Applejack is a strong
alcoholic beverageAn alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains ethanol . Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits....
produced from apples, originating from the American colonial period, and thought to originate from the French apple brandy
CalvadosCalvados is an apple brandy from the French région of Basse-Normandie or Lower Normandy. -History:Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known Norman distillation was carried out by "Lord" de Gouberville in 1554, and the guild for cider...
. Applejack is made by concentrating hard
ciderCider is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Although cider can be made from any variety of apple, certain cultivars are preferred in some regions, and these may be known as cider apples....
, either by the traditional method of
freeze distillationFractional freezing is a process used in process engineering and chemistry to separate two liquids with different melting points. It can be done by partial melting of a solid, for example in zone refining of silicon or metals, or by partial crystallization of a liquid, for example "freeze...
or by true evaporative
distillationDistillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
. The term "applejack" derives from "jacking", a term for freeze distillation.
From the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than ten percent, the concentrated result contains thirty to forty percent alcohol, is slightly sweet, and usually tastes and smells of apples.
Applejack is a strong
alcoholic beverageAn alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains ethanol . Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits....
produced from apples, originating from the American colonial period, and thought to originate from the French apple brandy
CalvadosCalvados is an apple brandy from the French région of Basse-Normandie or Lower Normandy. -History:Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known Norman distillation was carried out by "Lord" de Gouberville in 1554, and the guild for cider...
. Applejack is made by concentrating hard
ciderCider is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Although cider can be made from any variety of apple, certain cultivars are preferred in some regions, and these may be known as cider apples....
, either by the traditional method of
freeze distillationFractional freezing is a process used in process engineering and chemistry to separate two liquids with different melting points. It can be done by partial melting of a solid, for example in zone refining of silicon or metals, or by partial crystallization of a liquid, for example "freeze...
or by true evaporative
distillationDistillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
. The term "applejack" derives from "jacking", a term for freeze distillation.
From the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than ten percent, the concentrated result contains thirty to forty percent alcohol, is slightly sweet, and usually tastes and smells of apples. Freeze distilling concentrates all of the alcohol by-products of fermentation including
ethanolEthanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug, best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in modern thermometers. Ethanol is one of the oldest recreational drugs...
,
methanolMethanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with formula CH3OH . It is toxic: drinking 10 ml will cause blindness, and as little as 100 ml will cause death...
and
fusel alcoholFusel alcohols, also sometimes called fusel oils, or potato oil in Europe, are higher-order alcohols formed by fermentation and present in cider, mead, beer, wine, and spirits to varying degrees....
s. Distillation by evaporation can separate these as they have different boiling points. Due to the higher cost and lower yield of alcohol produced from fruit fermentation, commercially produced applejack may be composed of apple
brandyBrandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine, the wine having first been produced by fermenting grapes. Brandy generally contains 36%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...
diluted with grain
spiritsA distilled beverage, liquor, or spirits is a drinkable liquid containing ethanol that is produced by means of distilling fermented grain, fruit, or vegetables.This excludes undistilled fermented beverages such as beer and wine, and often the term hard liquor is used to contrast distilled beverages...
until the drink reaches the desired alcohol content.
Known as "Jersey Lightning", applejack's long history in New Jersey includes once being used as currency to pay road construction crews during the colonial period.
Around 1760,
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
discovered this unique beverage, asked for and received the Laird family recipe and soon introduced Applejack to the Virginia Colony.
The oldest family-run distillery in America is
Scobeyville, New JerseyColts Neck is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the population was 12,331.What is now Colts Neck Township was established by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature as Atlantic Township on February 18, 1847, from portions of Freehold...
's Laird & Company (founded in 1780), a producer of applejack (this is the same Laird family from which George Washington received his recipe). Laird & Company's applejack is an apple brandy, produced by distillation by evaporation and blended with neutral spirits; it contains an alcohol content of forty percent. Laird's applejack was first produced by William Laird in Monmouth, New Jersey in 1698.