Think of Mount Vernon these days and the first images that come to mind are those class trips—kids feeding goats, running through a straw-bale maze, and going on wagon rides. The last thing you’d associate with the home of George Washington is whiskey (indeed, our first president preferred Madeira and port). And yet I found myself yesterday on the grounds of Washington’s distillery, witnessing a three-year project come to fruition: the creation of a glorious single-malt whiskey. (Am I the only one excited about this?)

Actually located some three miles south of the main estate, Washington’s distillery came back to life in 2006 and is operated by and large the way it was in 1798. The grains come from the gristmill next door although the copper stills are heated by steam now as opposed to the less-predictable woodfire. The two times I’ve visited, the distillers were not only sweating it out churning large vats of mash, but they were also clad in thick colonial garb. (As an adult visitor, I found watching all this much more compelling than learning how to warp a loom.)