George Washington's Rye Whiskey
George Washington’s Rye Whiskey is distilled at George Washington’s reconstructed distillery at Mount Vernon from a recipe discovered by scholars examining the distillery ledgers for 1798 and 1799. It is distilled in limited quantities and only available for purchase in person. In 1797, urged on by his farm manager, James Anderson,[1] Washington ramped up production and it produced 600 gallons in 1799, the year Washington died, the distillery produced nearly 11,000 gallons, making it the largest whiskey distillery in America at that time.
On March 22, 2017, Governor Terry McAuliffe signed a bill sponsored by Virginia Senator Adam Ebbin (D-30th) designating George Washington’s Rye Whiskey as the official state spirit of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Ingredients
60 percent rye, 35 percent corn and five percent malted barley.
Process
The staff uses Washington’s original mash bill and 18th-century methods. The grain is processed in Washington’s water-powered gristmill, fermented in wooden mash tubs and distilled in copper pot stills heated by wood fires. In Washington’s time whiskey was not aged but this recipe calls for it to be distilled twice.[2]