Father of our country; Whiskey peddler

I was invited to the opening ceremony for the George Washington Distillery on Friday March 30th in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

It was a very nice event - yet a little too politically focused for my tastes. There were way too many speeches - the Director of Historic Mount Vernon; the head of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association; The President of the Distilled Spirits Council; the chairman of the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Council; a  Virginia State Senator; John Manfreda from the Alcohol Tax & Trade Bureau; and more. Yet somehow Virginia Governor Tim Kaine didn't deem it important enough to attend.

F'ing politicians.

THEN

History

Apparently, Old George was quite the whiskey producer back in the day. Originally building the distillery between 1797 and 1798, George didn't enjoy the distillery for long - passing on in 1799.

And who did the distilling? A Scotsman named James Anderson was the master distiller, aided by his son John and six slaves.

After Martha's death, The Andersons left the operation and the distillery was passed on to Washington's nephew Lawrence Lewis who owned, but did not operate the distillery until it was destroyed by a fire in 1814.

Apparently Washington's distillery was the largest in the fledgling United States at 2,250 square feet pumping out a primarily rye whiskey 12 months a year. By comparison, the average distillery at that time was 800 square feet with only one or two pot stills operating for just a month or two.

Equipment

The distillery had five copper pot stills with a total capacity of 616 gallons, made by George McMunn, an Alexandria coppersmith.

Value

In 1799, George pumped out 11,000 gallons of whisky - valued at $7,500  (the equivalent of $120,000 in today's money) - whilst the average distillery was producing 650 gallons with a value of about $460. 

NOW

Reconstruction

After 10 years of research the excavation and reconstruction was completed at a cost of $2.1 million with members of the Distilled Spirits Council  (Bacardi, Barton, Brown-Forman, Diageo, Sidney Frank, Future Brands, Luxco, Moet Hennessy USA, Remy Cointreau USA, Pernod Ricard USA and Suntory) kicking in the vast majority of the funds.

Distilled Spirits Council President, Peter Cressy said:

The reconstruction of George Washington's distillery is important to fully understanding the entrepreneurial spirit of our nation's founding father. washington was the most successful whiskey distiller of his time, and a strong proponent of responsibility and moderation. Modern distillers could have no better role model.

Grand Opening

The day of the grand opening started with some of America's best distillers (in period costume) producing the first spirit. Gerald Webb and John Lunn (George Dickel), Chris Morris (Woodford Reserve, pictured), Jerry Dalton (Jim Beam), David Pickerell (Maker's Mark), Ken Pierce (Barton), Joe Dangler (Virginia Gentleman) and Jimmy Russell (Wild Turkey). Michael and Rob Sherman of Vendome Copper & Brass were also there. I hadn't met most of these guys before, and enjoyed talking with them, but it was a particular honor to chat with Jimmy Russell and tell him how much I enjoy his Russell Reserve.

Equipment

As I mentioned, the original distillery used five copper pot stills with a total capacity of 616 gallons - these stills were recreated by the renowned Vendome Copper & Brass Works of Louisville, Kentucky. I asked Michael Sherman of Vendome if they had original still blueprints to work from. Unfortunately, they did not, instead working from their knowledge of late 18th century still design.

Production

Chris Morris tells me that for now, the beer is being fermented down in Kentucky at Woodford Reserve and shipped to Mount Vernon for distillation. While the distillery is licensed to create their own mash, there are currently no plans to do so. And in case you're interested (and I know you are), the mash bill for the beer is 60% rye, 35% corn and 5% malted barley.

I got to sample some of the product that had been created previously and matured for a year. It was certainly immature, and had that distinct rye bite that I don't particularly enjoy. I will be interested to see how long the final product is matured for - and what it tastes like at that time.

Speaking of maturation, the whiskey will not be aged on site as there is no warehouse. Strictly speaking this is accurate since in Washington's day whiskey would not have been matured. Of course there are modern laws regarding the definition of whiskey AND the palates of the buying public to consider - so the newly produced spirit will be matured in be a concession to the modern age.

When I asked where maturation would take place, I was told that the whiskey would be matured at an undisclosed location in Virginia - my guess is that the maturation will take place at Bowman's facility in Fredericksburg, Virginia - though no one could (or would) verify that.

Visiting

I understand that costumed actors will "operate" the distillery every day from April through October - but I got the impression that actual distillation will only take place on specific occasions - other times, there will be only water running through the stills. Regardless, this is a working distillery and, for the most part, the show is for tourists.

In the future you will be able to buy small bottles of matured whiskey at the distillery or the estate gift shop - it literally took an act of (State) legislation to allow this. Virginia is a control state and tightly controls the sale of alcoholic beverages. In order for the gift shops to be legally allowed to sell the whiskey, The Virginia legislature passed a special law allowing the gift shops to become ABC outlets.

When I am elected governor (by write-in of course) the first thing I will do is re-architect the alcohol policy.

But I digress...

If your travels bring you anywhere near the DC area, make sure to visit Mount Vernon and see a piece of American distilling history.

You'll gain new respect for the father of our country.

Comments

[Alex Lange]

Ben Franklin wanted the national bird to be the Wild Turkey, so more than fitting that Jimmy Russell was there in some itchy vintage duds.

[John Conlin]

if you want the best whisky then you come to scotland no one produces better whisky than us john conlin cooper clyde cooperage

[Christopher Lange]

Interesting blog topic. Doing research on early Scotch Distilleries in US. I found an obscure reference to my father H. Fredrick Lange being the engineer/designer of the first such distillery. I have not been able to find any other reference to this topic, so wonder if your readership might have some knowledge.

Keep up the good work, and I take my Scotch neat

Christopher Lange