Applejack (beverage)
Encyclopedia
Applejack is a strong alcoholic beverage
produced from apple
s, popular in the American colonial period.
Applejack was historically made by concentrating hard cider
, either by the traditional method of freeze distillation
or by true evaporative distillation
. The term applejack derives from jacking, a term for freeze distillation. The modern product sold as applejack is no longer produced using this traditional process.
Freeze distillation is a low-infrastructure mode of production compared to evaporation distillation. Apples and applejack have historically been easy to produce in small quantities. Hard apple cider was an important drink in the colonial and early years of the United States, particularly in areas without access to clean water, but was often considered insufficiently palatable and bulky to store. Rather than consume an alcoholic fruit beer, the cider harvested in the fall was often separated in the winter via freeze distillation, by leaving it outside and periodically removing the frozen chunks of softer cider to a separate container, for consumption or further fermentation. From the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than 10%, the concentrated result contains 30-40% alcohol, is slightly sweet and usually tastes and smells of apples. However, freeze distilling concentrates all of the alcohol by-products of fermentation – including methanol
and fusel alcohol
s as well as ethanol
. Distillation by evaporation can separate these since they have different boiling points. With easy availability of grain, metal stills, clean water, and eventually pasteurization starting in the mid 19th century, cider and applejack were gradually displaced by other beverages and liquors. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, traditional applejack acquired a stigma as a result of its association with the older production process, and was less economical to produce than some alternatives.
Most Applejack is produced by Laird's Distillery. Regular Laird's Applejack consists of 35% apple brandy and 65% neutral grain spirits. Laird's also produces unblended Applejacks such as Laird's 100 proof Straight Apple Brandy, Laird's 80-proof Old Apple Brandy, aged a minimum of seven and a half years, and Laird's 88-proof 12-Year-Old Apple Brandy, aged in charred bourbon barrels.
In New Jersey
, applejack was used as currency to pay road construction crews during the colonial period. A slang expression for the beverage was Jersey Lightning.
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
produced from apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s, popular in the American colonial period.
Applejack was historically made by concentrating hard cider
Cider
Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...
, either by the traditional method of freeze distillation
Fractional freezing
Fractional 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 distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components 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. The modern product sold as applejack is no longer produced using this traditional process.
Freeze distillation is a low-infrastructure mode of production compared to evaporation distillation. Apples and applejack have historically been easy to produce in small quantities. Hard apple cider was an important drink in the colonial and early years of the United States, particularly in areas without access to clean water, but was often considered insufficiently palatable and bulky to store. Rather than consume an alcoholic fruit beer, the cider harvested in the fall was often separated in the winter via freeze distillation, by leaving it outside and periodically removing the frozen chunks of softer cider to a separate container, for consumption or further fermentation. From the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than 10%, the concentrated result contains 30-40% alcohol, is slightly sweet and usually tastes and smells of apples. However, freeze distilling concentrates all of the alcohol by-products of fermentation – including methanol
Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...
and fusel alcohol
Fusel alcohol
Fusel 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 as well as ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
. Distillation by evaporation can separate these since they have different boiling points. With easy availability of grain, metal stills, clean water, and eventually pasteurization starting in the mid 19th century, cider and applejack were gradually displaced by other beverages and liquors. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, traditional applejack acquired a stigma as a result of its association with the older production process, and was less economical to produce than some alternatives.
Most Applejack is produced by Laird's Distillery. Regular Laird's Applejack consists of 35% apple brandy and 65% neutral grain spirits. Laird's also produces unblended Applejacks such as Laird's 100 proof Straight Apple Brandy, Laird's 80-proof Old Apple Brandy, aged a minimum of seven and a half years, and Laird's 88-proof 12-Year-Old Apple Brandy, aged in charred bourbon barrels.
In New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, applejack was used as currency to pay road construction crews during the colonial period. A slang expression for the beverage was Jersey Lightning.