‘Drink brandy like George Washington’

    

Mount Vernon

Apropos of nothing, except that I like brandies and that George Washington was a Freemason, the distillery at Mount Vernon will release a new batch of bottles next week.

Weighing in at 80 proof, George Washington’s Peach Brandy™ is heftier than the Hiram Walker sweets I somewhat remember quaffing in the woods with my idiot friends in junior high school, so it may merit the use of a snifter. Or at least its $10/ounce price tag could inspire measured consumption. Going on sale October 17 at noon. From the publicity:

Brandy Produced

in the 18th Century

By 1799, George Washington had become one of the largest whiskey producers in the United States. Today we continue the tradition of producing whiskey and other small batch distilled spirits at our historic distillery.

Washington maintained orchards on his estate and these orchards supplied the peaches needed to produce the brandy at the distillery. The ledgers indicate that small amounts of peach brandy were produced in 1798 and 1799. A portion was sold at market and the remainder was sent to the mansion for use by the Washington family.

After aging for eighteen months in used bourbon barrels at Mount Vernon, this brandy was bottled and labeled by hand. Mount Vernon staff, working with craft distiller consultants, produced this brandy using traditional eighteenth century methods. The brandy was double-distilled in copper pot stills heated by wood fires.

This special bottle of George Washington Peach Brandy™ is one of a limited number of bottles distilled at Washington’s reconstructed distillery at Mount Vernon. Buy in person at The Shops at Mount Vernon (3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, Virginia) or buy online.

Bottle size: 375 mL

Alcohol content: 40 percent

Proof: 80 proof