Huzzah! The father of our country turned his prodigious talents to, among other things, whiskey-making after his retirement:
When Washington left the presidency and returned to Mount Vernon in 1797, his plantation manager, a Scotsman named James Anderson, suggested that his boss use the farm’s excess grain to make whiskey for the local market. Washington agreed reluctantly, Pogue says, but the whiskey sold so well that in October 1797 Washington had his slaves build a 75-by-30-foot distillery.
The distillery’s five copper stills churned out about 4,000 gallons of rye whiskey the next year. In 1799, Washington did even better, selling nearly 11,000 gallons and earning about $7,500 — an enormous sum in those days.
(via Dappled Things)
A Thinking Reed 
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