A. Smith Bowman Distillery is owned by Sazerac out of New Orleans, so like 1792 Barton, is a sister distillery to Buffalo Trace. I have been told and have seen various sources on the internet state this but I have not verified, that Bowman takes bourbon originally twice distilled at Buffalo Trace (from the low wine to the high wine stage), distill it for a third time, and then barrel it for aging. So, it may be that the mashbills and yeast are the same as Buffalo Trace bourbons. Now, to me, the distillation equipment has very little influence on bourbon, at least not the extent it does on Scotch or Irish whiskies. Buffalo Trace uses column stills, while Bowman uses a pot still named Mary. The bottle notes that this bourbon is copper distilled; which is truly no big deal because most bourbons are copper distilled on equipment made by Vendome.

My opinion on the still equipment not mattering generally comes from the fact that when Heaven Hill’s distillery caught fire they leased time on other distilleries’ equipment and kept putting out the same whiskies and no one could tell the difference, because they were still using the same mashbills and barrel aging houses (at least the ones that didn’t burn with the distillery). But, I also think that bourbon, with its corn, rye, and wheat influences, the influences of the yeast (particularly with Four Roses and Bulleit), and being aged in new charred oak barrels brings flavors that simply overshadow any flavors imparted by the nature of the still. Barley malt and used oak barrels are a lot less aggressive in flavor, which for example allows Glenmorangie’s super tall repurposed Gin pot stills to make their whiskey extremely delicate in flavor and thus more amenable to the influence of even used barrels and used finishing barrels, and Oban’s short pot stills to have more of an influence on their more briney whiskey distilled and aged on Scotland’s West Coast. I know all distillers swear by their particular stills. But when it comes to bourbon I am just not so sure the kind of still, whether column or pot, matters that much as long as the distillation is clean and you cut off the heads and tails (the first and last wine coming off the still).

Bowman’s line of bourbon products include Bowman Brothers Small Batch (90 proof, same as Buffalo Trace), Isaac Bowman Port Barrel Finished Bourbon (92 proof), A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength Bourbon (proof varies) and the John J. Bowman Single Barrel at 100 proof that I purchased recently for $50. I haven’t seen a Bowman Cask Strength around here, and I have shied away from the lower proof Bowmans. But when I saw the Single Barrel at 100 proof, I decided to give Bowman a try.

The color on this is a nice solid amber. I imagine this had a pretty high barrel proof at 125 and was watered down a bit to get to 100 proof; I imagine this is probably six years old based on the color. On the swirl is a thin film but really nice thick legs. This seems to be a pretty oily bourbon, and I like that. Nose is very traditional bourbon; lots of vanilla and caramel, some floral notes, and not very different from Eagle Rare or Col. E.H. Taylor Small Batch. This seems to me to be Red Star Yeast fermented mash; the influences comes from the mashbill and the barrel, rather than the yeast. On the palate is a solid old school bourbon, with really nice vanilla notes, some caramel, hints of cherries and apples, a touch of oak and a mere hint of baking spice. Really nice medium mouthfeel. On the finish the oak starts to get slightly assertive and the baking spices go stronger and as it lingers turns to clove. Very long finish on this bourbon.

I had my wife try it and she said it drank hot and the ethanol dominated her palate, so while this bourbon was fine for my cask strength palate, this may not be as smooth as some people would like. It may be that the triple distilled process I have been told about this bourbon gets the distillation proof very high before it being cut to 125 for barrelling.

I think this bourbon is sold at 100 proof and a $50 price point. And the bourbon nerds out there can ruminate on whether a pot still in Virginia named Mary changed the character of bourbon distilled at Buffalo Trace (like me, because I just did). So this is definitely bourbon nerd whiskey.