Washington Whiskey

On this day in 1799, Bro. George Washington died at his home at Mount Vernon in Virginia. Victorious general, signer of the Constitution, and first president, Washington undoubtedly is best remembered as the only Founding Father who commercially operated a distillery.

At peak production, Washington's Distillery employed five stills and a boiler and produced 11,000 gallons of whiskey, yielding $7,500 in 1799, one of the most financially successful operations at Mount Vernon.

Washington lives on today, as Mount Vernon’s Distillery is the only site which still demonstrates the 18th-century distillation process.

Alas, my Brother.

At the beginning of Fifth Avenue, on the north side of Washington Square Park, stands the Beaux Arts monument of Tuckahoe marble displaying two huge likenesses of George Washington, warrior, statesman, distiller.