((PKG)) MT. PLEASANT CLUB WHISKEY
((TRT: 09:50))
((Topic Banner: Whiskey Revival))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Jeff Swicord))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main characters: 2 males; 1 Female))
((NATS/MUSIC/SOT))
Got a good whirlpool going in here.
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((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial itch. I work in consulting, specifically working on data science. Making whiskey was a fun side project that we started during COVID as something to keep us busy.
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((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
There are a lot of smaller craft distillers that are out there and really changing, changing the world of whiskey.
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((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
I am a government contracts attorney. I got into whiskey many years ago and I started to learn as much as I could about it. We have no background in doing this. We had no idea what we were doing but…and we are learning on the way and it’s a great ride so far.
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((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
We’re reviving an old, 110-year-old brand for a few reasons. One is, we have a passion for history. And there’s some really, really interesting stories out there through the Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey brand.
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And we want to bring those out in the products we bring to market.
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((Mara Cherkasky
Mount Pleasant Historian))
Mount Pleasant was originally a village established after the Civil War. Streetcar came up Mount Pleasant Street here, and the end of the line was at Park Road. And at that point, this land became valuable to develop. It hadn’t been developed yet.
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Then businesses started locating along Mount Pleasant Street, and one of the first was this one-story building. It’s now a laundromat. And then some of these other businesses appeared in this block.
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Today, it’s a bus turnaround but the streetcar stopped down where the bus stops and there was a platform and people got on and off.
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((Mara Cherkasky
Mount Pleasant Historian))
Row Houses mostly started being built along here and all of these blocks West of Mount Pleasant Street. Still a beautiful neighborhood. Mount Pleasant was originally a New England village and it was dry [no alcohol]. So, that was one of the virtues of it.
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((Mara Cherkasky
Mount Pleasant Historian))
Temperance [anti-alcohol] movement was a huge thing in the 19th century and into the 20th century. There were no liquor establishments in Mount Pleasant.
((Mara Cherkasky
Mount Pleasant Historian))
Prohibition hit in [Washington] D.C. earlier than nationally. It started November 1st, 1917.
A big premise of the temperance movement was that it was
((Mara Cherkasky
Mount Pleasant Historian))
bad for families. So, it was bad for women and children because
the husband would take his whole paycheck and drink it up in the saloons. Then they’d be impoverished
((Mara Cherkasky
Mount Pleasant Historian))
and then he’d, on top of it, you know, be abusive.
((NATS/MUSIC))
This Mt. Pleasant Brand Whiskey came about when somebody in Mount Pleasant found a… an old whiskey bottle in their house when they were renovating. It was practice, workmen drinking on the job. Some people say that it’s to celebrate finishing the house, to put a bottle in. I’m not sure about that. But I know, lots of people who have renovated their houses and pulled out walls and found bottles in there, among other things.
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((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
This all got started when my wife and I bought the house that we currently live in. The lady that lived there, back in the [19]80s, they did a renovation. During that renovation, they found a bottle from 1911. And it just sat in her living room, dining room, for the next 30 years.
I was fascinated. I thought it was such a cool bottle and just, I mean, I almost immediately started to like look up because it had William Barry, 2024 14th street. It was intriguing to me just by digging up what I could on Mr. Barry. And I was able to find a little bit about him.
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((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
During COVID, we found ourselves hanging out with nothing to do, trying to get outside. While hanging out, we had this idea and said we were going to bring this, this old brand back.
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((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
We weren’t going to go sell our houses and try to buy a distillery. So, I had a friend who owned this distillery in Virginia and she was willing to help us. It’s such a cool thing that we should try to revive it and that’s really how it started.
((NATS))
((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
William Barry. Mr. Barry was a Irishman
((Photo Courtesy: The Barry Family))
who, I think, around 1905,1906, he decided to go into the liquor business and he bought a liquor store from Patrick Nelligan, who was the
((end Photo Courtesy))
original producer of Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey.
((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
And it was here at 2024 14th street, The Reliable family liquor store and Barry started to sell Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey at that point. Back then, the brand used the Mt. Pleasant name but had no connection to the neighborhood. So yeah, this is U Street, one of the most famous Black neighborhoods in the country, really.
((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
This was Harlem before Harlem became Harlem. All the jazz clubs up and down U Street, this is where it was at. I mean, [musicians] Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington was born or he lived right around the corner from here. Very historic neighborhood. So, I imagine there were a lot of African American foot traffic going up and down here buying, buying the whiskey.
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((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
November 1st, 1917, that’s when prohibition came to Washington, D.C. They shut down every, it became illegal to sell liquor.
((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
William Barry, he tried to fight prohibition. He served on a couple of different organizations, committees to try and push back against prohibition.
((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
I mean, he appeared in the papers a number of times, in the Post and the Evening Star a number of times, speaking out against the temperance movement.
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((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
Barry restarted the brand when prohibition ended. And after a few years, he passed away as well. And at that point, the brand stopped. It ceased to exist.
((NATS/SOT))
So, this is, this is a Mt. Pleasant whiskey bottle.
((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
We will continue to take forward Mt. Pleasant Club brand, releasing two to three batches a year, each named after different streets, each with a different flavor profile.
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((Troy Hughes
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
Most definitely, it’s a neighborhood pride thing. Just living here and raising our kids in Mount Pleasant, it’s all about neighborhood pride.
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There is an altruistic purpose for doing all of this. We are giving a portion of our proceeds to local community organizations.
((John Loughner
Co-owner, Mt. Pleasant Club Whiskey))
We are putting together a vodka product in which we will donate 100 percent of the profits to refugees of the war in Ukraine. Give back to the neighborhood. That’s a big part of what we’re doing.
((NATS))