Missed opportunity

If they put me in charge for one year the government would be operating with a surplus and I'd still be able to cut taxes in half.

And I'd start by issuing a Class A liquor license to Mount Vernon.

In 1799 — just his third year of production — Washington produced nearly 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey and turned a profit of $7,500, more than $100,000 in today's dollars. But because he didn't age his whiskey, his liquor never had the rich color and mellow taste modern whiskeys acquire by sitting for years in oak barrels.

"This would have been white lightning," said James Rees, executive director of the Mount Vernon estate.

Mount Vernon hopes to open the reconstructed distillery to the public in the spring of 2007. It is being built next to a reconstructed gristmill — also operated by Washington — on a site a few miles west of the Mount Vernon mansion.

The Distilled Spirits Council has contributed more than $1 million to reconstruction of the distillery, which will be the only one of its kind in the country.

While the distillery will be functional, Mount Vernon does not plan to produce or sell whiskey, except perhaps for special events.

Every day is special when you're serving cheap whiskey to the public. Just the visiting graduate history students from college campuses around the country would be enough to wipe out the national deficit.