Apple­jack was the first native­ly dis­tilled spir­it in the Unit­ed States, or what was the colonies at the time. Believe it or not, in New Jer­sey, apple­jack was used as cur­ren­cy to pay road con­struc­tion crews dur­ing the colo­nial peri­od. There used to be a num­ber of dis­til­leries in New Jer­sey and  Penn­syl­va­nia up until the 1930s, but now there’s only one, Laird & Com­pa­ny. William Laird made his first batch of apple­jack in 1698 and the recipe was shared with none oth­er than George Wash­ing­ton. This may have some­thing to do with those wood­en teeth. Don’t quote me on that though.

Apple­jack is dis­tilled from a hard apple cider that Mike of Mike’s Hard Lemon­ade could nev­er touch. The fruit base means it’s a brandy, but to me it tastes more like whiskey. Con­sid­er it a harsh­er ver­sion of the French Cal­va­dos. How­ev­er, this can be a good thing when we are mix­ing cock­tails. Apple­jack will assert itself mak­ing the apple notes stand­out more and that’ll come in handy with the new fall season.

Sold for around $20 a bottle.

Here’s a recipe using Apple­jack I’ve cre­at­ed for our Octo­ber Liba­tion Lounge event:

Jack Rose

• 2 1/4 oz Applejack
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz house­made hibis­cus grenadine