Making George Washington's Whiskey

2011-10-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Success

2011-10-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

After three days of distilling, we have generated almost 50 gallons of apple spirit, which has been put into two oak barrels to age. The cider that we received from Distillery Lane contained roughly 6.5% alcohol; after the first run through the still it had increased to upwards of 20% (40 proof); after the second and final run the potency increased again to roughly 60% allcohol (120 proof). Given our plan to age the spirit for two years, Dave Pickerell decided that cutting it with water to reduce it to 100 proof would be best. When the time comes to bottle it will be cut again, probably down to about 86 proof.

The new apple spirit has a predictably strong flavor as well as a lot of heat because of the high alcohol content. But the smell and flavor of the apples is still there and is really very pleasant. The trick will be for the flavors to mellow a bit and gain in complexity from being in contact with the wood, without losing the residual character of the apples.

We also took this opportunity to taste some of the peach brandy we made last year, which has spent the last 12 months in oak barrels in our storage facility. Everyone pronounced it to be an excellent product, which should be even better after another year in wood, and we have every reason to expect that the apple brandy will turn out just as well. Our current plan is to bottle and sell the peach brandy in another year or so, with the apple brandy following one more year down the road.

Show Time

2011-10-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

We picked up our barrels of fermented cider from Distillery Lane Cider Works on Thursday as planned. Ten barrels had achieved a level of about 6.5% alcohol -- our target number -- with another three barrels not quite there -- at 5%. We brought all 13 barrels back to Mount Vernon and filled one of our hogseahds with the immature cider in hopes that it might continue working. Even if it doesn't, the sight of the frothy liquid in our vintage 120-gallon oak hogshead makes a pretty picture and serves as a great demonstration piece for visitors while we distill this week.

We filled all five of our stills this morning and by 12:30 we were beginning to see the first appearance of the crystal clear spirit. As of 4:00 most of the stills have just about completed their run and we are getting ready to close down for the night. Tomorrow we go at it again, and by the end of the day we should have all 500 gallons of cider run through and stored temporarily in the low-wine kegs. On Wednesday we will run that all through for the second distillation, and we hope to have up to 50 gallons of eau de vie ready to stow away in our toasted oak barrels to age.

Anyone interested in observing the process is welcome to come on down on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Aged Rye Whiskey Available for Sale

2011-10-07T07:34:00.001-07:00

At long last, we will be offering bottles of our aged rye whiskey for sale to the general public beginning on Saturday, October 22nd. The whiskey was distilled in the fall of 2009 at the reconstructed still house and has been aged for more than two years in charred oak barrels. Although George Washington did not purposely age his whiskey, we think that he would approve of the mellow flavor and pleasing appearance that this additional step has imparted to the traditional rye spirit.

Sales of the approximately 300 375ml bottles will start at 10:00 on a first-come first-serve basis and will continue while supplies last; the bottles retail for $185. The sales will occur at both the Gristmill Shop and the main Gift Shop at the Mount Vernon Inn Complex on the Mount Vernon estate.

Pressing Issues

2011-10-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

Grinding the apples into pulp and then pressing it into juice are the two main steps in preparing for cider making. The folks at Distillery Lane Cider Works have adapted a bit of modern technology to assist them in this, with a motor driven conveyor and grater to speed up the grinding. The press also benefits from some labor saving features and modern materials, but it is essentially the same type of device that has been used for centuries. Known as a rack press, frames holding the apple pulp (or pomace) are stacked under the press plate, which then is hydraulically lowered to squeeze out the juice. The newly squeezed juice smells great, by the way, and it seems that wonderful aromas are one of the benefits of working in a cider mill. The juice then is transferred into barrels, yeast is introduced, and the fermentation takes place over a 7-10-day period. Rob thinks that our cider will be fermented and ready to be picked up on Thursday.

Founding Spirits

2011-10-03T14:31:00.001-07:00

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

An Apple a Day ... or Actually, about a Thousand

2011-10-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

We are back in the brandy making business. As I type, we are in the midst of preparations to distill a batch of brandy made from the same types of apples that George Washington used more than 200 years ago. This latest batch of spirit will go along with the peach brandy that we distilled last year about this time, and means that we will have made all three types of "spirituous liquors" that were produced at Washington's distillery.

We know from the plantation records that several different varieties of apples were grown on the plantation, both to support cider and brandy making and for household consumption. Three of those varieties were particularly amenable to cidering: Hewes/Hughes/Virginia Crab, Newtown Pippin, and Russet (very likely the variety known as Roxbury). As it happens, growing heritage apples is making a major comeback in the region, with several orchards focusing on growing the classic varieties for producing their new/old boutique ciders.

Tom Burford, author of the indispensable reference book, Apples: A Catalog of International Varieties, former professional orchardist, and apple consultant to Monticello and other historic sites, agreed to help us with our plans for this latest experiment in replicating the product of Washington's distillery. Tom put us in touch with Rob Miller, who runs Distillery Lane Cider Works, located just west of Frederick, MD, where all three of those apple varieties are grown.

Working with our master distiller, Dave Pickerell, and with the input of old friend Ted Huber, President of Huber Starlight Distillery, in Indiana, we concluded that a mixture of Hewes, Newtown, and Roxbury juice would give us the sugar potency we needed, and that 500 gallons of fermented juice should yield as much as 50 gallons of brandy. As with the peach brandy we made last year, the idea is to put the new spirit away in oak barrels for up to a couple of years to age before offering it for sale to the public.

Dave and some helpers are planning to come and spend three days working with Steve Bashore and the other members of our Historic Trades department in distilling the cider in the reconstructed Mount Vernon still house. Because fermenting apples in open-air containers can be dicey (lots of stuff floating around in the air that could complicate things!) we decided to let the folks at Distillery Lane ferment the juice for us. Once it is finished later this week, we will pick it up and transport it back to Mount Vernon for distilling next week (October 10-11-12). Stay tuned for updates on our progress.

Just Peachy

2010-10-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

After two very productive days of work, our team has distilled about 50 gallons of premium peach brandy. And according to our gaggle of experts, it is a very tasty product, indeed. The spirit has gone into two toasted oak barrels for storage to await bottling. According to Ted Huber (here dressed in dark clothes, standing next to Thomas McKenzie of Fingerlakes Distillery) fruit brandies don't benefit from aging in wood to the degree that whiskey does, as the wood flavor can easily overpower the spirit. Since the barrels have only a light coating of char, the brandy shouldn't pick up much flavor from contact with the wood, which in this case is what we want. But since the barrels are not air-tight, the liquor will oxidize over time, and according to Ted that should have a positive effect on the flavor. We plan on keeping the brandy in the barrels for at least a year, then we will bottle it when we think the flavor is at its best. So once again, check back with us next year to find out the status.

We also are moving forward with plans to distill more rye whiskey next month. Dave Pickerell will return to work with our folks to produce another batch of 100 to 150 gallons of General Washington's finest. Once again, we plan on putting some away for aging, but we'll also offer bottles of the unaged product for sale. IF all goes well next month, we hope to have more bottles available in time for Christmas. Plan your gift purchases accordingly!

The 2010 Brandy Team

2010-10-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

The ring leaders for this year's operation, left to right: Ted Huber from Huber Starlight Distillery, Brian McKenzie and Thomas McKenzie (no relation), both from Finger Lakes Distilling, Lance Winters from St. George Spirits, and Dave Pickerell, Oak View Consulting; missing in action (looking for a new rubber tube to fix the leaky discharge valve), Joe Dangler from Sazerac.

One Step Forward ...

2010-10-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

This morning we transferred the peach low wines to the distillery as planned, and charged two of the stills. Unfortunately, the rubber hose on the discharge valve on one of the stills almost immediately failed -- apparently the rubber had dried out and split -- and began to leak. After trying some quick fixes (yes, duct tape!), the team decided to abort this still until we could come up with a better solution. We emptied the still and transferred the liquid to one of our hogsheads. In the meantime, we continued distilling on the second still -- and were rewarded with distillate beginning to flow within about 45 minutes.

And Now: Making George Washington's ... Brandy

2010-10-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

In addition to distilling more than 10,000 gallons of rye whiskey in 1799, Washington's distillery also produced much smaller quantities of apple and peach brandy. It appears that Washington may have been his own best customer when it came to the brandy, as the plantation accounts record that in October of that year, 67 gallons of the apple and 60 gallons of the peach brandy were transferred to the "Mount Vernon house," presumably for the enjoyment of the Washington household.

Distillers from Huber Starlight Distillery, in Indiana, and from Finger Lakes Distilling, in New York, are bringing about 150 gallons of fermented peach wine to distill in our pot stills; making this the first time brandy will have been made at the distllery in almost 200 years. Dave Pickerell and Joe Dangler, old hands who are experts by now in operating our unique wood-fired stills, have agreed to participate as well. The distilling will take place starting today and should wrap up some time tomorrow. If everything goes well, our plan is to barrel the brandy -- possibly up to 50 gallons -- and bottle it and offer it for sale at some point in the future.

Sold Out!!

2010-07-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

We knew from the many inquiries leading up to the event that there was a great deal of interest in tasting and buying our whiskey. But the level of response still was a surprise, as almost 300 people attended the dedication ceremony at the Distillery site, and another 200 came to our other gift shop in hopes of buying a bottle of General Washington's finest. Even though our cash registers failed at the Distillery (we were disconnected by our cable provider!), which meant that all of the transactions had to be carried out the old fashioned way, by hand, we sold every one of our 471 bottles by 5:00 yesterday. Given this remarkable turn of events, I don't think that there is any doubt that we will be planning on making more whiskey in the near future. Stay tuned for details.

Huzzah!

2010-07-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

The General, himself, honored us with his presence yesterday, and he took the first drink of the new George Washington Rye Whiskey. After pronouncing the spirit to be "fine," he offered a toast, "To all our friends," which was follwed by enthusiastic "huzzahs" of approval from the audience. Joining the General in making remarks on the historic nature of the event, were: Jim Rees, President of Mount Vernon, Peter Cressy, President of the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, Toddy Puller, Virginia State Senator, and Dennis Pogue, Vice President of Mount Vernon for Preservation. Immediately after the ceremony, 250 members of the public lined up for their free tastes and to purchase 375ml bottles of the whiskey (limit one to a customer).

Come and Get It!

2010-06-24T14:06:00.001-07:00

We will offer our whiskey for sale to the public for the first time on July 1. The 375ml bottle will sell for $85 -- only one to a customer, while supplies last. Taking advantage of a new law passed by the Virginia General Assembly, we can offer free tastes of the product (one-quarter once per person) that day as well. We've set aside four bottles for the tasting, which will take place between 12 and 1:00 or until the supply is exhausted.

Voila!

2010-06-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

471 bottles of George Washington's Rye Whiskey, ready to go.

Labeling GW's Rye

2010-06-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

With front and neck labels, corks, neck wrapper, and heat gun in hand, we are ready to label our whiskey. Julia Mosley, Mount Vernon's Director of Retail, oversees the operation, manned by several volunteers from the MV Shops.

A Label to Make Our First President Proud

2010-06-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

Given the unique character of our whiskey -- using George Washington's recipe and the first whiskey made and bottled at Washington's distillery in almost 200 years -- we wanted a label that was equally distinctive. We think that our designer, Allan Guy, really rose to the occasion to produce a beautiful label; distiller and bottler extraordinaire, Joe Dangler, seems to agree.

2010-06-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

Weeeee'rrrrre Baaaaaacckk!

We know, we promised that we would have whiskey available to purchase months ago. But the best laid plans ... At any rate, we have negotiated the label hurdles with TTB (we think), and we are planning to offer our unaged Rye Whiskey beginning July 1.

As a first step, today and yesterday we filled 471 375ml bottles with pure, clear rye whiskey, just like George Washington made. Virginia Gentleman master distiller, Joe Dangler, kindly agreed to come to the distillery to lead Mount Vernon staff in the bottling operation. Next step: labelling.

Elvis Has Left The Building

2009-02-27T11:01:00.000-08:00

With all of our product proofed and safely stored in oak or plastic, and with mash tubs emptied and equipment stowed away, on Tuesday morning Dave Pickerell boarded his plane to return home to Kentucky. Thanks again, Dave, for your hard work and leadership -- we certainly couldn't have done it without you!

Next steps for us include completing the clean up -- steam cleaning the mash tubs, mopping floors, and the rest, to get ready for reopening to visitors on April 1 -- and then making plans for bottling the unaged spirit. If we can get our labels approved in a timely manner, we hope to have these bottles available for sale by June 1.

Please check back in a few weeks to keep abreast of our progress!

Tasting Notes

2009-02-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

After all this work, how does our young whiskey taste?

Dave P. has supplied some tasting notes.

Nose: Slightly floral, earthy, and grainy -- reminiscent of freshly distilled Tequila.

Taste: Surprisingly sweet, but not overly so. Initial taste is primarily front palate. As the taste develops, it moves to the sides of the tongue -- revealing the unaged grainy sourness. But again, not too sour. Finally, the corn and rye grain tastes develop.

Finish: Fairly long and dry with the grain being most evident.

Overall: The taste is not nearly as aggressive as expected, surprisingly mellow and sweet.

Steve B. adds: "I'll have another!"

Visiting Day

2009-02-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

As word spread that we were distilling, a number of folks came by to observe the action. These included members of the media and the public, a number of Mount Vernon staff, and even several ladies on our board of directors. Pictured here learning from Dave P. how to gauge the proof of our whiskey are: Dennis (Blogger) Pogue, Boyce Ansley (Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association), and Adrienne Mars (Vice Regent of the MVLA).

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

2009-02-25T12:07:00.001-08:00

As of Day 15 (Monday), we have filled both oak barrels with spirit, and we have another 25 gallons set aside in plastic containers. That means 25 gallons to go and we will be finished.

It seems a shame that we are coming to the end of this, as things are really running smoothly now. Daily production of first-run spirit is well over 50 gallons, as opposed to the 25 gallons that we achieved on the first day of distilling, the balancing act with the water exchange in the worm tubs has been mastered, and the team is operating like a well oiled machine. As predicted, it has been a steep but very gratifying learning curve.

The barrel is marked with all of the official information required by the Feds. Our distillery designation -- DSP-VA-1797 -- commemorates the year when George Washington first established his distillery.

Success

2009-02-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

After two more days of distilling, we are closing in on our goal of producing 100 gallons of rye whiskey. Our plan is to fill the two newly charred oak barrels that we purchased from Kelvin Cooperage in Kentucky and store those in our warehouse to age for at least two years. The other 50 gallons are going into plastic containers for now, and we hope to bottle soon.

The Proof ... Is In the Whiskey

2009-02-20T06:51:00.000-08:00

We distilled about 15 gallons of spirit yesterday, with a proof level right in our target range of 110 and up. Dave P. gauged the first batch of distillate after we put it in the spirit still, and it tested right at 40 proof -- just as expected. After cutting off the head from the spirit run, it tested at about 140 proof -- declining from there to below 100 before we cut off the run. We will continue to run both the beer still and the spirit still today. Operating both stills at once has the added benefit of allowing us to put the heads and tails (both with too low proof and too many impurities) from the spirit run into the beer still. This is a more efficient method of increasing the alcohol level than putting it right back into the spirit still.

Before we started mashing Dave had estimated that if everything worked perfectly, we might get a return of up to four gallons of spirit per bushel of grain. We wound up using 37 bushels, so that would mean as much as 148 gallons of finished product. At this point, he thinks that the return might be closer to three gallons per bushel, or about 110 gallons.

We plan on distilling all day Friday and Saturday, some on Sunday, and then again on Monday, and hope to be finished by the end of that day.

Pot Distilling 101

2009-02-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

After three days of trial and error, we have our procedures pretty well established:

First, we drain all of the spent mash out of still #2. It is such a good beer still that we want it back on line first. Next, we shovel the ashes out of the fire box, and take the head off the still so we can inspect it and re-fill. (As a reminder of why it is good to take the time to inspect the interior every time, we found a big glop of solids in the bottom of the still that we needed to clean off, or it would have baked into cornbread after another day's distilling.) Then we fill the still to about 60 percent capacity, rebuild the fire, reassemble the still (put the head back on and reattach the arm), and begin filling the worm tub (condenser) with water. Finally, we balance the water flow in and out of the tub to ensure an optimum stream and optimum cooling capacity. Then on to still #1.

Once both stills are running, we monitor the water in the condensers and adjust as necessary. Eventually the distillate begins to flow, a few drops at first but soon turning into a steady stream. The first part (known as the "heads") is of poor quality, so it gets dumped back into the fermenter to be redistilled later. Once the quality is good (at least 40 proof, but usually much higher toward the beginning of the run), we collect the product and set it aside to be distilled a second time. The main purpose of the first distillation is to separate the alcohol from the mash, but the proof will be relatively low. If it averages 40 proof we are happy.

When the proof drops into the low 30s, we cut off the distillation and either start over from the beginning, or half-empty the still and refill it with new mash. Dave calls this procedure "turn and burn," and it allows us to extend the still run with less down-time. We leave the fire hot and empty one-half of the still volume through the outlet drain, then refill with fermented mash. The folks who made our stills, Vendome Copper and Brass Works of Louisville, KY, convinced us to let them include a small vent hole in the base of our stills, as a pressure release device to keep us from blowing ourselves up. The hole also acts as a handy inlet for adding mash, and its existence is crucial to the turn and burn maneuver. You have to be quick so as not to scorch the contents of the still, but it is a real time saver.

We hope to have enough first-run distillate available later today to be able to start running the "spirit still" -- where we distill for a second time, and hopefully increase the proof into the 100-110 range.

Dave Pickerell's Happy Thought of the Day

2009-02-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

After three days of working out the idiosyncrasies of our copper beauties, Dave has made the following rather beatific observation:

"Each still has a happy place that it likes to run. The trick is not to make it run how you want, but rather to figure out how to make it happy where it wants to run, and then encourage it."

2009-02-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

Two more days of distilling have yielded another approximately 80 gallons of first run distillate. All sorts of other mile stones have been reached: we didn't blow up anything, no one was scalded, we didn't make much "corn bread" (burning the slop on the inside of the stills), and the crew members still are on speaking terms. As with all complex processes, we keep learning lessons as we go along: from the best way to build the fires, to regulating the water flow, to gauging when to cut off the run, and the like. Stay tuned, beginning tomorrow Dave P. will post his journal on Pot Distilling 101.

Distilling, At Last!

2009-02-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we produced about 25 gallons of first-run distillate. As with all things related to this project, there was a steep learning curve, and we expect much greater efficiency as the week wears on. According to Dave P., the average proof for this batch should be about 40, which is what he expected. After it is redistilled, the proof should increase to between 100 and 110. More details tomorrow on the ins and outs of pot distilling.

Let's mash like it's 1799!

2009-02-16T08:10:00.001-08:00

We finished mashing the remaining eight tubs on Friday and Saturday and introduced the yeast. "Mashing" is the process of mixing and cooking the grains in order to change their starch into sugar -- which is what the yeasties then will consume (ferment) in three to five days to produce alcohol. The process is essentially the same whether you are producing 100 gallons of spirit in two weeks like we are, or thousands of gallons a day like at the large commercial distilleries. But instead of using giant vats with lots of modern equipment to speed things up, our little tubs accommodate only 120 gallons and the process is strictly by hand.

To guide us, we have several recipes and detailed descriptions of mashing that we've found in distillling manuals that were published in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. But Dave P. has some modern insights and tricks to bring to the table as well. When working with wooden mash tubs, bacterial contamination is a real problem, and the last time we tried distilling about a year ago this was a major obstacle. In addition to doing our best to clean out the tubs, we painted their interiors with a lime slurry to lower the PH level (making it less hospitiable to bacteria). Dave also has taken the precaution of adding hops to the water as we boil it, as this releases a natural anti-bacterial agent.

As for the mashing itself, it is a time consuming and arm breaking process that requires lots of attention to detail. Here are the steps: (1) about 15 gallons of cold water is placed in the tub, followed by 15-20 gallons of boiling water -- enough to bring the temperature up to 13o-140 degrees; (2) the ground corn is carefully added, while a second person vigorously stirs using a wooden mash "rake" -- the stirring is needed to help the grain dissolve and to retard clumping into balls of dough; (3) after the corn is in, we fill the tub two-thirds full with boiling water and let it sit for 20 minutes -- allowing time for the corn starch to become gelatinous; (4) add the rye, stirring vigorously -- this is the hardest work for the stirrer as the rye gelatinizes almost immediately, turning the solution into a thick soup; (5) keep stirring occasionally, waiting until the temperature cools to about 148 degrees -- the optimal temperature for malting; (6) stir in the malted barley -- the barley helps to break down the starch even more, making the mixture much thinner and easier to stir; (7) keep stirring, letting the temperature drop to about 90 degrees, at which point we add the yeast; (8) take a break and rest your arms, before starting on the next tub!

Our Team, Part I

2009-02-12T14:07:00.001-08:00

Why do these people look so happy? Because today they completed four tubs of mash, and now they can go home and take showers! Left to right are: Travis (The Dude) Shaw, Kevin (Shutter Bug) O'Rourke, Dave (The Boss) Pickerell, Deborah (Precious Princess) Betko, and Randolph (Fire Starter) Bragg. Missing in action -- probably trying to pry the malt dust out of their pores -- are Steve Bashore and Daniel Purkey, our "dusty millers." Tomorrow, more mashing and fermenting.

2009-02-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

Repairs to the barrels have been completed, and the "fleet" of 12 120-gallon mash tubs have been filled with water to make them swell and tighten. After three tries to get a working steam cleaner -- don't ask, but suffice to say that maybe the 18th-century technique would have been faster! -- Dave and the gang cleaned the barrels and the two stills that we will be using. Next up is moving the mash tubs back into the building, firing up the boiler, and getting the grain ready to mash.

2009-02-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

Dave Pickerell arrived Monday, and he immediately began directing us in the many housekeeping tasks required to be able to distill. These included such glamorous activities as cleaning out the boiler (used to heat water for mashing the grain) and the stills, and testing the mash tubs to make sure that they are water tight. And what do you know? Many of them weren't. Some shimming and pounding on the iron hoops soon solved that problem, and now we are ready to steam clean them to ensure that no foreign organisms will interfere with fermenting the grain. We hope to begin mashing on Thursday.

2009-02-09T15:55:00.001-08:00

Washington's mash bill called for approximately 60% rye, 35% corn, and 5% malted barley. Because we have our own operating gristmill, we have the opportunity to grind the grains using water-powered mill stones, as it was done 200 years ago. Over the weekend our miller, Steve Bashore, and his assistant, Daniel Purkey, purchased the grain from local suppliers and began grinding. We will need about 170 pounds of grain for each tub of mash, so a total of about 2040 pounds. At roughly 100 pounds per hour, it will take Steve 20 hours to grind.

Planning For Making Washington's Whiskey

2009-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

After years of archaeological excavations, research, and planning, and almost two years of construction, Mount Vernon unveiled an authentic replica of George Washington's whiskey distillery in the spring of 2007. Open from April through October, visitors to the distillery may observe how whiskey was made by Washington's distillers, when his distillery was one of the largest in the nation.

While the distillery is fully operational, generally speaking the goal is to demonstrate the process of distilling rather than actually making whiskey. However, in the interest of historical research and to raise money to support our educational programs, over the years we have distilled and sold small amounts of spirits -- rye whiskey, on three occasions, and rum, on one occasion. Before the distillery was completed in 2007, we distilled using a small replica 18th-century pot still set up in a temporary furnace. Once the distillery opened we distilled 12 gallons of rye whiskey using one of the pot stills in the new building. Now we are planning to carry out a more ambitious round of distilling, aimed at producing up to 100 gallons of rye whiskey, with the product to be made available for sale to the public in a series of special bottlings.

Over the next few days we will be making preparations for the distilling -- acquiring and grinding the grain in the nearby reconstructed gristmill, cleaning the mash tubs, and many other tasks -- and we hope to begin distilling during the week of February 9th. Please come back and check on our progress!