Don’t miss this unique opportunity to try George Washington’s whiskey from the Historic Trades Mount Vernon team. They managed to reconstruct George Washington’s distillery and recreate spirits using 1797 recipes. This was the time when American whiskey production was at the intersection of old Scotch-Irish traditions and the new realities of a young country. It already had pronounced regional characteristics, but generally retained the features of colonial distillation.
George Washington’s distillery was no exception and used modern distillation methods popular in Northern Virginia. It was one of the largest distilleries in the state. About 11 thousand gallons (more than 40 thousand liters) of whiskey were produced per year.
The production used five copper stills, turned by local blacksmiths. Distillation is usually double, which preserves the rich taste, but does not hide the characteristic sharpness. Barrel aging is more accidental than planned: most batches were poured into freshly knocked oak barrels and sent along the James and Potomac rivers, where the drink acquires soft oak tones during the long transportation.
Virginia whiskey was popular and always in demand due to its high quality. “Our whiskey is like Virginia: direct, warm, and a little bold,” local newspapers often repeated.
