George Washington Rye and Rolex Day-Date
In a President’s Day edition of Whiskey and a Watch, we will take a look at one of the most iconic watches that Rolex makes and an obscure whiskey with huge historical significance. This is our first article featuring a Rolex, as well as a whiskey based on a George Washington’s old school recipe.
The Watch-
Rolex Day-Date
This watch could arguably be the most iconic watch made by Rolex. Chances are, if you showed this watch to the average person on the street, they could identify this watch as a Rolex.
Although Rolex refers to this watch as the Day-Date, most watch nerds like myself refer to this watch by its other nickname, The Rolex President. This watch debuted in 1956 and was the first waterproof, self winding watch to have a day spelt out in full in and the numerical date. That is a lot of qualifiers, but any way you look at it, this is one heck of a watch. I remember seeing advertisements for this watch in National Geographic Magazine growing up with pictures of the United Nations building with the excerpt “If you were speaking here tomorrow, you’d wear a Rolex.” This watch wasn’t marketed to the F1 racing, mountain climbing segment that many of the Rolexes of the time were targeted at. Rolex even had an ad in 1966 with a picture of Day-Date that read underneath “The Presidents’ Watch”. Not really sure if their punctuation was correct in the ad, but I digress. For a fantastic in depth piece on the origin of the Rolex President nickname, I highly recommend checking out this feature on Jake’s Rolex Blog. This thing oozed prestige and importance. In fact, if you head over to the Rolex website, it is currently billed as “The Ultimate Watch of Prestige.”
The watch has seen many iterations over the years, but is offered by Rolex today in two sizes, 40mm and 36 mm. Ours that is featured is from the late 70’s and is 36 mm in diameter with a classic gold dial. The bracelet Rolex uses on this watch is unique to the Day-Date and is truly a work of art in itself.
Entry to the Rolex President owner’s club isn’t cheap, and will cost you around $15,000 for a pre-owned piece. If you are looking new, prices (retail) start at 36k for the gold all the way to Price on Request for the platinum watch, which translates to if you have to ask how much that is, you probably can’t afford it.
SPECS:
CASE-36 and 40 mm, yellow gold, white gold, everose gold and platinum
BEZEL-Fluted
CRYSTAL-Scratch-resistant sapphire, Cyclops lens over the date
WATER RESISTANCE-Waterproof to 100 meters / 330 feet
MOVEMENT-Perpetual, mechanical, self-winding Rolex Calibre 3255 movement with 70 hour power reserve.
PRICE- Starts in the 36k range and goes up substantially.
source-Rolex.com
The Whiskey-
George Washington Rye
If you are looking for a mass produced whiskey that was tested on focus groups with a multi-million dollar marketing budget, you might want to look elsewhere. In fact, it is really hard much about this whiskey anywhere on the internet. This stuff is so limited that it makes the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection availability like Jim Beam.
This stuff was comes straight from the distiller of Mt. Vernon, the home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The story of this Mount Vernon distilling says, that in 1797, upon suggestion from his farm manager, George Washington expanded his commercial enterprises at Mt. Vernon to include whiskey distilling. It went so well, that in two years, nearly 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey were produced there, making it one of, if not the largest distillery in 18th century America.
The recipe for this current version of the whiskey was found by researchers looking at the distillery ledgers from 1798-1799. The mash bill is made up of 60% rye, 35% Corn and 5% malted barley. This juice is not made in some high tech, computerized factory either. The grain is ground using a water powered grist mill, the mash is set in wooden fermentation vats and wood-fired copper stills are used to produce the whiskey in the most authentic, historical way possible.
During Washington’s days, whiskey wasn’t aged, rather bottled and sold fresh off the still. This bottle feels right at home sitting next to my Buffalo Trace White Dog. My brother picked this bottle up a few years ago at Mt. Vernon, but it is also available on the Mt. Vernon website, but can only be shipped to Virginia and The District of Columbia. There are several libations other than this one available, including rye whiskey that is barrel aged, as well as apple and peach brandy. Out of all the bourbons and whiskies I have had, this is certainly one of the most unique.
Specs/Tasting notes:
86 Proof
Retail-$98 for a 375ml bottle. 50 ml sample with gift box and glass available here for $30
Appearance / Color:
Clear, same color as Crystal Pepsi
Smell / Nose / Aroma
The rye is apparent, however, the corn notes really stand out. I got a bit of banana or fruit of some sort as well.
Taste/Finish
The rye really steals the show initially, followed by raw corn whiskey taste. This really is pretty palatable and not very overpowering for a “white dog”, not sure if it is due to the distillation process, or the lower proof. Finish doesn’t linger long, but has a tinge of vanilla.
For more information, visit: Mount Vernon Distillery
The Connection:
As you have probably figured out, this whiskey was made at the home of a former U.S. President and the Rolex Day-Date has been worn by numerous U.S. Presidents, the first one being Lyndon B Johnson. Both the whiskey and watch aren’t mass produced, inexpensive options, rather uniquely crafted timeless expressions of their respected craft.
So this President’s day, see if you can wear a Rolex Day-Date while sipping on George Washington’s Rye Whiskey. I highly recommend it!
