If you get a chance to try Jimmy Red from High Wire Distilling, I think you too will see the merits of Jimmy Red corn.

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, WhistlePig PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08