06/20/2007

George Washington, Distiller
By Tom Range, Sr. 

George Washington's fame as a soldier and president has tended to overshadow his considerable accomplishments as farmer, architect, livestock breeder and entrepreneur.  He worked tirelessly to improve the profitability and efficiency of his 8,000-acre Mount Vernon estate. 

In his late 20s, young Washington made the decision to turn from tobacco as his main crop to wheat.  In 1771, he built a gristmill on the plantation, a profitable venture that enabled him to market his wheat flour both locally and abroad. 

In 1797 upon his leaving office as President of the United States, at the urging of his Scottish plantation manager James Anderson, who had experience in distilling, Washington built a distillery adjacent to the mill.  The distillery, one of the largest on the East Coast, made 11,000 gallons of whiskey in 1799, its first year of operation, and produced a profit of $7,500, a considerable sum at that time.  The building measured 2,250 square feet. 

The overall manager of Mount Vernon, James Anderson, gave his son John management control of the distillery.  Six enslaved African-Americans named Hanson, Peter, Nat, Daniel, James and Timothy assisted him in the production process. 

The venture was so successful that, by October 1799, George Washington could write to his nephew; "Two hundred gallons of whiskey will be ready this day for your call, and the sooner it is taken the better, as the demand for this article (in these parts) is brisk…" The finished product was contained in barrels manufactured at the site and marketed to local farmers in Alexandria, and supplied the needs of the Mount Vernon plantation as well.  The distillery produced a great quantity of waste and this slop was fed to over 150 hogs and cattle penned at the site.

After Washington's death in 1799, the complex was passed down to a relative who apparently was not adept at running it and it was rented to a local operator.  After years in a state of disrepair, the distillery burnt to the ground in 1814.

Among the buildings being restored as part of the Mount Vernon historic site is this distillery, which had originally been located adjacent to the plantation's gristmill.  Plans are to eventually distill spirits for sale to visitors, the proceeds to be applied to the site's educational programs. 

The excavation and research into contemporary documents have revealed that Washington's distillery was a large sandstone building, about 30 by 75 feet, which held about 50 mash tubs and five pot stills.  A second floor was used for grain storage and living quarters for the distillery manager.  The Vendome Copper and Brass Works of Louisville, KY are fabricating the distillery's five copper pot stills.  They are replicas of an 18th century still, now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, confiscated by the Treasury Department in Fairfax County, VA in the 1940s. 

A model of the still was fired up in the fall of 2006 at the site, and master distillers from a dozen modern distilleries, all dressed in 18th-century garb for the occasion, made the first whiskey produced on the site in 200 years.  The mash recipe, reconstructed from the distillery's accounts, consisted of 60 percent rye, 35 percent corn and five percent barley; a formula that would make it closer in composition to today's rye whiskey than to bourbon.

The area of Mount Vernon where the distillery was located, and is now being recreated, received raw grain grown on the plantation.  As the grain came in, some was diverted for sale, some for processing into flour and some for distilling.  The reconstructed distillery will not only serve to interpret colonial-era spirit making, but together with the gristmill and other structures on the site, will also offer a unique look at agriculture in Washington's time and provide insight into his considerable business skills.

Did the retired president and general drink the whiskey he made?  As master of the plantation, and a gracious host, he probably did.  He certainly was not averse to drinking and felt it necessary to the running of an army.  "The benefits arising from the moderate use of liquor have been experienced in all armies." He wrote to the president of the Continental Congress during the Revolution, "and are not to be disputed." 

Records confirm that in addition to whiskey, he also distilled apple, peach, and persimmon brandy.  These fruit brandies are probably the spirits that Washington and his early American guests drank.