Smoke Wagon Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Nevada, USA

A rye-forward Straight Bourbon that is savory beyond its years.

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.

We don’t usually start these things by taking about the awards, but this is an exception. Smoke Wagon Straight Bourbon Whiskey was just awarded the Double Gold Medal at the 2020 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

"Double Gold" means that it was the unanimous choice of the judges. The flavor was developed by using barrels that were racked on the top two floors of the warehouse. The higher the floors, the hotter the heat which opens the wood pores and the more flavor that enters their rye-forward Spirit.

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.