"A perfect season for us is if it's a little dry, so we get higher sugar content and if there's hail in late season, because then the apples are ugly and we get more apples because they don't want ugly apples in the grocery stores," she said with a laugh. We're also beholden to the agricultural product, so when there's a bad growing season, we won't have as many apples to work with," she said. "We need a lot more raw material and it's much more costly to produce. According to US federal law, only whole apples can be used in the production of applejack and no additives or yeast cultures can be added into the spirit. She said it takes 7,000 pounds (3,175kg) of apples to produce one 50-gallon (189-litre) barrel of apple brandy. Their apples also have to come from a certain growing region, but our apples can come from anywhere." We use everyday eating apples you find in a grocery store, but Calvados uses cider apples, which are very small, tart and bitter. "The main difference is in the type of apples. The French apple brandy Calvados is also a category of its own, though Ms Laird Dunn said there is a big difference between that and applejack. We take that and distil it, which comes off about 160 proof (80 per cent ABV), reduce it to 130 proof (65 per cent ABV), then put it in charred ex-bourbon oak barrels and age it for a minimum of four years."Īpplejack is not the only spirit that is made using apples. "It then becomes hard cider, which is about 12 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume). "We take the apples, crush them, then take the pure apple juice and ferment it naturally, which takes seven to 10 days," Ms Laird Dunn explained. He was believed to be a distiller by trade and put his skills to work on the most abundant distillable product in the area - apples. ![]() "Bartenders have really sparked the resurgence of our product."Īccording to the Laird & Co website, the history of applejack began in 1698, when founder William Laird emigrated from Scotland and settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey. "Now that the bartenders are going back to fresh ingredients, it makes a huge difference in the drink," she said. However, Ms Laird Dunn said, bartenders stopped using fresh lemon juice and homemade grenadine in the 80s, so the drink was horrible and did not taste the same.
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