The new release from the wonderful A. Smith Bowman Distillery is inspired by the Limited Release from 2016. That special little whiskey was awarded World's Best Bourbon by Whisky Magazine. Now a "standard release" from the little distillery in Virginia, it remains extremely limited and hard to find. It begins with the classic Bowman Bourbon, an undisclosed blend of the two Buffalo Trace mashbills from the distillery in Kentucky. This spirit is trucked to Virginia where it is distilled a third time on A. Smith's experimental pot still. After several years of aging, the bourbon is transfered into a mixture of Virginia and Portoguese Port Casks. This means fortified red wine aged in American and European Oak inlfuencing the already complex bourbon. As with all wine cask finished bourbon, we start slightly apprehensive. Have they over done it? Did they ruin perfectly good bourbon with some poor quality wine casks? The key to the use of Port casks in bourbon production is adding just the right amount of sweet red fruit, rich creamy oak and barrel spice without disrupting the inherent quality and flavors of the original bourbon--unless of course you're trying to hide something. In this case there's absolutely nothing to hide and I'm happy to say that Bowman has achieved the wonderful balance between the powerful flavors of the port and the wonderful bourbon being distilled there. Perfect for anyone who is a fan of Angel's Envy and wants to step it up a notch.