The handcrafted syrup company Jack Rudy pays hommage to its Southern roots with a traditional sweet tea.

The folks of South Carolina and Kentucky normally add of bit of Vodka or Bourbon to serve up an iced tea with personality, though rest assured that Jack Rudy's version speaks for itself even in a glass of cold sparkling water.

The company was named after the two founders' great-grandfather, Jack Rudy. His story is entirely true and on the side of their bottle :“Jack Rudy was many things. He was a pilot who illegally flew his plane under the Ohio River Bridge (on a dare), an inventor who created a mechanical device for pharmacists to count pills, and a craftsman who once built a houseboat out of an old city bus. After serving as an aircraft mechanic in WWII, he spent his working life as an engineer. He read Popular Mechanics and National Geographic cover to cover - a curious type who made his own bullets, and shot them into a dirt wall he constructed in his basement. In addition to being a ‘marvelous’ dancer, he LOVED to entertain and was known to overindulge in drink, smoke, and his wife’s gourmet cooking."