Other
Ann Marshall
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
High Wire Distilling in Charleston, South Carolina, is the fixed working context for Ann Marshall’s spirits work. As founder of High Wire Distilling, and co-founder of High Wire Distilling Co. With Scott Blackwell in 2013, Marshall’s record is tied to heritage grain spirits and to Jimmy Red Bourbon, where grain is treated as the primary source of flavor identity rather than a neutral input.
The Climb
Entrepreneurial training can shape a distilling house before the first production decision is visible in the glass. The James Beard Foundation Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program is part of Marshall’s formation, giving a business frame to the work she would bring to spirits. Distilling requires more than a competent palate. It asks for a point of view that can survive production, identity, and market pressure. Marshall’s path joins those demands: the founder’s discipline of building a house around a defined specialty, and the maker’s task of keeping that specialty legible through heritage grain spirits. A distilling company gains coherence when place, product, and leadership hold together over time. At High Wire Distilling Co, co-founded with Scott Blackwell in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2013, Marshall’s work continues to sit inside one clear frame: a Charleston distilling house known for heritage grain spirits.
Today
As co-founder, Marshall remains associated with a company launched in one city and tied to a specific spirits vocabulary. A founder title carries practical weight in drinks culture when it is connected to a named place and a sustained production idea. For Marshall, founder of High Wire Distilling, the Charleston address and the heritage grain focus give the work its coordinates. Heritage grain spirits, including Jimmy Red Bourbon, provide the clearest read on the current craft position. The emphasis is on grain as the structural element of the spirit: agricultural source, flavor carrier, and identity marker. In Marshall’s work, that focus connects entrepreneurship to sensory output without separating the business of the house from what is made there.
Signature
Signature products at High Wire Distilling identify the range of the house through named bottles rather than abstraction. Jimmy Red Bourbon anchors the work in bourbon and heritage grain; Lillie's Sweet & Spicy Digestivo extends into sweetness, spice, and the finish expected of a digestivo.
Recognition
Recognition from Food & Wine’s Drinks Visionaries places Marshall’s work in the context of contemporary drinks leadership. The honor aligns with the facts of the practice: a Charleston founder working through High Wire Distilling, with heritage grain spirits as the central craft position.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Ann
Where did Ann Marshall train or study?
Ann Marshall trained at James Beard Foundation Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program.
What recognition has Ann Marshall received?
Food & Wine’s Drinks Visionaries (2025).
