Mount Vernon flooding the market with 200 bottles of Washington’s whiskey

From a press release: 

In honor of Virginia Spirits Month, Mount Vernon this September will release 200 bottles of George Washington’s Straight Rye Premium Whiskey, which was distilled at Mount Vernon’s reconstructed distillery using Washington’s original recipe. While whiskey was not aged in Washington’s time, this spirit was aged for four years in charred oak barrels to appeal to modern palettes. George Washington’s Straight Rye Premium Whiskey is available in 375ml bottles for purchase in-person only at the Shops at Mount Vernon and George Washington’s Distillery & Gristmill site.

 

According to Washington’s distillery ledgers from 1798 and 1799, his whiskey consisted of 60% rye, 35% corn and 5% malted barley. Mount Vernon’s finest whiskey release to date, this aged spirit smells of fruit with a hint of oak from the barrels and has a fruit-forward taste of apples, apricots, and baking spices. Mount Vernon staff used this recipe and traditional 18th-century methods in the production of the George Washington Straight Rye Premium Whiskey. This included grinding of all the grain in Washington’s reconstructed water-powered gristmill, fermenting in wooden mash tubs and distilling in copper pot stills heated by wood fires.

 

George Washington began commercial distilling in 1797 at the urging of his Scottish farm manager, James Anderson, who had experience distilling grain in Scotland and Virginia. By 1799, Washington was the largest whiskey producer in America, distilling almost 11,000 gallons that year.