“When you open the can, the smell draws you in,” says Babette Jones, founder of Six Nineteen of 1865 Spirits.
The Greenville-based company’s premixed cocktails are designed to provide an experience from the first crack of the can to long after the last drop. “It’s not just for consumption,” she says. “It’s an entire movement.”
As the name suggests, these canned cocktails represent a larger purpose, referencing the federal holiday known as Juneteenth—June 19, 1865, when enslaved African Americans were emancipated at the end of the Civil War.
“When the enslaved people realized they were free, so much excellence was released,” Jones says, acknowledging the inspiration behind the brand’s tagline, “A spirit of excellence bringing US together.”
Coincidentally, it was on June 19, 2022, that the inspiration for Six Nineteen’s signature rum cocktail was enjoyed by Jones and her friends. They were on vacation with several families in Hilton Head Island, and an attorney friend, Charles Anderson, mixed up a coconut rum beverage that became the favorite of the trip.
Jones had the idea to build a brand around the cocktail, and she, along with those 23 friends and family members, co-founded Six Nineteen Spirits as the first Black, female-owned spirits company in the Upstate. Grassroots fundraising and a boost from winning the 2023 GVL Starts pitch competition provided enough funding to officially launch the brand in October 2024.
The Original Six Nineteen Cocktail
Commemorating freedom and liberation along with the date of its inception, the original coconut rum cocktail took on special significance for the new founders. Jones says she specifically chose not to name the company or the first drink Juneteenth, instead opting for the full date.
“I didn’t want to put the name out there so bold,” she says. Her motivation to temper the name was to create a more inclusive environment and not reserve it for only part of the community. “I wanted to include people from all walks of life,” she says. “When we’re able to bring people of all backgrounds together, we’re a better place.”
As she approaches a full year since Six Nineteen launched, Jones has an ambitious plan for phases two and three that includes more signature cocktails and mocktails in addition to the three existing canned beverages, a water, and a community-based project she’s keeping under wraps for now. She will divulge that she hopes to provide a foundation for minority communities to start businesses with the goal of building generational wealth.
The senior director of The Greenville Tech Foundation and owner of an Allstate Insurance Agency branch in Greenville for the last 25 years, Jones is no stranger to what it takes to build a lasting legacy, which is her goal for this endeavor.
“Our drink is filled with love and community and kindness,” she says.
And if she can succeed in spreading that message by using the adult beverage culture as the conduit, she’ll have accomplished what she believes is most important in the world, especially at a time when division is rampant.
“We are more alike than our differences,” Jones says. “People are so important to everything we do in life. That’s the message I want to convey—it’s all about the people.”
Learn more at sixnineteen1865.com.
Find It Here
- 19 Wine & Spirits, Greenville
- Bottles Beverage Superstore, Greenville
- Hot Shotz Liquors, Travelers Rest
- King’s One Stop, Dorchester
- Total Wine, Greenville
