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A. Smith Bowman Distillery
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The now abandoned whiskey distillery, long operated by the Bowman family.
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| Location: | 1875 Old Reston Avenue, Reston, Virginia |
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| Built: | 1892 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 99001503[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | December 9, 1999 |
The A. Smith Bowman Distillery is a distillery that was originally based on the Bowman family's Sunset Hills Farm in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA, in what later became the planned community of Reston. It was founded in 1934, after the end of Prohibition, by Abram Smith Bowman and his sons, Smith and DeLong.[2] In February 1988, it relocated to Spotsylvania County, near Fredericksburg, into a former FMC Corp. cellophane plant at One Bowman Drive, where operation continues as a microdistillery.[3] The current A. Smith Bowman distillery is part of the Sazerac Company, which is a large privately-owned liquor producer with headquarters in New Orleans.[4] It produces Virginia Gentleman bourbon and other products including non-bourbon whiskey, rum, vodka, and gin.
The building in which the distillery originally operated was constructed circa 1892, serving as the town hall for Wiehle, as well as a church. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service in 1999,[5] and has been the subject of several rezoning applications.[6][7][8] A proposal to construct condominiums on the site was approved September 24, 2007.[9][10] An earlier version of the proposal mentioned 8 units as new buildings (on 0.23 acres), in addition to constructing 3 units within the historic structure, while noting that it replaced a planned use of the structure as cultural center (i.e., for the Greater Reston Arts Center).[11] Its address is 1875 Old Reston Avenue,[2] Reston, VA, 20190.