Posted on 10/22/2011 12:40:40 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
Virginians have always enjoyed their liquor, and for much of the 18th century, their preferred drink was rum. But when war and tariffs made imported rum hard to come by, George Washington saw an opportunity. Why not make liquor out of grains he was growing on his farms?
"He was a businessman and he was a very, very successful one," says Dennis Pogue, the director of preservation programs at Mount Vernon.
By 1799, Washington's distillery was the single most profitable part of his plantation. He couldn't make enough whiskey to meet demand, Pogue says. Now the distillery has been restored, and I got a chance to see what Washington's rye whiskey probably tasted like.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
I figured it would be next to impossible so I haven’t even tried. I’ll check into Spec’s. Thanks.
Mount Vernon is on the top of my all time favorite places to visit list. I spend the entire day each trip. The rebuilt grain mill and distillery are fascinating. I was last there in ‘09. Nothing was yet bottled. I can’t wait to go back and perhaps trade an arm or leg for a sip.
in the meantime, look for some Templeton Rye. That's some nice stuff. Same with the pricier Sazerac 18.
When they sold the unaged whiskey last year, it sold out in a couple hours. Would expect this will do the same. I’ve been to the GW/Mt Vernon distillery. Compared to Makers Mark and Heaven Hill (two bourbon distilleries I’ve toured as well) it is definitely “period” and makes a very nice contrast to how wiskey was made then vs now
Here is one you might be interested in.
I really want to got to Mount Vernon, I thought I might get to do that this year, but it didn’t happen.
I also want to tour the White House, but for obvious reasons that will have to wait a while!
Not to bad mouth the President’s “Rye Whiskey” but the only whiskey made in the United States worth drinking is called Bourbon and it only comes from Kentucky.
Let’s not forget Washington’s hand in the suppresion of the Whiskey Rebellion!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion Proclamation
BY AUTHORITY
By the president of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Whereas, combinations to defeat the execution of the laws laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United States and upon stills have from the time of the commencement of those laws existed in some of the western parts of Pennsylvania.
And whereas, the said combinations, proceeding in a manner subversive equally of the just authority of government and of the rights of individuals, have hitherto effected their dangerous and criminal purpose by the influence of certain irregular meetings whose proceedings have tended to encourage and uphold the spirit of opposition by misrepresentations of the laws calculated to render them odious; by endeavors to deter those who might be so disposed from accepting offices under them through fear of public resentment and of injury to person and property, and to compel those who had accepted such offices by actual violence to surrender or forbear the execution of them; by circulation vindictive menaces against all those who should otherwise, directly or indirectly, aid in the execution of the said laws, or who, yielding to the dictates of conscience and to a sense of obligation, should themselves comply therewith; by actually injuring and destroying the property of persons who were understood to have so complied; by inflicting cruel and humiliating punishments upon private citizens for no other cause than that of appearing to be the friends of the laws; by intercepting the public officers on the highways, abusing, assaulting, and otherwise ill treating them; by going into their houses in the night, gaining admittance by force, taking away their papers, and committing other outrages, employing for these unwarrantable purposes the agency of armed banditti disguised in such manner as for the most part to escape discovery;
And whereas, the endeavors of the legislature to obviate objections to the said laws by lowering the duties and by other alterations conducive to the convenience of those whom they immediately affect (though they have given satisfaction in other quarters), and the endeavors of the executive officers to conciliate a compliance with the laws by explanations, by forbearance, and even by particular accommodations founded on the suggestion of local considerations, have been disappointed of their effect by the machinations of persons whose industry to excite resistance has increased with every appearance of a disposition among the people to relax in their opposition and to acquiesce in the laws, insomuch that many persons in the said western parts of Pennsylvania have at length been hardy enough to perpetrate acts, which I am advised amount to treason, being overt acts of levying war against the United States, the said persons having on the 16th and 17th of July last past proceeded in arms (on the second day amounting to several hundreds) to the house of John Neville, inspector of the revenue for the fourth survey of the district of Pennsylvania; having repeatedly attacked the said house with the persons therein, wounding some of them; having seized David Lenox, marshal of the district of Pennsylvania, who previous thereto had been fired upon while in the execution of his duty by a party of armed men, detaining him for some time prisoner, till, for the preservation of his life and the obtaining of his liberty, he found it necessary to enter into stipulations to forbear the execution of certain official duties touching processes issuing out of a court of the United States; and having finally obliged the said inspector of the revenue and the said marshal from considerations of personal safety to fly from that part of the country, in order, by a circuitous route, to proceed to the seat of government, avowing as the motives of these outrageous proceedings an intention to prevent by force of arms the execution of the said laws, to oblige the said inspector of the revenue to renounce his said office, to withstand by open violence the lawful authority of the government of the United States, and to compel thereby an alteration in the measures of the legislature and a repeal of the laws aforesaid;
And whereas, by a law of the United States entitled “An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions,” it is enacted that whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed or the execution thereof obstructed in any state by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals by that act, the same being notified by an associate justice or the district judge, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia of such state to suppress such combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed. And if the militia of a state, when such combinations may happen, shall refuse or be insufficient to suppress the same, it shall be lawful for the President, if the legislature of the United States shall not be in session, to call forth and employ such numbers of the militia of any other state or states most convenient thereto as may be necessary; and the use of the militia so to be called forth may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the of the ensuing session; Provided always, that, whenever it may be necessary in the judgment of the President to use the military force hereby directed to be called forth, the President shall forthwith, and previous thereto, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time;
And whereas, James Wilson, an associate justice, on the 4th instant, by writing under his hand, did from evidence which had been laid before him notify to me that “in the counties of Washington and Allegany, in Pennsylvania, laws of the United States are opposed and the execution thereof obstructed by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshal of that district”;
And whereas, it is in my judgment necessary under the circumstances of the case to take measures for calling forth the militia in order to suppress the combinations aforesaid, and to cause the laws to be duly executed; and I have accordingly determined so to do, feeling the deepest regret for the occasion, but withal the most solemn conviction that the essential interests of the Union demand it, that the very existence of government and the fundamental principles of social order are materially involved in the issue, and that the patriotism and firmness of all good citizens are seriously called upon, as occasions may require, to aid in the effectual suppression of so fatal a spirit;
Therefore, and in pursuance of the proviso above recited, I. George Washington, President of the United States, do hereby command all persons, being insurgents, as aforesaid, and all others whom it may concern, on or before the 1st day of September next to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes. And I do moreover warn all persons whomsoever against aiding, abetting, or comforting the perpetrators of the aforesaid treasonable acts; and do require all officers and other citizens, according to their respective duties and the laws of the land, to exert their utmost endeavors to prevent and suppress such dangerous proceedings.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Philadelphia the seventh day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety- four, and of the independence of the United States of America the nineteenth.
G. WASHINGTON,
By the President, Edm. Randolph
Says you. 8^)
Jim Beam is righteous enough for me! Their Rye is good too. Maybe I'll buy some when it gets cold.
Some darn good stuff that Templeton. I'm hooked on it.
Second that Templeton Rye. It’s fabulous stuff for 35 or so dollars. Iowa recipe from Prohibition, distilled in Indiana, bottled and distributed from Iowa.
“When they sold the unaged whiskey last year, it sold out in a couple hours.”
I got a bottle of that.
I brought it as a Christmas present for my husband. It is a small, pretty unattractive little bottle, hazy whiskey with some bits floating. I was a little dismayed at how unimpressive it looked, so I made a presentation box for it - jazzed it up real nice.
That was the second year it was sold, and was around $100. unaged.
I got on a special list, and received a special opportunity to buy this first sale of the two year aged whiskey - I don’t get a beak on the price, but if I take my special notice down with me, I get preference over someone without one. So, unless there are more people with “special notices” than there are bottles for sale, I get me a bottle. If I go. At $185. for the thing I am really on the fence. It is from the first production, and being aged two years - is the first offering of aged whiskey, so for that reason I do want to buy it.
What to do, what to do?
“Old WalMart 7.00/liter”
How unsophisticated. The pinky should be extended when
drinking WalMart whiskey straight from the (plastic) bottle.
A plastic bottle? The good stuff comes in glass. A glass jug.
Nuthin' like a good swig of "Feets' Own Alabama Thunderbolt"!
Whiskey and cigars are the second and third best things there are.
WHOOPS! Went back and read the email- my “special notice” window has passed, so sad. It was the 15-16th.
My father in law passed away on the 11th, so wouldn’t have been able to go anyway.
Today the rest of the bottles went up for sale, so they are likely all gone. I’ll try to contact them tomorrow and check on it, if I can remember.
I don't think you're supposed to drink the charcoal starter.
In place of another bottle of the General’s whiskey, try a web search for “Martha Washington + Cherry Bounce”. Kind of late in the year for fresh cherries, but the dried kind work pretty good too.
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