Region & History

If you want to know where American apple brandy comes from, you'll end up in Scobeyville, New Jersey, at Laird & Company. The house calls itself the oldest licensed distillery in the United States and holds license number 1, dating back to 1780. These are the house's own claims, but they fit a region where apple orchards were part of farms from early on.

The story begins in 1698. That's when William Laird came from Fife, Scotland, to Monmouth County, a stretch of land in the eastern part of the state, and is said to have been among the first to produce Applejack there. Hard cider, fermented apple juice, was widespread in the colonies. Anyone wanting more punch in a smaller cask turned it into brandy.

There's a common explanation for the name: Applejack traces back to "jacking," a process once used to fortify must, which comes up again later. "Jersey Lightning" was the brandy's popular nickname. The name is said to stem from the punch of the unaged spirit.

According to the house, Applejack was served, among other places, at the Colts Neck Inn, said to have been built by a descendant of William. In the 19th century, dozens of distilleries operated in New Jersey. Laird & Company, by its own account family-owned for generations, is the house that the name Applejack is still tied to today.

The first recorded sale of Applejack, according to the house, appears in Robert Laird's ledger and is dated 1780. This marks the start of the line of Lairds who carried the business forward, and it's the record the house ties its license to.

There's no EU protected geographical indication for Applejack the way there is for Calvados. The name describes a style, not an origin, and it stands for two very different bottles. Which ones those are is explained in the section on brandy style.