JOHN J. BOWMAN PIONEER SPIRIT
Single Barrel (2024)MASH BILL – unstated (rumored Buffalo Trace mash bill #1)
PROOF – 100
AGE – NAS (rumored ~9-11 years)
DISTILLERY – A. Smith Bowman Distillery
PRICE – $98 (msrp is $70 before tax)
WORTH BUYING? – Almost…
The last bottle of John J. Bowman I enjoyed was a 2017 SiB, which I finally uncorked in 2020. It was excellent, just as a 2016 bottle had also been. Coming across like a suped-up rendition of the Buffalo Trace namesake bourbon, the Bowman SiB offered the fruity and oaky notes one associates with decently aged Buffalo Trace, with an added ringing quality from the copper pot distillation that A. Smith Bowman Distillery puts the distillate through after receiving it from Buffalo Trace.
That’s right. It’s a Buffalo Trace whiskey, distilled a third time and aged in Virginia by A. Smith Bowman. Though unstated on the label or in any marketing, the origin of the bourbon is a pretty open secret. A. Smith Bowman Distillery itself makes no allusions to it. But even in the green-on-green design of the bourbon’s back label, it still clearly states “produced by” and not “distilled by” them. And the flavor profile is unmistakable, so, there it is.
When I bought that 2017 bottle it cost ~$50 and was worth it. But word of the Buffalo Trace connection spread fast as the Bourbon Boom exploded around 2018. Now the price has doubled on most shelves. Still worth it?
Here we are, four days after uncorking and the second pour of the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – bright medium autumn oranges
NOSE – fresh-picked apples and apple juice, a heavy dose of cinnamon baking spices, dry brown sugar, vanilla, bright drippy caramel
TASTE – all the notes from the nose subdued within a wash of sweet and dry oak
FINISH – drying oak and wood spice, subtle bitter oak tannin, overripe apples, baking spices
OVERALL – like standing in a combo oak and apple grove in autumn
It happens that I’m tasting this bourbon on a rather fittingly autumnal day in late July. That’s not uncommon for San Francisco summer weather. The first wave of apples has even arrived in the garden, their aroma awakened by the nearby bay’s combination of summer warmth and misting fog.
The bourbon’s nose opens with an abundance of similar apple notes. The baking spices follow with equal oomph. Then the candy sweetness of caramel and vanilla come to join the fruity sweetness of apple.
The oak really comes tumbling in on the taste, tempered from overly drying things out by the strong apple aspects. This teetering balance continues on into the finish, where oak and spice ultimately win out despite the prevalent apple sweetness.
Interestingly, today my sense memory went not only to some of the oakier Buffalo Trace SiBs I’ve enjoyed, but the Bowman’s oak and baking spice notes also took me to some autumnal Wild Turkey experiences. It’s almost as if someone blended some well-aged Buffalo Trace with an 8-Year Wild Turkey 101. The result is a harvest season celebration of apples, oak, and baking spice.
It’s good. I can’t say it’s $100 or even $70 good. But it is $50 good, tops. I’d prefer it somewhere in the $40s, given I can get Wild Turkey 101 8-Year for around that, or a good Buffalo Trace SiB for even less. Without the FOMO-inducing Buffalo Trace name associated with it, I doubt the John J. Bowman SiB would command the attention it gets. But despite my cynicism toward Buffalo Trace and its fans’ mutual embrace of the distillery’s seemingly unwavering auto-unicorn status, I do appreciate what this bourbon has to offer—especially as a boy who grew up among apple orchards and climbing oak trees. This sweet and rustic bourbon conjures many memories.
Cheers!
The Right Spirit 