Smoke Wagon Small Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Nevada, USA

Small batches of four and five-year-old Bourbon combined to strike a great balance between sweet and spice.

One night in 2004 after a long day of work, Jonathan Hensleigh stumbled into an Eagle Rock, California, bar owned by Aaron Chepenik. The two men struck up a friendship over a love of Spirits and decided to open a bar together — The Griffin, located on the famous Freemont Street in old-town Las Vegas. They soon saw an opportunity to craft their own signature Spirits made the right way. They launched Nevada H&C Distilling Company, producing Silver Dollar Vodka and a range of Smoke Wagon Bourbons.

Smoke Wagon Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey is a blend of small batch, high rye Bourbons aged four and five years in new oak with a dark #4 char. The reason is that the four year-old barrels had more rye spice, but the five year-old barrels favored the caramel and toffee notes. Blending the two strikes a good balance.

And it’s bottled at 50% ABV, so it will stand up to ice and cocktails without a problem. This edition was first released in 2016 and has taken home the Gold Medal in San Francisco three years running.

Smartass Corner:
Jonathan Hensleigh — one of the founders of Nevada H&C Distilling Company — is an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter and director. He has written and/or directed several famous films, including Jumanji, Con Air, The Saint, Armageddon, Gone in 60 Seconds, and many more.

The bottle of this expression is usually made of amber glass, but unfortunately, the producers ran out of it, so the brand started bottling it in clear glass bottles. This was temporary, as clear glass was only used between May and August 2021. There is still a chance that you might receive a bottle different than what is in the picture. Rest assured, the liquid remains the same, regardless of the design.