‘Southern Charm’ Star Gets in the Sake Business

Southern Charm Savannah personality Hagood Coxe wants to bring a Lowcountry-based sake to area restaurants and shelves. Coxe comes from a family that helped bring Carolina Gold rice back to the South through the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation and Carolina Plantation. The Bravo star’s father, Campbell Coxe, planted 20 acres of Carolina Gold rice in 1997, in Darlington, South Carolina, and has harvested it since.

The younger Coxe always knew she wanted to do something with the family product, but wasn’t quite sure what. With a background in art and art history, Coxe became enamored with Japanese illustration and culture through her studies. This is also when she was introduced to sake, a Japanese rice wine — and that’s when she was inspired to make the beverage from Carolina Gold rice. Traditional sakes are made from Asian strains of rice, and she wasn’t sure if the starch profile of the Lowcountry rice originally from Africa would work. After a few home-brewing experiments, she was convinced to go forward with the product.

A portion of Coxe’s storyline on this season of Southern Charm Savannah focuses on her manufacturing the sake and building the business. The entrepreneur tells Eater that her goal is to eventually have Carolina Gold sake in Charleston restaurants, like Husk or Magnolias, this fall.

Bravo premieres the second season of Southern Charm Savannah tonight, July 19, at 10 p.m. EST.

• Southern Charm Savannah [Bravo]