A. Smith Bowman Abraham Bowman Bourbon, bottled May 11, 2012

Abraham Bowman is a brand of the A.Smith Bowman distillery in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Ownership of the A. Smith Bowman disillery was acquired in 2002-2003 by Sazerac Company, which also owns the Buffalo Trace and 1792 Ridgemont/Barton/Tom Moore distilleries. Several of the recent and current offerings from A.Smith Bowman have been legacy products distilled prior to Sazerac Company's acquisition of the company. This is the highest % ABV whiskey I have yet encountered, and it has a very dark colour. The reviewed bottle is newly opened. It was distilled Dec 14, 1994, and bottled May 11, 2012, making it 17 years old

Nose: very strong penetrating sweet maple with sharp vanilla. Lots of natural caramel. Old bourbons don't need anything artificial for flavours or colouring. The spiciness from both rye and wood is here in spades but bundled, sharp, and high pitched. These are the usual baking spices of cloves, cinnamon/cassia, nutmeg, and black pepper. Some will find the alcohol greeting too strong here, but I love it. This is sweet intense spicy candy, in the best way. Fantastic nose. For a Big Flavours guy like me this gets a perfect score, neat. Water rounds out the nose a bit and greatly reduces the alcohol bite. Maple flavours are increased relative to the spices. This is also magnificent with water added

Taste: very intense spiciness. The wood also comes on stronger on the palate than in the nose. Woody, but not bitter. For my taste these are very enjoyable deep wood flavours, but some will find this a little too heavy with the deep wood flavours. This is a heavy wood trip on the palate, but sampled neat it is a very good quality wood experience

Water much reduces the spices and slightly reduces the wood flavours, with the wood flavours becoming even more prominent, and a bit reduced in quality. There is a slightly reduced alcohol greeting with water. I prefer this without water

Finish: strong long finish, which loses the spice, then closes on wood with added sweetness. Water doesn't add anything desirable to the finish. As with the palate, water shows the wood flavours in a lesser light

Balance: this is extraordinary bourbon in more ways than being at 73.75% ABV. Hard core spice-loving, oak-loving Big Flavours fans will find this in the top group of exceptional bourbon experiences. Those less enthusiastic about this are likely to be those either sensitive to big wood or big alcohol flavours. What tiredness there is in the oak is not noticeable for those who are comfortable drinking this neat, but becomes apparent when water is added

In summary: those who love Big Flavours and are not bothered by big alcohol greeting will find this superb. Those who need to add water will find flaws in the oak flavours after water is added. I am in the first group. The rest of you have been warned, and I would like your unwanted bottles