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CNN Saturday Morning News
Archaeologists Dig Up Distillery Run by George Washington
Aired June 14, 2003 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As we all learned in American history class, the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 was the first test of the federal government's power to enforce its laws. It was a major victory for President George Washington.
Now archaeologists are discovering Washington was a whiskey man himself.
Bruce Morton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Archaeologists digging, sifting. They are working at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. They're excavating where his old distillery stood.
You didn't know the father of our country made whiskey? Well, yes, he did. He was an agribusinessman who wanted his crops to make money.
DENNIS POGUE, MOUNT VERNON: Not only did he grow the wheat, but he cleaned it, he ground it in the mill behind us here, and then, of course, turned it into whiskey.
MORTON: Grinding corn this day. Washington grew that too.
The reconstructed mill started up again in 1992. The distillery, helped by a grant from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. The digging started in 1999.
ESTER WHITE, ARCHAEOLOGY DIRECTOR: We're now down to what we think are the distillery layers, so all the soils that you see are from 1798. And we've got features of the building actually exposed.
MORTON: The dirt tells stories. Black means heat. Was there a furnace here? Washington had five stills, they say, and a press. A 1799 census shows six slave distillers.
The diggers have recovered bits of the old distillery -- a faucet handle, part of a spout -- but they're not just digging. They plan to rebuild and get the place working again, making whiskey.
WHITE: Mount Vernon is committed to interpreting the distillation of whiskey as it was in the 18th century. We will be distilling something. We probably will not be distilling whiskey for sale in your local store. MORTON: Washington sold his, though, had one of the region's biggest distilleries and was a whiskey success story.
POGUE: The first full year it was operating, they made 11,000 gallons of whiskey, valued at about $75,000, which was a significant amount of money.
MORTON: The diggers dig, the planners plan, the first whiskey from the restored distillery is expected in 2005.
But does anyone know what whiskey tasted like in Washington's day?
WHITE: We think that it probably was very similar to moonshine, or to mad dog, I think, is what the Kentucky distillers call it, white lightning. It was -- Washington distilled his whiskey two, three, even four times. It was not aged at all.
MORTON: Ouch. Sounds just a little raw.
Of course, that may have been just the way the first president liked it.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Mount Vernon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 14, 2003 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As we all learned in American history class, the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 was the first test of the federal government's power to enforce its laws. It was a major victory for President George Washington.
Now archaeologists are discovering Washington was a whiskey man himself.
Bruce Morton reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Archaeologists digging, sifting. They are working at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. They're excavating where his old distillery stood.
You didn't know the father of our country made whiskey? Well, yes, he did. He was an agribusinessman who wanted his crops to make money.
DENNIS POGUE, MOUNT VERNON: Not only did he grow the wheat, but he cleaned it, he ground it in the mill behind us here, and then, of course, turned it into whiskey.
MORTON: Grinding corn this day. Washington grew that too.
The reconstructed mill started up again in 1992. The distillery, helped by a grant from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. The digging started in 1999.
ESTER WHITE, ARCHAEOLOGY DIRECTOR: We're now down to what we think are the distillery layers, so all the soils that you see are from 1798. And we've got features of the building actually exposed.
MORTON: The dirt tells stories. Black means heat. Was there a furnace here? Washington had five stills, they say, and a press. A 1799 census shows six slave distillers.
The diggers have recovered bits of the old distillery -- a faucet handle, part of a spout -- but they're not just digging. They plan to rebuild and get the place working again, making whiskey.
WHITE: Mount Vernon is committed to interpreting the distillation of whiskey as it was in the 18th century. We will be distilling something. We probably will not be distilling whiskey for sale in your local store. MORTON: Washington sold his, though, had one of the region's biggest distilleries and was a whiskey success story.
POGUE: The first full year it was operating, they made 11,000 gallons of whiskey, valued at about $75,000, which was a significant amount of money.
MORTON: The diggers dig, the planners plan, the first whiskey from the restored distillery is expected in 2005.
But does anyone know what whiskey tasted like in Washington's day?
WHITE: We think that it probably was very similar to moonshine, or to mad dog, I think, is what the Kentucky distillers call it, white lightning. It was -- Washington distilled his whiskey two, three, even four times. It was not aged at all.
MORTON: Ouch. Sounds just a little raw.
Of course, that may have been just the way the first president liked it.
Bruce Morton, CNN, Mount Vernon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
