The A. Smith Bowman Distillery out of Virginia is known to bourbon geeks not just for its regular bourbon offerings, but also for its extremely limited, hard-to-get-a-hold-of seasonal releases. This series is offered up a few times a year. For its 15th release, the distillery has chosen a very off the beaten path variant that is gingerbread coca finished.
Now, should you think the new Abraham Bowman Limited Edition Gingerbread Cocoa Finished Bourbon had cookies and chocolate stuffed into the barrel with it, think again. What you’ve got here is a rather interesting whiskey experiment, as spelled out by the distillery, which was
[A]ged in a special batch of barrels used by A. Smith Bowman Distillery and Hardywood Park Craft Brewery in Virginia. The barrels originated at A. Smith Bowman in 2010, where they aged bourbon for four and a half years. The barrels were emptied and sent to Hardywood Park Brewery to be filled with two special beers: six barrels aged Gingerbread Stout and four barrels aged Foolery Imperial Milk Stout.
Both of the beers aged inside these barrels for eight months before being emptied again and sent back to A. Smith Bowman in March 2015. They were then finally filled for the last time with bourbon that had aged for more than eight years inside of new charred white oak barrels. This bourbon was distilled in December of 2006 and was allowed to finish for 17 months inside these special barrels.
“This bourbon tastes of ginger, vanilla, and cinnamon topped off with notes of cocoa,” said A. Smith Bowman master distiller Brian Prewitt in a prepared statement. [PDF] “The gingerbread spice aroma gives way to caramel and toasty oak and finishes with a smooth and pleasant finish.”
The bourbon, which was released from the distillery at the beginning of this month for around $40, is aged nine years, eight months and bottled at 90 proof. It is 375 ml size only. As we went to press on this story we learned it was already sold out in Virginia and at the distillery, but there may still be some bottles floating around in other states. Good luck trying to find it!
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