Comments on: Sweet Tea Vodka

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:27:42 +0000

Lee,

Huh. I don’t know about the phone number thing, but Firefly is available in over 50% of the liquor stores, at least in the Columbus area. It’s a full proof liquor, so look in the state agencies, not the grocery stores.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:03:45 +0000

Where can I find it in ohio? Firefly’s website has a phone number listed, but it’s not a valid number.

By: Libby

Libby — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:57:51 +0000

Jeremiah Weed is available pretty much anywhere now. It’s great!

By: Tracy Levy

Tracy Levy — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:17:32 +0000

I live on Long Island in New York. Does anyone know where I can buy Jeremiah Weed???

By: Stacie

Stacie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:49:37 +0000

Love both Jeremiah Weed and Sweet Carolina vodkas!! We discovered these on a trip to Savannah this summer. Being southerners ourselves, we would like to patronize the Firefly version, but are wondering about the amount of added sugar? We eat low carb and while spirits are allowed, sugar is not!! How bad is it?

By: Mack

Mack — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:34:49 +0000

I live near Ann Arbor MI and today I just bought Firefly but they also sold jeremiah weed. I didn’t care too much for the firefly, but I wil try Jeremiah next time.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:45:48 +0000

I heard an interesting story about Firefly from a friend of a friend. It turns out that it started out as a small distillery and the son of a friend started working there. He went to get his degree in marketing and he came up with the idea for sweet tea vodka and did a lot of the leg work promoting it and Firefly. Once the business got going and was a smashing success he invited one of his business school professors down to check out the distillery and show him what he's done. The next week he and a bunch of others were fired. The owner accused him of inviting the competition in and giving away trade secrets. I believe he is now suing them for wrongful termination and is trying to start his own distillery now. The lawsuit is in progress. This still doesn't distract from it being one helluva drink! (Note: This was originally flagged by Akismet as SPAM. When I noticed it, I initially did not know what to do with it, since I can find no evidence anywhere of such a suit, and am unwilling to do any actual investigative reporting. This is a humor and opinion blog, and you should take any facts I relate with a grain of salt. Therefore, you should take the opinions of commenters here (and everywhere else on the web) with a shaker full. That said, I'll allow it since I have no policy of moderating my posts, except for SPAM. Finally, I'll also note that if the basic outline of events are as Nick relates, I'd suspect there is a certain Rashamon quality to them.)

By: Doug

Doug — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:55:16 +0000

Troy, I don’t know if Firefly or it’s competitors are to be found in Michigan. The three brands I name are available in Ohio, which is usually more restrictive than MI, so I’m guessing that they are there somewhere. The Firefly website has a listing of distributors in each state, who could probably tell you which retailers have it.

By: Troy

Troy — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:28:29 +0000

Is the Fire Fly brand of Sweet Tea Vodka sold in Michigan? I have not had very good luck finding it or any other kind of Sweet Tea for that matter!

By: David R

David R — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:01:50 +0000

Glad someone is sticking up for Jeremiah. Had this for the first time in Las Vegas last weekend. Enjoyed it so much I went to the local liquor store to pick up a bottle. They only had the Firefly, so I picked up this instead. It is still good, but I must admit I preferred the Jeremiah.

By: Danielle S

Danielle S — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:07:56 +0000

I am going to have to break up this general consensus of preferring Firefly above all of the sweet tea vodkas. I’ve tried all three brands and have to say that Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea is by far the smoothest, and best tasting of the three. I often make “Weed-Ade” at my BBQ’s which is Jeremiah Weed mixed with lemonade and crushed ice. My friends love it and have even made the slogan “Drink it don’t smoke it”! Both Firefly and Sweet Carolina leave a burning taste in your mouth. Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea has my vote!

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:39:51 +0000

Mish,

Thanks so much for the info!

Firefly costs twenty bucks here in Ohio, same as the Weed, and five bucks more than Sweet “Carolina”. How’s that compare to you down there. I’m surprised that the straight stuff is bad. I was assuming it would be pretty good, considering. Ohio stocks (yes, the state itself sells all liquor here) two of the flavored Firefly variants, but I haven’t seen them yet.

By: Mish.

Mish. — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:31:15 +0000

I actually live in Charleston, SC which is the closest actually city to Wadamalaw Island, where Firefly is actually made so here it goes:
It launched a little over a year ago in Charleston and was only in Charleston until about October of last year. The vineyard that makes it is VERY small so in order to expand outside of Charleston and keep up with the demand here they started working with a bigger distributor. Before this they could only produce like 12,000 bottles a week or something ridiculously small like that. Liquor stores would sell out in a day from all the tourists buying it to take home with them. It was like beanie babies, no lie.
Also, the regular Firefly vodka is horrible. Laughable, in fact. Which is why we were all pleasantly surprised when this ended up being amazing.
Most people drink it half and half with water, so basically your ice melting idea, just a little quicker.
I’m curious how much your bottle costs…I’m wondering if they jack up the price for people that have to try harder to get it.
And yes, Firefly is the original. Jeremiah Weed and Sweet Carolina came out maybe…Decemberish of last year, so a good 8+ months after Firefly.
Also, down here it comes in Lemon, Mint, Raspberry, Peach, and the original so I’m sure you’ll see those at some point as well.

By: Sonja Kassebaum

Sonja Kassebaum — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:24:47 +0000

It helps a lot that they partnered with a much larger company (not sure of the details, might be just distribution/ marketing deal, or there may have been an ownership share). Sazerac (owner of Buffalo Trace, Rain, and several other brands) is out there pushing the Firefly, which is most likely why it’s showing up everywhere now. Since Firefly was the innovator, I really hope theirs stays for the long term – it’s been interesting to see how quickly the bigger companies came out with their own versions. There were two other sweet tea vodkas here in Chicago before Firefly got here, and now we’ve got a few more coming around.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:42:57 +0000

In my post about the new movie Corked!, I made fun of/mourned the many small independent distillers who can’t or often won’t break through with a nifty product to the larger market.
The guys at Firefly have certainly seemed to manage the trick. They apparently can produce in large volumes, and have the savvy to push those volumes out to the wide market.
Firefly seems to be everywhere.

By: natalie

natalie — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:59:29 +0000

i just discovered firefly not too long ago (on a trip to myrtle beach) and it’s my new favorite! as soon as i got back to va i was able to get it and seriously was making myself a tea every night!! it seriously is the best!! i’m anxious to try the peach one next!

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:38:43 +0000

Sonja,

This is my thought about 99 out of a hundred flavored vodkas. If you want lemon in your drink, put in some damn lemon!
But the Firefly is different. This blending makes sense. I just think it makes enough sense to not really be a “vodka” per se any more.

By: Sonja Kassebaum

Sonja Kassebaum — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:39:33 +0000

I’ve seen at least three other brands of sweet-tea vodka already, seems to be a race to get to market. From what I have heard, Firefly was the first, and the creator of the flavor, the others are copies, mostly from big spirit houses that make lots of other things. Like you, since Firefly is actually from the south, it’s the one I’d be most interested in. While in Denver last month, I saw flavored sweet tea vodkas from several producers – raspberry, peach, etc. I found myself thinking, why not just put in some raspberries if that’s what you wanted, but eh, that’s me.