In 1780 the Lairds established the country’s first commercial brandy distillery, and in the years that followed taverns and inns did a brisk business in applejack, serving it straight or in warmers such as scotchem-a mixture of applejack and boiling water, flavored with a dollop of mustard.įuture generations of bartenders found more palatable uses for applejack. George Washington is recorded as having requested an applejack recipe from the Laird family in 1760, and during the Revolutionary War, troops under Washington’s command drank it while campaigning in New Jersey.

“Jersey Lightning”-as it was also called-was immensely popular in the mid-Atlantic region. Small farm stillhouses soon sprang up, and by the 1830s nearly 400 distilleries were producing New Jersey’s homegrown spirit. In 1698, a Scottish distiller named William Laird settled in New Jersey and began to produce a more refined applejack, a pure apple brandy aged in oak, with the flavor of a rich, fruity whiskey. This rough liquor was also high in impurities-some referred to it as “essence of lockjaw”-and promised a skull-splitting headache for the foolhardy drinker. This residue was highly alcoholic, and about as nuanced in effect as a collision with a stone wall (perhaps not coincidentally, a popular drink was the Stone Fence, made of hard cider spiked with a harder spirit). Innovative drinkers learned that cider’s strength could be boosted by leaving it outside on a frosty night, then separating the remaining liquid from the ice the next morning. Most apples were used to make hard cider, but many drinkers wanted something with a little more oomph the result was a spirit called applejack. Slaking that thirst could be challenging: Early vineyards failed, as did the first plantings of hops and barley, and wines and brandies from Europe were prohibitively expensive for the average colonist.Īpple cultivation started in America as early as 1630, and a well-tended orchard was a necessity for a successful homestead.

This allowed the spirit to pick up just a hint of honey on the taste, and a pale coloration that is actually reminiscent of the pears it was made from.Colonial America was a very thirsty place. Much of the flavor had been extracted from the wood, allowing the spirit to mature with wood extract. We choose our oldest barrels that had previously been used for Bourbon and then our Applejack. While the unaged version was good, after some experimentation it was decided to add a new twist to the old classic by letting the spirit rest in barrels for a little over 6 months. Pear Brandy started as a nod to Poire Williams, an unaged Pear Brandy that is made exclusively of the Williams (Bartlett) Pear. It smells strongly of plum and tastes like blue if colors had taste (or so our distiller says). The final product never touches oak - instead it is rested in stainless steel or glass for 3-6 months and bottled at 80 proof. It is made with 100% heritage blue plums and fermented using the whole fruit. Plum Brandy is our nod to the little know Slavic spirit, Slivovtiz. It is done in a French Calvados style, representing a blend of over a dozen apple varieties and finished in toasted red wine barrels to offer a completely different mouth feel and finish than most American spirits finished in charred Bourbon Barrels. Apple Brandy is aged in used Red Wine Barrels from one of the Finger Lakes better known wineries.

Applejack liquor