Founding Spirits

On another topic, a book that tells the story of George Washington's distillery and the Mount Vernon distillery restoration project, and focuses on the early history of the American whiskey industry as well, is now widely available for sale. It can be purchased ($24.95) at the Mount Vernon shops or online at http://www.mountvernon.org/, or via Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Founding Spirits: George Wasington and the Beginnings of the American Whiskey Industry, by Dennis J. Pogue, Harbour Books (2011), hardcover, 304 pages.

"How many of us knew that the young George Washington bought votes with free beer and rum punch? Or that the old, retired president's distillery pumped out 10,000 gallons of rye whiskey in a single year? Here's a toast to historian Dennis Pogue for excavating the intimate relationship between strong liquor and the strong man of Mount Vernon."

Joel Achenbach, author of The Grand Idea: George Washington's Potomac and the Race to the West