Applejack (drink)

Popular in the American colonial era, the drink's prevalence declined in the 19th and 20th centuries amid competition from other spirits.

Apple brandy was first produced in colonial New Jersey in 1698 by William Laird, a Scots American who settled in Monmouth County.

In 1931, John Evans Laird received permission to produce apple brandy for "medicinal purposes" and stockpiled its product until the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.

[5][2][3] The name applejack derives from the traditional method of producing the drink, jacking, which is the process of freezing fermented cider and then removing the ice, increasing the alcohol content.

[13] The disadvantage of freeze distillation, also called fractional crystallization, is that the substances remaining after the removal of the water include not only ethanol, but also harmful methanol, esters, aldehydes, and fusel alcohols.