Crazy George immigrants

When George Washington stepped down as president in 1797, he was looking forward to returning to Mount Vernon to relax and live in a remote village during his presidency. But Washington is an innovative man, and he seldom misses any opportunity. 1797, Washington hired a Scottish plantation manager, and a new line was added to his resume: whiskey seller. James anderson, planning manager, immigrated to Virginia in the early 1990s from 65438 to 2007. He noticed that the manor missed an opportunity: the bumper crops, together with Washington's most advanced grains and abundant water sources, could be used to brew whiskey. Not only the harvest, but also the variety. To help cultivate healthy soil, Washington planted a lot of rye as a cover crop. Rye doesn't rank high among delicious and edible grains, but Anderson thinks it shouldn't be wasted. He wants to turn it into whisky. Visiting the emerging craft beer scene in Washington, D.C. At first, Washington hesitated whether to change jobs. After all, at the age of 65, he wanted to spend his retirement years in a relatively quiet environment, but after hearing Anderson's proposal and correspondence with a friend engaged in rum business, Washington acquiesced. That winter, Anderson began to distill in the cooperative of the manor, using only two distillers (distillation tanks). The first distillation was very successful, and Washington approved a comprehensive brewery construction plan, including five distillers. This winery was built in 1798 and reached 1799, and has become the largest whisky winery in China. That year, the winery produced 65,438+065,438+0,000 gallons of pure whisky, and the price in Washington was $65,438+0,800 (according to today's standards, it was $65,438+0,200,000).

So why isn't the name "Whiskey Merchant" more easily associated with Washington? Part of the reason is that in the past two centuries, wineries have been reduced to more than one foundation. When Washington died in 1799, he left the winery to his nephew Lawrence Lewis, who lacked Washington's shrewd business mind. Lewis is not so successful in the wine industry. 18 14, a big fire burned the brewery to the ground and it was not rebuilt. Virginia bought the land in the early 1930s and planned to rebuild the brewery, but only Grist Mill and Miller's hut were successfully rebuilt, mainly because the ban and the pressure of the Great Depression did not encourage the brewery to rebuild.

Archaeologists surveyed the area, found the foundation of the original winery and began to rebuild the building according to the original design. After winning the key fund of discus in 200 1, a group of archaeologists, historians and winemakers made a deeper study of the brewery's past: what role did it play in the manor? What role did the United States play in the18th century? They searched the records carefully for clues about how the brewery operated at the industrial level, and recorded the number of distillers Anderson used to make whiskey. Esther White, archaeological director of Mount Vernon Women's Association, helped lead the reconstruction work. By 2007, this winery was open to the public.

But the rebuilt winery is more than a static tribute to Washington's business acumen: it is a fully functional winery in itself. Every year, Steve, manager of Mount Vernon's historical trading department? Basor will lead a small team to distill whisky, just as Anderson and others did in the original brewery. Since 2009, they have distilled twice a year (once in March and once in about165438+1October) and have been selling whisky to tourists (the first glass of rye whisky was sold out within two hours).

Just like Washington's original recipe, their whisky is mainly rye, 65% malt is rye, and 35% corn and germinated barley. The grain is ground in the mill and then added to the barrels of the brewery with 1 10 gallon of boiling water. On the second day of processing, barley was added to convert the starch in the grain into sugar. On the third day of this process, yeast is added, which will eat sugar and convert it into alcohol. Then, pour the syrup into a copper distiller (we used a surviving18th century still on display on the second floor of the Brewing Museum) and heat it there with firewood. When the syrup mixture is heated, the alcohol vapor rises to the top and is introduced into the spiral pipe to be cooled by the water in the nearby stream. Alcohol vapor condenses into liquid after cooling, and the liquid flows out of the barrel into the container. To learn how Mount Vernon whisky is brewed, please watch the video below.

One day in Washington, this whisky will be clearly marked and not aged, but today (because it has a market), Bashir and Mount Vernon will age some of their whisky. This year, this winery was also used to produce peach brandy in Washington for the first time.

This winery or Grismere winery (another example of Washington's passion for innovation, with the most advanced automation technology) is 2.7 miles away from the main entrance of Mount Vernon Memorial Expressway/Highway 235 and is open to tourists from April to 10 every year. 1May 6 morning 16, 1000 bottles of unripe rye will be on the market in Mount Vernon.