David Bock

David Bock entered the Virginia whiskey industry through the working distilleries of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was there that he developed the production experience and management practice that eventually brought him to Fredericksburg, Virginia, and into one of the east coast’s most historic distilling operations.

In 2013, Bock was hired as a shift distiller for New Orleans’ Celebration Distillation, where he was involved with managing fermentation for the company’s traditional Louisiana rum spirits. By 2015, Bock was seeking another opportunity, so he moved to the New Orleans Lager and Ale (NOLA) Brewing Company as one of that establishment’s three founding members. NOLA, which has was incorporated as New Orleans Libations and Alcohol Distilling Company, LLC.,  began operations in October of that year. At NOLA, Bock was responsible for the initial buildout of the distillery and overall layout of the production floor in addition to master distiller duties.

Bock’s next appointment was with New Orleans’ famed Sazerac House in 2019. The Sazerac House is an educational and visitor attraction developed by the Sazerac Company to interpret the city's long association with distilled spirits and cocktail history. Serving as Distillery Operations Manager, Bock helped establish its distilling program from the ground up. His responsibilities included obtaining raw materials, teaching distillation techniques to new employees, introducing production systems, and establishing bottling lines. The position required him to coordinate multiple aspects of a working distillery while operating within a facility designed to demonstrate the production and history of spirits to visitors.

Three years later, in 2022, Bock was asked by parent company Sazerac to transfer to A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to assume responsibility for the production and operations of one of the Commonwealth's oldest whiskey-making enterprises. A. Smith Bowman’s origins date to 1927, when Abram Smith Bowman purchased the 7,200-acre Sunset Hills farm in Fairfax County for agricultural purposes. The farm's grain production eventually encouraged Bowman to establish a distillery in 1934, with assistance from his sons. The family introduced Virginia Gentleman whiskey, and until the 1950s the company was Virginia's only legal whiskey producer. Bock assumed responsibility for a whiskey portfolio that includes John J. Bowman Single Barrel Bourbon, Bowman Brothers Small Batch Bourbon, and Virginia Gentleman. The distillery's production process is distinguished by its use of triple distillation for its bourbons, an approach less common among American bourbon producers. Its two stills, Mary and George, are named in honor of the parents of the Bowman brothers. Bock's responsibilities immediately included maintaining established production standards while longer-term goals included developing additional expressions through the distillery's experimental whiskey program.

The experimental program became particularly prominent in 2024 with the introduction of the Abraham Bowman Oak Series. Its first release featured bourbon aged for twelve years in French oak barrels, using both charred and uncharred wood to investigate differences in flavor development. A second release, featuring American white oak, followed in November 2024. The series concluded in 2025 with Hungarian oak, extending an experimental project originally begun under popular former master distiller Truman “Skip” Cox, who had passed away unexpectedly in 2013 at the age of only 44.

Another important achievement came in 2025 with the fourth release of A. Smith Bowman Cask Strength Bourbon. Bock personally selected barrels for the whiskey, which had matured for at least ten years and was bottled uncut and without chill filtration at 139.7 proof. At the 2025 International Whisky Competition, the bourbon received 97.01 points and earned both Best Bourbon Whiskey and Best American Whiskey honors. It ranked second among all whiskeys evaluated in the competition, finishing only 0.03 points behind the highest-scoring entry.

To this point, there is surprisingly little public information that has been made available regarding David Bock's early life, education, or marital status, though his varied and fascinating career has been documented extensively. As of late 2026, the talented Bock was still directing production at Bowman, a company whose traditional whiskey-making history has now extended across more than nine decades. His responsibilities still combine the preservation of established bourbon expressions with the development of experimental releases involving different grains, maturation techniques, and barrel treatments. His career has progressed from the innovative craft distilleries of New Orleans to the leadership of a historic Virginia whiskey producer, with multiple international awards providing measurable achievement during his tenures.

Sources:

  1. A. Smith Bowman Distillery official website, asmithbowman.com

  2. VinePair, “How a Small Virginia Distillery Became Sazerac’s Secret Weapon”, 2026, vinepair.com

  3. American Whiskey Magazine, “Experimental Whiskey Series Launched by A Smith Bowman Distillery”, April 4, 2024, americanwhiskeymag.com

  4. Forbes, “The World’s Best Bourbon According to the 2025 International Whisky Competition”, Brad Japhe, July 6, 2025, forbes.com

Contributed by Tracy McLemore, Fairview, Tennessee