Experience the South. Existence is distinct down here. Life isn’t as fast, we move a bit slower, value our relationships, and live for our family and friends. Sweet Tea plays a big part in every day. Afternoons consist of Sweet Tea and lemonade. When we were feeling funky we would add some vodka to the mix.
In 2008 everything changed. A company out of South Carolina called Firefly introduced an infused blend of Sweet Tea Vodka. The product quickly lit up the bars, liquor stores, hearts and minds of Charleston. The company that came out with a product no one had ever heard of before. No one knew if it would work. This company decided to create a tea-infused vodka. “iced tea vodka’, some decried, ‘that will never work!’.
The company knew they had a hit on their hands. Some trials and tribulations ensued as the Firefly petitioned to produce vodka in South Carolina and finally won the right to do so from the state.
After the runaway success of Sweet Tea Vodka, many other companies began producing and distributing the product as well. Some of these Sweet Tea Vodka products include:
- Jeremiah Weed
- Seagrams Sweet Tea
- Burnett’s
- Sweet Carolina
- Deep Eddy
Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka
Firefly Distillery is beautiful, romantic, and a little mysterious. The Distillery is located on the grounds of Irvin House Vineyards (ran by Firefly co-founder Jim Irvin). The drink is reddish copper in color, an aromatic mix of vibrant tea, the smoothness of vodka, and a paradigm of pure sweetness. This is our favorite Sweet Tea Vodka because it tastes delicious. Five stars.
Jeremiah Weed
Weed has a different vibe than Firefly. It is made with high fructose corn syrup as opposed to pure sugar. The corn syrup offers a ‘sweeter’ version of sweet (if that makes sense). If you’ve tried sweet and low or Splenda as opposed to sugar you’ll know what we mean. Jeremiah Weed is more syrupy than Firefly. We still like this product and think it tastes fairly good. When served very cold Jeremiah Weed is pretty good as the ice-cold temperature masks the uber-sweetness. Jeremiah Weed is made by Diageo. We give this one 3.5 stars.
Seagrams Sweet Tea
Seagrams is produced by the Seagrams company and typically sells for under $10. We are not very big fans of this product. The quality of vodka is decent for the price but the mixture of tea, high fructose corn syrup, and vodka is off. This one leaves a bad taste in our mouth and is barely acceptable unless served nearly frozen. 1.5 stars.
Burnett’s Sweet Tea
Burnett’s is more expensive than Seagram’s but much cheaper than Firefly and Jeremiah Weed. We find the quality of this product slightly better than Seagram’s but still paling in comparison to the category leader. This is another one to reserve for days when you have no cash. The product tastes like iced tea vodka but we believe the combination of ingredients to be less than optimal. 2 stars.