How a Small Virginia Distillery Became Sazerac’s Secret Weapon
We’re almost 20 years into America’s “bourbon boom,” and big producers no longer have a stranglehold on industry awards and recognition. That’s partly a function of time. These days, many small distillers have 10-plus-year barrels. More and more, that whiskey is competing against large, legacy producers — and sometimes coming out on top. Once adventurous upstarts, today’s most successful small distillers have accrued decades of experience mashing, fermenting, and distilling in their house styles. From grain to bottle, they know what they’re doing.
But on its way to accolades (and some undeniably great whiskey), Virginia’s A. Smith Bowman Distillery took a different path. Bowman doesn’t mill, mash, or ferment at all. It doesn’t even have grain silos, otherwise omnipresent fixtures at most distilleries. Tucked away near Fredericksburg, the facility instead redistills new make, double-distilled whiskey from partner producers. That triple-distilled spirit is then aged across a variety of cask types, many of them experimental.
The resulting products — some of which number only a couple thousand bottles per release — rank among American’s most coveted whiskeys. (Bowman has received particular praise for its Cask Strength Bourbon and Oak Series releases.) And the relatively tiny operation shows no signs of slowing down soon. This year has already seen another acclaimed Cask Strength release, in addition to the distillery’s first new rye in 16 years.
Unbound by some common production bottlenecks, Bowman occupies a unique role in parent company Sazerac’s whiskey portfolio. And if restriction breeds creativity, Bowman is certainly capitalizing, taking big swings that could be deemed too risky for larger production runs. Together with Sazerac’s other sites, the Virginia operation gives its parent company a unique testing ground for innovation — even if the tinkering happens at a small scale.
Here’s how A. Smith Bowman built its unique infrastructure — and how Virginia’s oldest continuously operating distillery became something of a hidden gem in an otherwise star-studded American whiskey portfolio.
A. Smith Bowman’s History and Virginia Roots
Bowman’s origins date back nearly a hundred years, generations before Double Gold Medals and online lotteries became indicators of whiskey success. The Bowman family ran a granary, dairy farm, and small distillery near Sunset Hills, Va. In 1934, with Prohibition in the rearview mirror, Kentucky native Abram Smith Bowman and his two sons opened a larger distillery, which they called Sunset Hills Farm. Between its founding and the 1950s, it was generally recognized as Virginia’s only legal whiskey distillery. It was perhaps best known for Virginia Gentleman, an 80-proof value brand still produced by Bowman and sold throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
The Bowmans eventually sold most of the surrounding land to developer Robert E. Simon, who used it to found the town of Reston. In 1988, the distillery moved 60 miles from Fairfax County to Spotsylvania County, where it sits today. The move came during what’s often referred to as the “Glut Era” of American whiskey; domestic demand for aged spirits was low, and producers needed to be cost conscious in order to make ends meet. A desire for streamlined, lower-hassle production helped define Bowman’s production methods to this day — namely, the lack of on-site processing for spent grain.
“When we moved here in the ’80s, the master distiller at the time was a man named Joe Dangler. He decided to not put in a dry house, which is what you do with your slop after distillation,” says David Bock, Bowman’s master distiller, who joined the company in 2022.
“[American] whiskey is typically double distilled. With that triple distillation, you’re not getting as spicy of a corn note. And you’re bringing more floral pieces forward, as well as a kind of softness and sweetness.”
“Once you’re done doing the stripping run [in distillation], you need to squeeze all the water out, and then you’re left with grain that’s mostly fiber and protein to turn into animal feed byproduct or something like that. He didn’t want to have to deal with that waste product. And so he decided to contract out his recipe, his mash bill, his fermentation, and the primary distillation.”
Because the distillery wasn’t processing grain, it didn’t need silos, mills, or fermentation tanks, which allowed for a smaller production footprint. To make their whiskey, Dangler and his team contracted new make distillate, then redistilled it on site before barreling. To do so, they partnered with one of the nation’s oldest and most storied producers: Ancient Age Distilling Co., known worldwide today as Buffalo Trace.
In 1992, Sazerac acquired Ancient Age. In 1999, that distillery was rebranded to Buffalo Trace, kicking off a gradual expansion of Sazerac’s American whiskey ambitions. And in 2003, after roughly 15 years of distilling partnership, the Bowman family sold its distillery to Sazerac.
That change in ownership marked the first time the distillery operated outside of Bowman family control. Post-acquisition, Dangler stayed on, eventually retiring from Bowman in 2011. He passed the title of master distiller to Truman Cox. Sadly and unexpectedly, Cox passed away two years later, and the role moved to Brian Prewitt. In 2022, Sazerac hired David Bock to take over production. Bock had previously worked at Celebration Distillation and as a founding distiller at NOLA Distilling, in addition to kickstarting the distilling program at Sazerac House in New Orleans. Prewitt now oversees distillation and aging operations for Sazerac as a whole.
No Grain, No Mash, No Fermentation: Producing Bowman
Today, A. Smith Bowman Distillery lists just under 20 employees on its website, seven of whom are tour guides. Distilling itself remains a small, hands-on operation.
Under Sazerac’s ownership, production shares a lot in common with how Dangler drew it up nearly 40 years ago, with one main caveat: Nowadays, that new make distillate doesn’t always come from Buffalo Trace. Rather, it’s sourced from one of several sister producers. Sazerac acquired Kentucky’s Barton 1972 Distillery in 2009. More recently, the conglomerate has also unveiled a new Tennessee distillery named AJ Bond. In theory, any Sazerac sister facility could be an origin source for Bowman distillate.
According to Bock, the vast majority of that distillate comes from a single bourbon mash bill and standardized yeast. (Notably, Sazerac distilleries do not disclose exact grain recipes.) Double-distilled, unaged whiskey is trucked to Virginia, where it’s run through Bowman’s 2,000-gallon copper pot still, “Mary.” The still itself is named after Abram Bowman’s mother; “George,” a 500-gallon still used for gin and experimental production, is named after Abram’s father.
Pot-still production is usually done in batches, with the kettle emptied after each run. In contrast, Bowman’s setup allows the team to run “Mary” like a continuous still. After an initial “heads” cut to start the day, distillate is gradually fed in, with operators constantly monitoring inputs like water temperature and input, steam, and distillate feed.
Because Bock and his team don’t control the first two rounds of distillation, these adjustments are the main factors that influence flavor prior to barreling. During this third distillation, the whiskey itself doesn’t change much in proof, often fewer than 10 points. Instead, the team is looking for subtle shifts in flavor to determine the course of action. It’s a constantly fluctuating balance, one Bock says is best learned via feel and taste.
“I think that we are small enough currently that we still have the ability to be agile in our experiments and in our products. When we’re experimenting and when I do smaller volumes, I may use that 500- gallon still, I may go out and try to find a different yeast [for our partner distilleries to use]. And so we take more risk than some other plants that don’t have that ability or have more production constraints.”
“Based on the years of experience we have running this still, we can determine, ‘Hey, what we’re tasting right now means the steam pressure’s dropping.’ Or maybe you’re putting too much of the feed in, and you need to lower it down to get the proof where we want or to get that consistent flavor profile.”
For Bock, it’s a delicate dance that results in unique products.
“[American] whiskey is typically double distilled,” says Bock. “With that triple distillation, you’re not getting as spicy of a corn note. And you’re bringing more floral pieces forward, as well as a kind of softness and sweetness.”
A. Smith Bowman Today
Among American producers, redistillation isn’t exactly unique to Bowman. Numerous contract distillers sell bespoke first- or second-run spirits to companies, which may then redistill or barrel at their own facilities.
But Bowman’s success with the process is irrefutable. If industry credibility is any indication, Bowman’s softer, sweeter, more floral profile has paid off. And while spirits awards aren’t be-all, end-all, over the past decade, the distillery has built up quite a trophy case.
The distillery’s always-on bourbons include Bowman Brothers Small Batch (90 proof), Isaac Bowman Port Barrel Finished (92 proof), and John J. Bowman Single Barrel (100 proof). (Bowman also produces Deep Run Vodka and Tinkerman’s Gin.) In 2016 and 2017, A. Smith Bowman won back-to-back “World’s Best Bourbon” designations at the World Whiskies Awards. The consecutive honors were awarded for a version of the port-finished bourbon (2016) followed by a single barrel bottling (2017). In 2021, Bowman Single Barrel won Best of Class at the New York World Wine & Spirits Competition.
More recently, Bowman’s more limited expressions have garnered significant attention. Among them is a (generally annual) Cask Strength Bourbon, an uncut whiskey blended from barrels aged at least 10 years. In 2025, Cask Strength Batch 4 received the top score of all entrants at the International Whisky Competition. That recognition could be, at least in part, attributed to well-aged whiskey, with many limited editions carrying decade-plus age statements.
Beyond Cask Strength, the distillery’s Special Release Series has also been a hit among consumers. The line began in 2010 with a 9-year rye whiskey and has since included mostly bourbons with a variety of mash bills, ages, and barrel types. A recent trio of Oak Series bottles compared 12-year whiskeys aged across French, American, and Hungarian oak barrels. While the series proved popular — and delicious — only a couple thousand bottles were released for each expression. The experimental Hungarian Oak bottling even landed a spot on VinePair’s 50 Best Spirits of 2025 list.
Indeed, demand for Cask Strength and Special Release bottles far outstrips supply, which has led Bowman to institute an online lottery system. A limited number of bottles are sometimes also released via Sazerac’s national distributor network. For its 26th Special Release in May 2026, Bowman announced another rye, its first in 16 years.
In Bock’s eyes, accolades and attention are welcome, but not defining. Even positive reviews risk distracting from his core mission.
“Typically, I don’t pay much attention to reviews, because I worry that it will influence what I do next,” he says. “I’ll give an example. Brian Prewitt was the master distiller to release Cask Strength Batch 1. It came out incredibly high-proof, and it got great reviews. And I was like, ‘Well, I need to produce a really high proof to follow.’ And so I came out with Batch 2. Looking back, I could have done better with that release, because I was chasing proof versus chasing what I wanted the whiskey to taste like.”
Tuning out the noise is a big part of Bock’s process, allowing his palate to remain firmly in the driver’s seat.
“That’s really where I’m steering the ship right now, looking at what I think tastes good, when I think these barrels are done, and ultimately what I think is a good blend of barrels for any given release.”
An Experimental Future
Bowman hasn’t maxed out its distilling capacity. And since it doesn’t have the overhead of mashing, fermentation, and initial distillation, Bock and his team have the space — and bandwidth — to experiment. The distillery is also strategic with its downtime, which allows for experimentation across the source distillate, distillation techniques, and wood aging. Bock cites the recent Oak Series as a prime example of long-term, successful execution. Of course, as with all things in whiskey, results take time. Those particular barrels were laid down by Truman Cox and shepherded through maturation by Brian Prewitt. Bock built on their work and oversaw batching of the final releases. He hopes to continue his predecessors’ legacy of experiments gone right.
“When I do have downtime, I’ll play around with different mash bills, different yeast, different wood types, all kinds of other experiments that you could think of or that I haven’t yet tried to do.”
Bock’s experiments give Sazerac another innovation lever to pull. Again, a smaller footprint is to Bowman’s advantage. While sister distillery Buffalo Trace also boasts an experimental still, Bowman can stay uniquely nimble in its approach. Once new make spirit shows up, Bock and his team get right to work — without worrying about spent mash, yeast contamination, or wait times that come with on-site fermentation.
“I think that we are small enough currently that we still have the ability to be agile in our experiments and in our products,” he says. “When we’re experimenting and when I do smaller volumes, I may use that 500-gallon still, I may go out and try to find a different yeast [for our partner distilleries to use]. And so we take more risk than some other plants that don’t have that ability or have more production constraints.”
“I really want to try to push us to be on that forefront of experimenting, to try different pieces that, if we were at a larger facility, just wouldn’t make sense to try.”
The article How a Small Virginia Distillery Became Sazerac’s Secret Weapon appeared first on VinePair.