CRAFT by Under My Host® Issue No. 16 Made in America: Part I | Page 125

Jimmy Hagood whose family farm in the lush ACE Basin of South Carolina was dedicated to “ conservation cuisine ,” the growth of specialized crops to promote the wellbeing of both their family land and the wildlife that thrived there . Hagood ’ s family had been actively growing Charleston Gold Rice in this rich black soil for years , and Jimmy was immediately intrigued by our project .
Hagood spent the winter adding much needed infrastructure to his family ’ s dormant fields . Fences needed to be built , both above ground and below , to keep deer and wild boar out , and irrigation pumps needed to be added to move water to the fields during the parched summer months . In light of this work , we offered a price for the corn that was over five times higher than the commodity rate . We wanted this project to be beneficial for everyone .
That summer , Hagood grew about five acres of corn for us . Scott and I kept in close contact with him . We frequently drove the 40 miles or so down Highway 17 taking our staff , customers , and media on field trips to see our prized Jimmy Red corn in its various phases . By late July , the corn would start to wilt and brown in the fields , the deep burgundy cobs dehydrating in the harsh late summer sun .
Every minute the corn spent drying in the field meant more nutrients and flavor getting soaked up into the kernels from the earth . Our goal was to let it dry down as close to 15 percent moisture as we could--a nearly impossible feat in the South Carolina humidity . We finally agreed to harvest it when the forecast promised torrential rainfalls that would threaten the livelihood of the crop . The corn was harvested , shelled , and transferred to the distillery to be processed as our 2017 release .
Each year since , we have added more acreage , more farming partners , and more sophistication to our Jimmy Red program . We ’ ve been fortunate to partner with farms rich in infrastructure that can dry , clean , and store our corn for future use . In 2017 , we harvested over 240,000 pounds of Jimmy Red corn grown across three farms . This yield put us very close to our goal of having enough supply to hold us over should any natural disaster decimate a harvest , an unfortunate reality in an area prone to hurricanes .
We ’ re incredibly proud of our success in helping create sustainable supplies of these heritage grains . We ’ re proud to pay a fair price for extraordinary crops and thrilled to convert unused or chemically abused land into thriving farmland . Raising the profile of previously unknown varietals is incredibly rewarding , and expounding the flavors of these unique grains through the distilling process gives us hope for the future of whiskey . Together , with other forward-thinking distilleries , we can transform the landscape of a centuries old industry and inform the way people explore the whiskey in their glass .
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