Distillery

In the days when Route 1 was the East Coast's main highway, northbound motorists knew they were just outside Baltimore when the whiff of a barroom floated into their DeSotos and Packards.The pungent smell of fermenting grains and yeast settled over Relay and St. Denis in the Patapsco River Valley along the old Washington Boulevard. The odor of Calvert whiskey marked roads, railroads and villages from the 1930s through the 1980s. When you smelled John Barleycorn, you knew Baltimore was not far away.

No one makes whiskey any longer on Sollers Point Road in Dundalk, where the old distillery stands empty, the weeds poke through the paving and graffiti marks the brick walls. Joseph E. Seagram & Sons closed its bottling plant there in the late 1980s, and it's been empty for years, considered an eyesore by many neighbors and the scene of several recent fires. The latest owner of these desolate 14.5 acres is planning a redevelopment, and one of his ideas involves moving county-owned offices there, freeing up a nearby property for "big box" stores at one of the biggest crossroads in Dundalk.

Mary Louise "Wheezie" Gutman, who collected English ceramics and donated them to two Baltimore art museums, died of heart disease Sunday at her Lutherville home. She was 88. Born Mary Louise Fleischmann in Baltimore and raised in Reservoir Hill and Mount Washington, she was a 1937 Park School graduate. She attended Goucher College. In 1942, representing the Suburban Club, she won the city women's singles and doubles tennis championship. She later played golf and was a past president of the Women's Golf Association of Baltimore.

Sloop Betty, the flagship spirit of new Maryland distillery Blackwater Distilling, has some fans outside of the state. The trade magazine The Tasting Panel gave it a 94-point rating in its July issue. In a small blurb in its review section, the magazine describes the vodka as "lush and rich with creamy texture and lovely grain notes; complex, elegant and dense with subtle vanilla space; long, deep and seamless. " Of all the spirits reviewed in the issue, the vodka got the highest rating besides Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve Bourbon.

A trucking facility planned at the site of the former Calvert Distillery has residents in nearby Relay worried about its effects on their community.The neighbors' uneasiness is heightened, they say, because they know very little about the facility to be built at 5101 Washington Blvd. by TNT Redstar Express, a trucking company based in Newark, N.J.Some residents believe the presence of the trucking facility would mean more traffic from nearby Interstates 95 and 195 and U.S. 1, and increased noise for those living in the small, historic community.

DUBLIN, IRELAND Those plump little cherubs smiling rapturously from the depths of dark baroque paintings have reason to be happy, I thought as I listened to tour guide Niall Stewart expound on "the angels' share," a term used to describe the amount of Irish whiskey that evaporates daily while aging in casks. "No one knows what the angels actually do with their share," said Stewart, as we began our tour of the Old Jameson Distillery here. "But we do know 6,000 bottles of Jameson are lost a day floating in the air."

LAWRENCEBURG, KY. -- Who would have thought bourbon and water would be a problem in Kentucky? A fire at a distillery warehouse destroyed more than 17,000 oaken barrels of Wild Turkey and sent flaming bourbon into the water supply, forcing schools and businesses in this town of 8,000 to close yesterday. The liquor never got into the tap water, because the water plant shut down as the bourbon - some of it superbly well-aged at 15 years old - splashed by on its way into the Kentucky River.

Charles Wilbur "Stretch" Crisp, a retired distillery supervisor and collector of vintage Jaguars, was pronounced dead Saturday at Chester County Hospital in West Chester, Pa. The Woodlawn resident was 66. Mr. Crisp was attending a Cars of England at Oakbourne Mansion classic automobile meet in Westtown, Pa., when, while accepting an award for one of his Jaguars with his wife, he was stricken with the massive heart attack that took his life,...

ALBANY, N.Y. - Nearly every time a shovel breaks ground for downtown development here, it strikes something from the deep past: In recent years, archaeologists hired to do pre-construction surveys have found Dutch cemeteries, American Indian artifacts and, most recently, an 18th-century rum distillery. And just as often, the shovel keeps on going: All of those discoveries have been unceremoniously reburied. Recently, the city dumped backfill over the distillery's vine-tied wooden fermentation vats to make way for a six-story parking garage.

WASHINGTON - George Washington's distillery was no mere backyard hobby. In 1799, Washington showed a profit of $7,500 for 11,000 gallons of whiskey made from corn and rye - worth up to $500,000 on today's retail market and making his one of the largest distillery operations in 18th-century America. And just six weeks before he died, he wrote to a nephew that "demand for this article is brisk." The letter, sent from Mount Vernon, went back to Washington's Virginia home recently, on permanent loan from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, which represents most of the country's producers and marketers of distilled spirits.

There's no such thing as a bad time to visit George Washington's Mount Vernon, the historic estate of our first president. Still, spring seems to be a natural fit, as the expansive gardens begin to show signs of renewed life, new lambs frolic in the paddock and stable area, and a host of special events prepare for launch. "We have 50 acres for our visitors to explore," said Melissa Wood, media relations manager for George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens. "There really couldn't be a better time of year to be outside and experience George Washington's home than spring.

Blackwater Distilling is set to begin bottling Sloop Betty vodka in Stevensville next month, marking the resumption after nearly 30 years of the proud tradition of distilling spirits in Maryland. "There's something about bringing that industry back that means something," Christopher Cook , a partner with his brother Jonathan in Blackwater, told Baltimore Sun reporter Jill Rosen recently. During rye whiskey's golden age, connoisseurs across the land instantly associated Wight's Sherbrook, Old Reserve, Ryebrook, Mount Vernon, Sherwood Pure Rye, Hunter's — "First Over the Bars" — and Pikesville Rye, to name only a few that were once distilled here, with Maryland.

Charles H. Klaus Sr., a retired stationary engineer and lifelong Woodlawn resident, died Tuesday of a staph infection at his home. He was 96. Mr. Klaus was born in Baltimore and spent the remainder of his life in Woodlawn. "He lived in a house on Dogwood Road that was later torn down in the 1960s to make way for Martin's West," said his daughter, Cassie A. Klaus-Maye of Williamsburg, Va. Mr. Klaus attended Woodlawn Elementary School until the fifth grade, when he left to help support his family.

Baltimore County Fire Department crews knocked down three of the four walls of the old Seagram's Building in Dundalk after a two-alarm fire Friday. The building was part of the National Distillers Products, commonly known as Seagram's, distillery buildings at 7100 Sollers Point Road. The five-story building that caught fire was vacant and no one was inside at the time the blaze began, according to a statement from Elise Armacost, spokeswoman with the Fire Department. No injuries were reported.

Charles Wilbur "Stretch" Crisp, a retired distillery supervisor and collector of vintage Jaguars, was pronounced dead Saturday at Chester County Hospital in West Chester, Pa. The Woodlawn resident was 66. Mr. Crisp was attending a Cars of England at Oakbourne Mansion classic automobile meet in Westtown, Pa., when, while accepting an award for one of his Jaguars with his wife, he was stricken with the massive heart attack that took his life,...

When it comes to towering cultural icons, the difference between Baltimore's lineup and Nashville's is like the difference between the varsity and JV. NASHVILLE Dolly Parton Overly chesty country artist whose warbling "mountain soprano" irritates again on her latest CD, Backwoods Barbie. Elvis Presley Bloated, pelvis-thrusting King of Rock 'n' Roll toppled by addiction to barbiturates and Sara Lee products. Jack Daniel Possibly unstable founder of Jack Daniel's whiskey distillery who died of massive toe infection after kicking a safe in anger when it wouldn't open.

While George Washington may have been "First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen," in his 1799 eulogy to the late squire of Mount Vernon, Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee failed to mention that he was also the first president to own a distillery. "There were lots of little distilleries in the 18th century that made whiskey, but what makes Washington's unique was that it was the largest distillery in the country at the time. This was a major commercial enterprise," said Dennis J. Pogue, assistant director for preservation at Mount Vernon in Virginia.

Blackwater Distilling is set to begin bottling Sloop Betty vodka in Stevensville next month, marking the resumption after nearly 30 years of the proud tradition of distilling spirits in Maryland. "There's something about bringing that industry back that means something," Christopher Cook , a partner with his brother Jonathan in Blackwater, told Baltimore Sun reporter Jill Rosen recently. During rye whiskey's golden age, connoisseurs across the land instantly associated Wight's Sherbrook, Old Reserve, Ryebrook, Mount Vernon, Sherwood Pure Rye, Hunter's — "First Over the Bars" — and Pikesville Rye, to name only a few that were once distilled here, with Maryland.

Mary Louise "Wheezie" Gutman, who collected English ceramics and donated them to two Baltimore art museums, died of heart disease Sunday at her Lutherville home. She was 88. Born Mary Louise Fleischmann in Baltimore and raised in Reservoir Hill and Mount Washington, she was a 1937 Park School graduate. She attended Goucher College. In 1942, representing the Suburban Club, she won the city women's singles and doubles tennis championship. She later played golf and was a past president of the Women's Golf Association of Baltimore.