by 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
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- A stern prince.
- stern prince.jpg (241.07 KiB) Viewed 15135 times
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- Two of the five stills
- GW stills.jpg (157.03 KiB) Viewed 15136 times
Last edited by
cowdery on Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.