Smoke and spirits are well-known co-conspirators. Think of whiskeys from Scotland, or mezcals from Mexico. For years, Ann Marshall and Scott Blackwell, the owners of High Wire Distilling Co. in Charleston, South Carolina, have been mulling how to create a smoky spirit of their own. After all, “we’re both Southern,” Blackwell says, “and there’s barbecue and smoked ham and bacon here.”
The duo first considered making an experimental smoked sorghum spirit (unexciting), and then gave more thought as to how to add smoke after a trip to Grenada, where they discovered Rivers Royale Grenadian Rum,But it was a trip to Mexico, during which they met some mezcal producers, that prodded them to move from thinking to doing. “It really came together when we watched the process from beginning to end,” Blackwell says.
