Brian Prewitt Named Master Distiller at A. Smith Bowman Distillery

Fredericksburg, VA. (Sept. 2013) – Brian Prewitt has been named Master Distiller at A. Smith Bowman Distillery. A native of Colorado, Prewitt has nearly 15 years of brewing and distilling experience.

Prewitt’s interest in the beverage industry was peaked when he landed a job at the New Belgium Brewing Company while attending Colorado State University obtaining his bachelor’s degree in food science. 

Upon graduation, Prewitt further honed his interest for brewing and distilling by completing the Master Brewers Program at University of California, Davis.  From there, he joined The Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver, Colo., eventually becoming its brewer.

When Prewitt saw an opportunity to try his hand at distilling spirits instead of beer, he jumped at the chance to join E&J Distilleries in Modesto, Calif. and was eventually named Senior Distiller.  It was at E&J that Prewitt was able to train under two Master Distillers with a combined experience of more than 70 years in the art of distillation, learning about raw material selection, fermentation, distillation, and maturation.

Prewitt is excited to carry on the Bowman family tradition of award-winning products while introducing some new offerings as well. “This is my dream job. To be able to work with the high quality spirits that are in the Bowman line already, plus have the freedom to try my hand at some experiments, well, I’m just ecstatic,” said Prewitt.      

Prewitt replaces former A. Smith Bowman Master Distiller Truman Cox, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this year.  Prewitt lives in Fredericksburg with his wife and three children. 

About A. Smith Bowman

A. Smith Bowman’s distilling roots date back to the years before Prohibition when the Bowman family had a granary and dairy farm in Sunset Hills, Virginia. They used excess grain from the family estate to distill spirits. In 1934, after the Repeal of Prohibition, Abram Smith Bowman and his sons continued the family tradition and built a more modern distillery in Fairfax County, Virginia called Sunset Hills Farm.  In response to the rapid rise of taxes in Northern Virginia, the Distillery was moved in 1988 and is now nestled in Spotsylvania County near the city of Fredericksburg, 60 miles away from the original location.

As a small and privately owned company, A. Smith Bowman Distillery continues the time-honored traditions on which it was founded. Considered a micro-distillery by today’s standards, A. Smith Bowman produces an assortment of hand-crafted spirits distilled from only the finest natural ingredients and using the latest technology. This micro-distillery focuses on the production of premium spirits honoring the legacy of Virginia’s first settlers. For more information on A. Smith Bowman, please visit http://www.asmithbowman.com/.