What would one day become Michter’s was once a distillery in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, eponymous of founder John Shenk. He made whiskey from the locally popular crop, rye. Legend has it that Shenk was so good (or so persistent) at making rye whiskey that, during the throes of revolution, General George Washington bought his troop’s spirit rations from Shenk, and that liquor got the men through the punishing winter at Valley Forge.