How is water and grain transformed into spirits? Follow me through the process of how whiskey was made and then visit the distillery yourself to see first-hand how it was done!

The gristmill provided the grain – corn, rye, and barley – necessary to make Washington’s special recipe. 

George Washington’s gristmill, originally constructed in the 1770s.

Corn being ground into meal in the gristmill.

Water, another major ingredient in whiskey production, was carried down from the millrace into the distillery through long wooden troughs.

The millrace (before it was reconstructed and filled with water) and the mill in the background.

Water travels from the millrace down into the distillery.

 

Once inside the building, the water and grain are combined in the mashing process. Then, yeast is added to ferment the mixture and create alcohol.

Mashing and fermenting took place in large wooden barrels like these.

 

The grainy mixture is then added to one of five large copper pot stills where it is heated by a fire. Alcohol, which boils at a lower temperature than water, evaporates off and is recondensed once it enters the copper worm, or pipe, surrounded by cold water. The alcohol travels down the worm and out the spout where it was collected in a bucket or other vessel.

Copper pot still sits on a furnace where grain mixture is heated. Alcohol evaporates off and turns back to liquid as it is cooled in the pipe.