MOUNT VERNON, Va. – George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate laid the cornerstone Wednesday for a monument to alcohol history: a reconstruction of the distillery where the nation’s first president produced a great quantity, if not a great quality, of whiskey.
In 1799 – just his third year of production – Washington produced nearly 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey and turned a profit of $7,500 – more than $100,000 in today’s dollars. But because he didn’t age his whiskey, his liquor never had the rich color and mellow taste modern whiskeys acquire by sitting for years in oak barrels.
“This would have been white lightning,” said James Rees, executive director of the Mount Vernon estate.
Mount Vernon hopes to open the reconstructed distillery to the public in spring 2007. It is being built next to a reconstructed gristmill also operated by Washington on a site a few miles west of the Mount Vernon mansion.
The Distilled Spirits Council has contributed more than $1 million to reconstruction of the distillery, which will be the only one of its kind in the country.
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