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Whiskey Flows Once More at Mount Vernon
Tue Oct 21, 7:00 PM ET
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer

MOUNT VERNON, Va. - George Washington's estate on the Potomac River
hasn't been home to a working distillery for about two centuries, but
that changed Tuesday as whiskey makers recreated the father of the
country's popular recipe.


"For me, it's like standing on hallowed ground," Jim Beam master
distiller Jerry Dalton said as he took a break from preparing the 18th
century recipe to survey the scene, three miles from the main house
where Washington lived from 1754 until he died in 1799.


Washington started his whiskey business in 1797, after leaving
politics. The enterprise (news - web sites), which relied on slaves,
thrived. It yielded 11,000 gallons of whiskey and a profit of $7,500 —
or about $105,000 in today's dollars — in one year.


Today's top whiskey makers spent hours Tuesday mixing, heating and
cooling Washington's "mash bill," or recipe, of rye, corn and malted
barley. They then ran their creation through a copper still atop an
open fire.


Dalton looked relieved after sipping the creation, which he called
spicy and aromatic.


"I had concerns about it. I mean this is so primitive," Dalton said
eyeing the outdoor flame and ancient-looking pots. "I thought it would
be a little murky, but that's not the case at all."


They're planning to age the whiskey in two barrels for a couple years,
and when they think it's ready, they will auction off an estimated 96
bottles of it to benefit the Mount Vernon estate.


The distillers did hit a couple of snags with their brew.


A special yeast that was shipped to Virginia from the Woodford Reserve
distillery in central Kentucky died en route, so the whiskey makers
had to pick up ordinary yeast at a suburban Washington grocery store.


Also, the team put too much of their concoction in the still during a
test, producing a sample that "tasted like burnt toast, burnt rye
bread toast," said Joseph Dangler, who makes Virginia Gentleman
bourbon.


Just adjacent to the outdoor area where the distillers recreated
Washington's whiskey are the rocks and bricks that make up the
foundation of the first president's distillery. The Distilled Spirits
Council, the industry's trade group, is spending more than $1 million
to excavate the site and rebuild the distillery. The project is
expected to be completed in two years.


Mount Vernon Associate Director Dennis Pogue said officials would not
distill liquor at the site but would explain to visitors how
Washington did it back in the late 1700s.


As school children ran around on a class trip, Pogue talked about the
careful "balancing act" of explaining Washington's life to visitors
without promoting alcohol.


The association has been helpful to the industry, said Phil Lynch,
vice president of Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman, which makes top
whiskey seller Jack Daniels.


"George Washington, he was the one that won the Revolutionary War. He
was the first president," Lynch said. "It helps put into perspective
that there's nothing wrong with the distilling process."


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Mount Vernon: http://www.mountvernon.org/