Virginia Gentleman is a brand of
bourbon whiskey distilled in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
and re-distilled in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The brand's motto was "The Aristocrat of Them All" (sometimes rendered as "The Aristocrats of Them All" when advertised with
Smith Bowman Distilleries' Fairfax County Bourbon).
Products
Virginia Gentleman is an 80-proof (40 percent alcohol) whiskey. The distillery also offers a 90-proof
small batch
Small batch whiskey is whiskey produced by mixing the contents of a relatively small number of selected barrels. Small batch whiskeys are commercially positioned for the upper-premium market. The term is most commonly used for American whiskey bu ...
version. Both are triple-distilled.
History
Virginia Gentleman's producer,
A. Smith Bowman Distillery, was founded in 1934
by Abram Smith Bowman and his sons, Smith and DeLong. It was originally based on the Bowman family's Sunset Hills Farm in
Fairfax County, Virginia, in what later became the planned community of
Reston. In 1988, it relocated to
Spotsylvania County
Spotsylvania County is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the July 2021 estimate, the population was 143,676. Its county seat is Spotsylvania Courthouse.
History
At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area that bec ...
, near
Fredericksburg, into the former
FMC Corp.
FMC Corporation is an American chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which originated as an insecticide producer in 1883 and later diversified into other industries. In 1941 at the beginning of US involvemen ...
cellophane
Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and liquid water makes it useful for food packaging. Cellophane is highly permeable to water vapour, but may be coated ...
plant. The distillery used to be an independent family operation, but it has been owned since 2003 by the
Buffalo Trace Distillery of
Frankfort, Kentucky, which provides the unfinished distillate that becomes Virginia Gentleman. (Buffalo Trace is itself a unit of
Sazerac Company
Sazerac Company, Inc is a privately held American alcoholic beverage company headquartered in Metairie in the metropolitan area of New Orleans, Louisiana, but with its principal office in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is owned by billionair ...
, an international beverage corporation based in
Metairie, Louisiana.) The company has since expanded its production into hot sauces and barbecue sauces under the Virginia Gentleman label.
Virginia Gentleman's former label depicted a
Revolution-era scene of two white men being served by a
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
footman
A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage.
Etymology
Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...
(presumably a
slave), all three in
aristocratic dress, standing in front of a
plantation-style manor. By at least the 1970s the label was redesigned with the black footman becoming white.
Virginia Gentleman's motto, "The Aristocrat of Them All", was discontinued some time after, at least from appearing on the label. The label as of 2014 depicted three men in a similar arrangement, none of which are black or a servant.
References
External links
A. Smith Bowman DistilleryProof66.com Liquor Ratings and Reviews
{{Alcoholic drinks
Bourbon whiskey
Sazerac Company brands