Bowman Brothers Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey

Bowman Brothers Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey is the Virginia bourbon from A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg, bottled at 90 proof in batches of about eight barrels. Buffalo Trace, its sister distillery under Sazerac, ferments the mash and distills it through the high wines. In Virginia the whiskey takes one more pass on a copper pot still, then ages in new charred oak in the Bowman warehouses. That extra distillation is why the fruit stays bright and the body turns oily at this proof. Press materials have put a typical age around 6 to 7 years. The distillery does not print an age or a mashbill.

Vanilla, toffee, and toasted oak sit on an oily palate, with peach and a light floral sweetness on the nose. The sweetness stays dry. Breaking Bourbon's finish turns spicy in a hurry: black pepper and red pepper over the oak, long after the fruit fades.