George Washington, Distiller

There's a lot of history and 'lore' behind bourbon so discuss both here.

Moderator: Squire

George Washington, Distiller

Unread postby cowdery » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:53 pm

As some of you may know, George Washington, after his presidency, operated a commercial-scale distillery on his Mount Vernon estate. His estate manager was a Scot who suggested the distillery, as the farm already had a gristmill and grew all the necessary grains. The distillery operated from 1797 to 1800 and was one of the largest of its day, with five stills.

I spoke recently with Dennis Pogue, the Associate Director, Preservation, at Mount Vernon. He mentioned that Washington documented all of his farm activities thoroughly. An interesting fact he told me is that Washington sold three grades of whiskey. His "common" whiskey was double-distilled and sold for 60 cents a gallon. His higher grades were either triple- or quadruple-distilled and sold for up to $1.00 a gallon. He also flavored some of his whiskey with cinnamon.
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Unread postby bunghole » Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:23 pm

Chuck,

I'd not heard of the flavoring with cinnamon before.

Why were you at Mount Vernon, and didn't call me? Or bother to travel 150 miles south to eat some of Vickie's traditional southern cooking?

Mike Veach will travel some 400 miles in order to digest Vickie's culinary delights.

You must not have been hungry.

Linn & Vickie in Virginia
User avatar
bunghole
Registered User
 
Posts: 2157
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:42 am
Location: Stuart's Draft, Virginia

Unread postby cowdery » Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:40 pm

Press junkets, which this was, may sound like fun but you are, effectively, a prisoner of your hosts. I was there less than 24 hours.
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Unread postby gillmang » Sat Aug 27, 2005 10:52 am

Interesting about the multiple distillations and confirmed in the early distilling texts I've read. We might think double-distilled should be good enough. But it was sold new or almost, so would taste like modern white dog. Refined tastes of the time would have wanted something much more neutral. So a quadruple distilled whiskey would end up tasting like - modern vodkas many of which are 3 or 4 times distilled - and flavoured. There really isn't anything new under the sun - except the Internet. :)

Gary
User avatar
gillmang
Vatman
 
Posts: 2173
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 4:44 pm

Unread postby cowdery » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:54 am

On September 28, 2005, I attended the dedication of George Washington's reconstructed distillery at Mount Vernon in Virginia, which included rum making in an 18th center replica still, and the bottling of a unique whiskey blended at Mount Vernon. Click here to watch the slide show.
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Unread postby Brewer » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:48 am

Nice pictures Chuck. Thanks for adding the link.
Bob
User avatar
Brewer
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 1481
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:44 am
Location: LI, NY

Unread postby bunghole » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:51 pm

Good to see that the reconstruction of Gen'l Washington's Douge Run distillery is well underway. It's going to be very nice when it's finished.
Thanks for the photo link, Chuck.

Linn
User avatar
bunghole
Registered User
 
Posts: 2157
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:42 am
Location: Stuart's Draft, Virginia

Unread postby jbohan » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:40 am

Chuck,

I didn't see Joe Dangler in any of the pictures, was he there that day ?
To long ashes and long finishes
User avatar
jbohan
True Friend
 
Posts: 124
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:29 pm
Location: Atlanta area

Unread postby cowdery » Fri Dec 09, 2005 5:12 pm

Now that I think of it, I don't believe he was, although he was at the dinner in Alexandria the previous night.
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Unread postby jbohan » Fri Jul 07, 2006 10:10 pm

By the way, I know it's a fuzzy picture, but my avatar is actually Joe Danlger at the first bottling of the Washignton Whiskey, wearing his colonial garb.
To long ashes and long finishes
User avatar
jbohan
True Friend
 
Posts: 124
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:29 pm
Location: Atlanta area

Unread postby cowdery » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:27 pm

I just returned from Mount Vernon. They called this event the "official dedication of the restored George Washington’s Distillery," which is exactly what they called last year's event, when they laid the cornerstone. Every year at about this time they try to create some big news happening about the project and they've been pretty successful at that, at generating publicity, which is part of the whole point.

The real project status is this: the building is built, in that the walls are up, the roof is on and the stills are installed. There's quite a lot of finishing to do yet. As it is, the interior is open to the roof, but there will in fact be a floor put in for a full second story, which will house a small museum and interpretive center.

They also haven't finished the landscaping or removed the construction fencing, that sort of thing.

It's supposed to open to the public in April, 2007.

I got a lot of hemming and hawing when I asked various people if the distillery was actually going to make whiskey, and I tried to ask a lot of practical questions related to that, but this wasn't the right forum.

The big draw for this event was His Royal Highness, the Duke of York (Randy Andy to you and me). That's why most of the guests, including most of the press, was there, so it was hard to have a substantive discussion with anyone about what happens next.

The dedication ceremony was in the afternoon. In the evening there was a big "gala" reception and dinner. The fireworks over the Potomac were cool and the beef tenderloin was pretty tasty.

The open bar was great, but the whiskey selection was mostly standard expressions, good ones but not what people here would consider special. As journalists have since the beginning of drinking and journalism (which had to have been invented at about the same time), the ink-stained wretches quickly sought out the best spirit that was on offer, without prejudice as to type, and it was Martell Cordon Bleu Cognac.

They have so many different things going on at these events, it's almost too much. After dinner there was an auction to raise money for Mount Vernon. Early in the afternoon, about 20 bottles of rye whiskey that was distilled at Mount Vernon about three years ago were filled. The bottles are very nice, very fancy, with hand-carved wooden stoppers. They are numbered. The one they presented to the Prince was number 4 (since he's fourth in the line of succession). They auctioned off bottles number 1 and 2 as a set, with the idea that the winning bidder would take one and donate the other one to the museum. The winning bidder was Marvin Shanken, for $100,000.

I figure the taste I snuck when they were bottling it was worth $2,000.
Attachments
stern prince.jpg
A stern prince.
stern prince.jpg (241.07 KiB) Viewed 12197 times
GW stills.jpg
Two of the five stills
GW stills.jpg (157.03 KiB) Viewed 12198 times
Last edited by cowdery on Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Unread postby cowdery » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:42 pm

One thing that they did have working was the cooling water for the condenser. Cool water from Dogue Creek is run into a trough along the ceiling line (I'm not quite sure how it gets up there), from which branch troughs direct it into the barrel that contains the worm, then it drains out the bottom into a floor drain. They had one of them working.
Attachments
GW still water CU.jpg
GW still water CU.jpg (304.33 KiB) Viewed 12195 times
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Unread postby cowdery » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:47 pm

A wider view of the previous scene.
Attachments
GW still water.jpg
GW still water.jpg (210.38 KiB) Viewed 12189 times
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Unread postby bunghole » Sat Sep 30, 2006 11:41 am

Thanks for the report & photos, Chuck! I find it interesting that the stills were totally encased in masonry with only the alembics exposed. It looks like they've done a fine job of the rebuilding of the distillery. Do you have some wide-angle shots of the entire distillery you could post?

:arrow: ima :smilebox:
User avatar
bunghole
Registered User
 
Posts: 2157
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:42 am
Location: Stuart's Draft, Virginia

Unread postby cowdery » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:30 am

I'm afraid I didn't take as many pictures as I should have and didn't take any wide shots of the building. It was a pretty hectic event and when I wear a tie there isn't enough blood flowing to my brain for me to think of everything.
- Chuck Cowdery

Author of Bourbon, Straight
User avatar
cowdery
Registered User
 
Posts: 1586
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm
Location: Chicago

Next

Return to Bourbon Lore

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 83 guests