George Washington’s Peach Brandy Recreated

Nov. 14, 2014 — Eight hundred bottles of Peach Brandy Eau de Vie made at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Distillery go on sale today.  If you want a bottle, you’d better hurry up.  The first rye whiskey made at the distillery sold out in two hours.  Be ready to pony up $150 for 375 ml bottle but think of the bragging rights!  We just checked the Mount Vernon web site and unfortunately, you have to be there in person to snag a bottle.  Virginia is one of those states that doesn’t allow shipments of alcohol.

The web site description says, “Eau de Vie, or “water of life”, is a clear unaged fruit brandy. George Washington’s Distillery Peach Eau de Vie is a robust, fiery brandy, beautifully clear with peach aromas and a hint of cinnamon.”

In 2000, Mount Vernon began the excavation and restoration of the $2 million distillery project with a grant from the Distilled Spirits Council.  It opened to the public in March 2007.  The peach brandy project was lead by Mount Vernon’s Master Distiller Steve Bashore. Ted Huber of Huber’s Starlight Distillery in Indiana procured five 55-gallon drums of very fine peach juice, and Thomas McKenzie of Finger Lakes Distilling in New York assisted Bashore in the production and bottling of the brandy.  The whole process was undertaken using the manual methods of 200 years ago.  It was heavy, slow work.  They literally had to move the mash bucket by bucket.

George Washington was one of the most successful distillers of his era.  The reconstruction of his distillery is inspirational coming at a time when there is a real renaissance in American whiskey and distilled spirits in general.