TINKERMAN’S GIN FROM VIRGINIA A TALE OF THREE EXPRESSIONS

HOLLYWOOD (Spiritsman) 9/30/19/–Small batch Gin continues to be hot in the spirits world and Tinkerman’s Gin is one of the best examples we have tried this year. This spirited Gin is distilled by the Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the master distiller Brian Prewitt. Smith Bowman is better known as a Bourbon House, and won awards in 2016 and 2017 from the prestigious Whisky Magazine. The company has released three varieties of the gin with Citrus Supreme, Sweet Spice and Curiously Bright and Complex.Prewitt took over in 2013 when his predecessor Truman Cox died.

In 2015 the company installed a copper pot still named George, so that Prewitt and his team could enhance their obsession with juniper experimentation. The magic ingredient has been combined with a variety of herbs, flowers, spices, fruits and vegetables to create a pretty good gin in the overcrowded market. The copper pot still has the added benefits of a reflux onion, optional gin basket and columns with bubble cap trays to enhance the experimentation potential.

The final three expressions were selected from about thirty versions, Retailing at $29.99 all three gins use 100% American grain and are 92 proof. The Citrus Supreme is distilled very slowly and uses additional botanicals Like lemon peel, Spanish orange, lime peel, lemongrass, vanilla bean, elderflower, coriander and others. This is a very floral gin with lots of Citrus and a very well mannered Italian juniper.

The Sweet Spice uses nutmeg, grains of paradise, coriander, American Juniper, angelica, wormwood, lemon verbena, orris root and a few others. This drink is aromatic with a rich character, spicy, bold and balanced. The Curiously Bright & Complex surprisingly uses Jasmine Green Tea, ginger lemongrass, Italian Juniper, and others to a lesser degree. A quite complex gin with even a touch of Asian fusion experience but with a delicate finish.

The founders of Smith Bowman had a farm in Sunset Hills, Virginia, way before prohibition where they used excess grain to distill spirits. In 1934 Abram Smith Bowman and his son moved to Fairfax County in Virginia and built a modern distillery. Next move came in 1988 to Fredericksburg In Spotsylvania County which is about sixty miles from the original location.

If you want to know more about the company’s other spirits then the two to Look out for are the Abraham Bowman Port Finished Bourbon or the John .Bowman Single Barrel. For those of you interested in this kind of thing The barrels used in the distillery are made of Missouri Ozark American white oak and are stacked upon pallets verses the rick system which is common in Kentucky.

www.tinkermansgin.com

www.asmithbowman.com