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By F. Sot Fitzgerald Virginia Gentleman is made in Fredericksberg, which is located in the deliciously named Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Virginia, you ask? Yes, Virginia, and if my memory serves, A Smith Bowman Distillery, which produces Virginia Gentleman, is the only surviving distillery in Virginia. |
| A quick history
aside: By the begin of the eighteenth century Virginia was a major producer
of whiskey. George Washington himself, after leaving the office,
lived in Mount Vernon, Virginia and made some purportedly very popular
hooch.
Anyway, George is long dead and gone as is his whiskey. So we move on. Virginia Gentleman is a slightly spicy and quite sweet corn whiskey and can be had for a low price- about $15.00 a fifth. It's bottle is easy to spot- just look for the charming label, gold lettering and edges, framing an idyllic fox hunt from a century or more past. It's aged 6 years in charred oak barrels, and yes oh yes can you taste the oak. I speculate that these barrels are also responsible for the breadth Virginia Gentleman's taste; oak barrels, recall, are often used to age wine and are prized for their ability to offer nuance. Virginia Gentleman is a good whiskey, and those with a discerning tongue will no doubt gets endless delight swilling it and attempting to deconstruct its manifold flavors, which include a good swath of honey and a sweet nuttiness. (Rating ***1/2) |
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