Mash Bill: 60% rye, 35% corn, 5% malt.

Proposed mash: In a hogshead (120 gallon capacity) Add 9 gallons of water at 90F
Add 40 pounds of finely ground corn meal
Agitate briskly until there are no lumps
Let stand for 2 hours
Add 12 gallons of boiling water and work briskly with the mash stick
Let stand for 15 minutes
Add 14 gallons of boiling water, work briskly
Let stand for 60 minutes
Add 40 pounds of finely ground rye meal and work well, as before.
When the temperature reaches 148 F, add 10 pounds of malt and stir briskly to ensure that the malt is worked thru the whole mass.
Let stand for 2 to 4 hours, depending upon the weather, such that the addition of 25 gallons of cold water will bring the temperature of the entire mass down to 75F.
Add 1 quart of yeast, stir and cover.
Let ferment until ready for distillation (3 to 6 days)

We cooked and fermented the mash at Woodford Reserve Distillery and put the mash into barrels for shipping to Mt. Vernon.
The barrels were bunged and small holes were drilled into the bungs to allow carbon dioxide to excape.
if any additional fermentation took place even though the mash appeared dormant.

The was was distilled at Mt. Vernon on Wednesday, September 27th.

David Scheurich / Woodford Reserve
==========================

George Washington's Restored Distillery at Mount Vernon Dedicated by Prince Andrew

For more information contact: Frank Coleman or Lisa Hawkins, 202-682-8840, both of the the Distilled Spirits Council

MOUNT VERNON, Va., Sept 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- His Royal Highness, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York today joined public officials and leaders of the Scottish and American spirits industry at Historic Mount Vernon to celebrate the official dedication of the restored George Washington's Distillery.
The Duke, who cut the ribbon at the event, was celebrating the close Scottish-U.S. ties and paying tribute to Scotland's connection to George Washington's distillery. He noted that it was George Washington's Scottish farm manager, James Anderson, who convinced Washington in 1797 that distilling whiskey would be a lucrative business venture and a good use of the excess grain from the nearby gristmill. He joined other public officials including Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell in raising a toast to George Washington and splashing whiskey against the distillery's exterior stone wall.
"George Washington's Distillery will give the world both a clear view of the entrepreneurial spirit of our nation's first president and a valuable insight into America's distilling heritage," said Distilled Spirits Council President Peter Cressy, whose organization has been the major donor to Mount Vernon for the $2.1 million project to excavate and reconstruct the historic distillery. "George Washington was one of the most successful whiskey distillers of his time and symbolizes everything modern distillers stand for: responsibility, moderation and quality."
Chief Executive of the Scotch Whisky Association Gavin Hewitt, who traveled to the United States for the dedication, stated, "Scotland and the U.S.A. have long shared a passion for making whisky. We are delighted to celebrate the Scottish connection that brought distilling to Mount Vernon. The partnership between George Washington and James Anderson, his Scottish-born farm man ager, was instrumental in creating one of the most successful whisky distilleries in early America."
As part of the festivities, invited guests and the media tasted rare spirits as Master Distillers representing America's best known liquor brands led an 18th Century distilling demonstration using George Washington's historic recipe.
The whiskey was distilled in a copper pot still, crafted by Vendome Copper and Brass Works Company of Louisville, Ky., that was an exact replica of a late 18th Century still in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
The event also featured the ceremonial hand-bottling of the first George Washington Rye Whiskey distilled and aged at Mount Vernon nearly three years ago, which will be auctioned at an evening benefit gala for Mount Vernon.
Master Distillers who participated in the event were: Willie Ramos, of Bacardi; Ron Call of Cruzan Rum Distillery, Gerry Webb and John Lunn of George Dickel, Chris Morris of Woodford Reserve Jack Daniel's; Bill Samuels, Jr. of Maker's Mark; Ken Pierce of Very Old Barton; Joe Dangler of Virginia Gentleman and Eddie Russell of Wild Turkey.
In 1797, Washington, on the advice of James Anderson, constructed a large whiskey distillery adjacent to his gristmill on the banks of Dogue Creek in Fairfax County. Anderson installed his son, John, as distillery manager and the enterprise became one of the largest whiskey distilleries in early America -- producing 11,000 gallons in 1799, worth the then-substantial sum of $7500.
"George Washington was so much more than the image that most Americans have of him -- of the 'old man' on the dollar bill," said Dennis Pogue, chief historian at Historic Mount Vernon. "Recreating his distillery -- one of the largest in America when it was built -- will give visitors the opportunity to see Washington in one of his many lesser-known roles, in this case as a dynamic, risk taking entrepreneur."
After five years of archaeological excavations, the distillery has been authentically rebuilt by a team of restoration architects, craftsmen and historians using 18th-century building techniques.
The reconstructed distillery marks the only historic site in the country capable of showing the early American distilling process from seed to barrel. It will also serve as the "Gateway" to the American Whiskey Trail, a cultural heritage and tourism initiative of Historic Mount Vernon and the Distilled Spirits Council, when the second story distilling museum opens to the public in April, 2007.
======================

Rye Whiskey Comes Back As Premium Drink

By Dylan T. Lovan, Associated Press Writer

Distiller Tests Premium Whiskey's Popularity With Pricey Rye

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Finicky fans of top-shelf bourbon are being lured by another American whiskey that hasn't been widely consumed since Humphrey Bogart was in his prime.
Straight rye whiskey, the first whiskey ever produced in North America, is again tantalizing enthusiasts after falling out of favor after World War II.
Premium versions of the spicy, robust whiskey may entice sippers who are increasingly looking for more rare and expensive whiskeys, said F. Paul Pacult, an author and expert on wine and spirits.
"Straight rye whiskey is a bona fide comer because the increasingly sophisticated American palate is searching for new and exciting high-end spirits," said Pacult, who edits his F. Paul Pacult's Spirit Journal.
Heaven Hill and other Kentucky companies have been producing straight rye whiskeys for decades, but the Bardstown, Ky.-based distiller is hoping to capitalize on the popularity of premium bourbon with a pricey release hitting stores this month.
Heaven Hill's 21-year-old Rittenhouse Very Rare Straight Rye Whisky will retail for about $150 per bottle -- a hefty price even for a niche spirit.
Super premium and small-batch bourbons recorded $50 million in U.S. sales for the year period that ended Aug. 2, according to ACNielsen, a consumer tracking group. That's up more than 32 percent from two years before, when the industry reported $37 million in sales of the pricey spirits.
Heaven Hill's master distillers produced just 3,000 bottles of the Very Rare Rittenhouse, and each is marked with the barrel it came from.

"There's a resurgence in the market for premium ryes," said Parker Beam, master distiller at Heaven Hill and a grand nephew of Jim Beam. "That 21 years of aging in the barrel brings out all the qualities you could ever expect in a rye."
Beam said people who haven't tried straight rye whiskey believe it has a bitter taste.
"Matter of fact, they're usually a little sweeter than bourbon," he said.
Pacult said some other rye offerings are Old Overholt, produced by Jim Beam, Sazerac's 18-year-old Rye and Michter's Rye. Beam also produces Basil Hayden's, a premium 8-year-old whiskey made with a higher concentration of rye than traditional bourbons. A bottle sells for about $35.
"When you look at the industry as a whole, not only is there a huge interest in bourbons and North American whiskeys, but the fastest growth is taking place at the super-premium end of the market," said Sarah Devaney, a spokeswoman for Jim Beam Brands. Devaney said Basil Hayden's saw a double-digit increase in sales from 2004 to 2005.
Scottish, Irish and German immigrants distilled the first rye whiskeys when they settled in North America. It was the whiskey of choice in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it fell out of favor with Americans in the mid-1940s after soldiers returning from World War II developed a taste for European whiskeys, said Larry Kass, a spokesman at Heaven Hill.
Despite premium rye's growing interest, it remains a small niche in the larger bourbon market. Beam said Heaven Hill mashes 1,000 barrels of rye each year, compared with 700 to 800 barrels of bourbon a day. Overall U.S. bourbon sales totaled $495 million for the one-year period that ended in early August, according to ACNielsen.
But the rarity of aged straight rye, which is at least 51 percent rye, is the allure, Pacult said. Heaven Hill had just 32 barrels of the 21-year-old rye it used to make the Rittenhouse release.
"There's very little of it around, I'm sure," Beam said.
==========================

Local distiller makes first batch since 1799 Whiskey WASHINGTON'S WAY

(Photo Above) Mike Sherman, with Vendome Copper and Brass Works of Louisville, and Master Distiller Chris Morris, with Woodford Reserve, tend the 18th-century-style still to demonstrate distilling techniques at the George Washington Distillery commemoration at Mount Vernon.

First bottle of whiskey made from George Washington's recipe in 200 years sells for $100,000 at auction. Fredericksburg distiller from Smith Bowman helped recreate recipe at Mount Vernon
By MICHAEL ZITZ

OUNT VERNON--Joe Dangler insisted it didn't make him nervous to have George Washington--or at least an actor playing him--looking over his shoulder.
The A. Smith Bowman master distiller from Fredericksburg was manipulating a primitive wood-fire still that re-created the Father of our Country's own recipe for rye whiskey.
Even having Prince Andrew, His Royal Highness, The Duke of York, drop by for a taste didn't faze Dangler.
After spending two years sweating--literally and figuratively--over learning how to distill whiskey the old- fashioned way, the scrutiny at the dedication of the reconstructed George Washington's Distillery at the Gristmill off Dogue Run Creek in Fairfax near Mount Vernon was, well, no sweat.
During Wednesday's ceremony for the re-created 18th- century distillery, Dangler hand-bottled George Washington's Rye that had been distilled at Mount Vernon over a five-year period.
The challenge of doing it the old-time way forged a bond between the nine master distillers who worked on the project.
Despite 29 years of experience, Dangler, who makes Virginia Gentleman at Smith Bowman, said he had a hard time doing what Washington did.
But Dangler must've done something right.
Wednesday night at a benefit organized by the distilled spirits industry, a bottle of the first George Washington Distillery Straight Rye Whiskey produced at Mount Vernon in over 200 years sold for $100,000--said to be a world record for a bottle of American whiskey.
Twenty-four bottles were produced in October 2003 by a team of master distillers including Dangler and aged in a specially made oak cask for more than two years on the grounds of Mount Vernon. The money will go for educational programs there.
Marvin Shanken, publisher of Wine Spectator magazine, had the high bid. Bottle No. 1 was donated to go on display in the George Washington Distillery Museum, to open to the public in April.
Dangler said the first time the modern distillers mixed sour mash into the copper pot and fanned the flames of the embers in the brick firebox, "It turned to oatmeal," Dangler said. "It stuck to the sides of the pot and we had to scrape it off."
"What we learned was how much we didn't know," said Chris Morris of Woodford Reserve, another of the master distillers who worked on the daunting project.
They ultimately succeeded in making Washington's hand- crafted straight rye recipe for the first time since 1799.
The copper pot still, made by Vendome Copper and Brass Works Co. of Louisville, is a replica of an 18th-century one at the Smithsonian Institution.
Dangler explained that, out of sheer respect for the finicky, fiery-hot apparatus, the distillers had created a ritual, As they removed the onion-shaped copper top of the still to get to the pot, Dangler raised his arms three times and thrice said loudly, "All hail the mighty onion!"
He said all the time and work it took to learn to make the whiskey properly in the way Washington did gave him a deep appreciation for distilling craftsmen of the era.
In 1797, at the urging of his Mount Vernon manager James Anderson, who had learned the distilling craft in his native Scotland, Washington built a large whiskey distillery next to the gristmill.
"Some would say the people of Scotland are [that nation's] best export," Prince Andrew said. "Today, we celebrate that Scottish root."
"George Washington was an entrepreneur an innovator," the prince said, but he was lucky to have stumbled upon Anderson.
"The core of [Britain's] relationship with the United States continues to be looking for innovators," said the prince, whose royal duties include promoting international trade.
Mount Vernon Executive Director James Rees said Washington's operation boomed because of Anderson's advice and Washington's business acumen.
"It was a very successful venture," Rees said.
He said Washington had been told "the demand for liquor was 10 times more than the available supply--that's all that Washington needed to hear."
Anderson's son, John, ran the distillery, which became the largest in America at the time, producing 11,000 gallons of whiskey in 1799, and earning $7,500, a huge sum at that time.
Back then, half a dozen slaves moved the grain, which was mixed at a ratio of 60 percent rye, 35 percent Indian corn and 5 percent malted barley in mash tubs and attended to the furnaces firing the boiler and stills.
Rees speculated that if Washington hadn't died from a sudden illness, the operation might have grown into one of today's biggest liquor companies.
========================
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ: 540/374-5408 Email: mikez@freelancestar.com 'It turned to oatmeal. It stuck to the sides of the pot and we had to scrape it off.' Joe Dangler, master distiller on the first time sour mash was mixed in the copper still.

Montana Legislation Above is the link to the state of Montana. It's legislation has been used as a model for other states to draw-up "new" craft distlling legislations.

======================== === =

Back Issues of 2005 Newsletters

Touring Scottish Whisky Distilleries

The Virtual Absinthe Museum
An extensive reference collection of original artifacts documenting every aspect of the history of La Fee Verte, from its use as a medicinal elixir in ancient times, to its heyday as a fashionable aperitif in the 19th century and its prohibition at the beginning of the 20th.