CRAFT by Under My Host® Issue No. 17 Made in America: Part II | Page 38

W W W. C R A F T BY U M H . C O M
I have never been involved in spirit production before this, so being able
to touch, smell and taste the distillate in its various stages taught me a lot
about what I’m getting in the whiskeys I have at home. The heads and tails
are collected in five-gallon buckets while the hearts are held in 55-gal-
lon plastic containers until doubling. Heads are high in proof, and methyl
alcohol which is toxic, and the tails are low in proof containing a lot of fatty
and oily substances with neither of them being pleasant tasting. The hearts
are the part the distiller will double, or run again, and is the most desired in
flavor and proof.
The day of the doubling run wasn’t much different than the previous days.
The process resembled the stripping runs, with each still being looked after
by one person, while one or two additional workers collected the new make
to be taken to the proofing table. This final spirit is also saved in plastic
barrels until it can be transferred to wooden barrels for aging or sent to be
filtered and bottled as white whiskey.
They make whiskey in March and November and use all five stills because
the building is closed to the public. They run brandy during the touring
season in May, September, and October, which only requires three of the
stills. This allows them to keep tours on one side of the distillery and away
from the fires and hot copper. It also gives visitors a chance to see the site
in operation while being safe.
The amount of retail product is very small and sold exclusively in the gift
shop at Mount Vernon. We were treated to samples on our last evening, and
I can say it’s a good spirit. The product aged two years is just a little easier
to drink than the unaged. The unaged wasn’t as harsh as most white whis-
keys because of filtering prior to bottling. Both have a lot of citrus and mint
notes, along with the usual pepper I taste in a rye. They both have more
layers than I’m used to with whiskeys as young or unaged as Mount Ver-
non’s.
As humbling as the whole experience was, the highlight of the trip was the
night we were invited to go up to the mansion late after the crowds had left.
I was with my old friends, Lisa and Alan, and my new friend, Steve, remi-
niscing about the day, toasting one distiller’s birthday and lamenting the
passing of another when it got quiet. This affected me a lot as I imagined
George Washington standing on that same spot over 200 years before me
and looking out at the Potomac River in a reflective mood just as I was do-
ing. I contemplated what his thoughts or worries about the Revolutionary
War might have been, the beginnings of a new country and his role in all
these things. It overwhelmed me just to be there.
I think every American citizen should visit the capital of our nation once in
their life. Any opportunity you may have to go to Mount Vernon should be
taken as well. Go see the home of our first President and experience what it
was like to live and work in that time.