Jimmy Red Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon Review

Jimmy Red is a blood-red dent corn variety Charleston-area bootleggers favored for moonshine, back when it still grew wild across South Carolina's Lowcountry. By 2013, it had nearly vanished. Ted Chewning, a farmer on James Island, was the last person still growing it, and when he stopped, only two ears of Jimmy Red corn remained anywhere.

Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills and University of South Carolina professor David Shields tracked down those last two ears and handed the seed to High Wire Distilling's Scott Blackwell and Ann Marshall in early 2014. Working with Clemson's Brian Ward, they planted 2.5 acres and turned the first harvest into two batches of cask-strength bourbon. High Wire now grows enough Jimmy Red corn to produce over 1.3 million pounds a year, all traced back to two ears somebody almost lost for good.

A story like this should have gotten me to buy a bottle years ago. Instead I walked past Jimmy Red more times than I can count, with no particular reason behind it, never quite pulled in. Nothing changed until I landed at a tasting pouring all three High Wire expressions side by side: the classic, the Bottled-in-Bond, and the Double Oak.

Distillers didn't fight to bring this corn back for nothing. Jimmy Red runs heavier in oil than standard corn, giving the whiskey a weight in the mouth thinner mash bills don't carry, and it brings a natural spice before rye or wheat ever enters the recipe. Tasting the classic, the Bottled-in-Bond, and the Double Oak back to back made those differences obvious fast.

Side by side, the classic held its own, but the Bottled-in-Bond won me over. Something about the extra age and the jump to 100 proof brought the corn's natural character forward in a way the standard release didn't quite reach, though I'd happily pour the Double Oak again too. High Wire has a wheated Jimmy Red expression coming this fall, and after this tasting, I'm already looking forward to it.

The Bottle

Distillery: High Wire Distilling Co. (Charleston, SC)

Release: Ongoing

Classification: Straight Bourbon (Bottled-in-Bond)

Proof: 100 (50% ABV)

Age: 5 Years

Mash Bill: 100% Jimmy Red Corn, one of the few mash bills built almost entirely around a single heirloom grain

MSRP: $79.99

First Impression: Raspberry leads the nose, with vanilla and chocolate rounding out the sweetness behind it.

On the Palate: Dark chocolate and caramel corn settle into a medium body, with baking spice building steadily rather than hitting all at once.

The Last Sip: The finish runs medium, drifting from leather into cinnamon before a last note of cherry closes it out.

Final Thoughts

One change starting with this review: no more buy, try, or pass verdicts. The experience should speak for itself. You decide what it's worth.

This Bottled-in-Bond is genuinely one of a kind, and it's become the Jimmy Red pour I keep reaching for. The extra age and the jump to 100 proof pull real depth out of a mash bill most distilleries wouldn't dare run at 100% corn, and the price holds up against what's in the glass.

High Wire still has room to grow here, and I'm hoping an older expression eventually joins the lineup alongside the wheated release landing this fall. A distillery built around saving one corn variety from disappearing has plenty left to find in what this corn becomes across new mash bills and finishes.

Have you tried the Bottled-in-Bond next to the classic or the Double Oak? I'd like to hear which one won you over.