When George Cassiday returned from World War I, he needed a job. With the nation gripped by Prohibition, a friend suggested he try supplying bootleg liquor on Capitol Hill. Word spread quickly and Cassiday soon had a number of Congressmen — “wet” and “dry” — as clients.
By 1920 Cassiday went “in-house” with an office in the basement of the House Office Building to supply thirsty lawmakers. On one of his train trips back from NYC with “supplies,” Cassiday set his suitcase down a bit too hard and broke several bottles. A fellow traveler said, “Say, buddy, your clothes are leaking.” The Feds weren’t there to see the spill … but his luck wouldn’t hold much longer.
Eventually word about Cassiday’s cozy setup got out and in 1925 the Capitol Police caught him carrying booze into the Cannon Building. The dapper Cassiday was arrested wearing his signature green felt hat, earning him the moniker “The Man in the Green Hat.” Banned from the House, Cassiday promptly moved his operation to the Senate Office Building.
Cassiday found senators more discreet than their House colleagues, using a page or staffer to make the deal. But the feds caught on and in early 1930 Cassiday was arrested in the Senate parking lot with 6 bottles of gin. But he never spent a night in jail — courtesy, we suspect, of his long-time Capitol Hill friends.
A week before a crucial mid-term election in 1930, Cassiday wrote a series of front page articles for the Washington Post. “The Man in the Green Hat” detailed his 10-year career supplying bootleg liquor to 4 out of 5 lawmakers — and exposed the hypocrisy of a Congress flaunting the rules it imposed on America. The voters threw out the “dry” majority and set the nation on the path to Repeal!
Many thanks to Garrett Peck, Prohibition in Washington, D.C. — How Dry We Weren’t and the website of the US Senate Historical Office.
Celebrate Autumn w/a Tour of the Green Hat Distillery Owned by Michael Lowe' 71
When George Cassiday returned from World War I, he needed a job. With the nation gripped by Prohibition, a friend suggested he try supplying bootleg liquor on Capitol Hill. Word spread quickly and Cassiday soon had a number of Congressmen — “wet” and “dry” — as clients.
By 1920 Cassiday went “in-house” with an office in the basement of the House Office Building to supply thirsty lawmakers. On one of his train trips back from NYC with “supplies,” Cassiday set his suitcase down a bit too hard and broke several bottles. A fellow traveler said, “Say, buddy, your clothes are leaking.” The Feds weren’t there to see the spill … but his luck wouldn’t hold much longer.
Eventually word about Cassiday’s cozy setup got out and in 1925 the Capitol Police caught him carrying booze into the Cannon Building. The dapper Cassiday was arrested wearing his signature green felt hat, earning him the moniker “The Man in the Green Hat.” Banned from the House, Cassiday promptly moved his operation to the Senate Office Building.
Cassiday found senators more discreet than their House colleagues, using a page or staffer to make the deal. But the feds caught on and in early 1930 Cassiday was arrested in the Senate parking lot with 6 bottles of gin. But he never spent a night in jail — courtesy, we suspect, of his long-time Capitol Hill friends.
A week before a crucial mid-term election in 1930, Cassiday wrote a series of front page articles for the Washington Post. “The Man in the Green Hat” detailed his 10-year career supplying bootleg liquor to 4 out of 5 lawmakers — and exposed the hypocrisy of a Congress flaunting the rules it imposed on America. The voters threw out the “dry” majority and set the nation on the path to Repeal!
Many thanks to Garrett Peck, Prohibition in Washington, D.C. — How Dry We Weren’t and the website of the US Senate Historical Office.
DC: Prohibition's Capital City
Washington had a special place in Prohibition history. New York and Chicago get all the notoriety because of organized crime warfare, but as is the case today, Washington was a little more discreet in its excesses—and never grew a local bootlegging mob. Read about our gin’s namesake, The Man in the Green Hat, the 1920s Bootlegger to Congress.
A few more DC Prohibition facts:
Short Film about George Cassiday
Want to know more about Prohibition in DC? Go on one of Garrett Peck’s Prohibition Tours and check out his book, Prohibition in Washington, D.C. — How Dry We Weren’t.
The Craft is Professional THE PASSION IS PERSONAL
New Columbia Distillers is a family business owned by Michael Lowe and his wife, Melissa Kroning and John Uselton and his wife, Elizabeth Lowe.
John and Michael come to their passion for craft distilling by wearing many hats in the restaurant and liquor business—not to mention the military and legal worlds. From Houston to Boston to Washington, John has worked in all capacities of front-of-house restaurant work—from humble busboy to award-winning bar- tender to savvy manager. Michael spent a couple of years on a Navy submarine and a few more at private DC law firms. He retired from the law in 2008, bought himself several cocktail books and started investigating the art and science of distilling.
In 2011 John and Michael were the first to bring craft distilling to DC. After a brief apprenticeship with Dry Fly Distillery, they located a home for their distillery in a 90-year-old warehouse near the Art Deco landmark Hecht Co. warehouse on New York Ave. When they learned the history of The Man In The Green Hat, they knew they had a name for DC’s own signature gin.
A Blend of STYLE and SUBSTANCE
Our gin is a truly unique artisanal spirit. Each batch of Green Hat Gin is crafted in our small DC distillery. The result is a super-premium gin that excels both in the finest cocktails and with a small cube in the gin-lover’s neat glass.
We mill the highest quality soft winter wheat fresh for each batch and mash it in a temperature-controlled process to release the sugars needed for fermentation. The mash is then fermented to create the “beer” that feeds our distillation process.
After being concentrated and clarified in our traditional copper pot still, two more distillations transform the crystal spirit into a refined and gently aromatic gin. In the final distillation, we suspend our hand-selected botanicals inside the still to allow passing spirit vapors to gently extract the right flavor and scent notes.
Finished with chill filtering and bottled by hand at the distillery, Green Hat Gin is a Washington original. Cheers!