Episode 51 Applejack Old Fashioned

Dec 6

Applejack Old Fashioned and Martini - tis the season to imbibe, fa la la la la

Welcome to Season 4 episode 51 of The Art of Drinking with Join Jules and Your Favorite Uncle

We struck gold, Uncle Brad and Jules came up with 2 delicious cocktails using Applejack and a little ingenuity. Did you know Applejack was among the first, if not the first spirit made in America? As American as apple pie, applejack deserves a place in your bar.

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What do we need for today’s episode?

For Brad’s AppleJack Old Fashioned

AppleJack
All spice dram
Cinamon simple syrup or ginger simple syrup
Dashfires Mission Fig bitters
Rocks glass
Mixing spoon
Ice cube

For Jules’ Applejack Martini

Applejack whiskey
Homemade apple cider
Fresh lemon juice
Cinnamon syrup
Angostura bitters
Cocktail shaker
Jigger
Martini glass

Get the Applejack Old Fashioned Recipe

Get the Applejack Martini Recipe

The History of Applejack

Way back when.. water wasn’t always safe to drink - so we drank beer, wine, and spirits (rum, gin, whiskey…)

This was true in Europe, this was true in america, this was a truth in most of the world - drinking was an everyday part of life.

As colonists started to arrive in America, in the early 1600’s, the continued to make beer, and wine from locally sourced ingredients… but there was a new crop growing, thanks to French Jesuits in the 1500’s and colonists who brought cuttings from England in the early 1600’s. The first apple orchard was planted just outside of Boston in 1625.

1698 a Scot, by the name of William Laird, living in the new world in what is today Coltsneck Township, New Jersey, was the first person in the US to make Applejack (also known as Jersey Lightning).

Applejack gets it’s name from the process by which it was made.

Apples pressed into cider

Cider is left to ferment into hard cider - producing alcohol

Hard cider is then “jacked” to produce a high proof spirit (around 80 proof)

The method to Jack requires freezing cold.

Hard cider would be left outside to freeze and the ice is scooped out of the cider, this process is repeated until you have a clear, high proof spirit.

Side note (for comparison / context):

the process of distillation is simply separating alcohol from fermented liquid using heat, the alcohol vapor travels up, condenses, and drips out into another vessel creating a high-proof spirit - leaving the water behind.
The process of jacking is simply separating alcohol from fermented liquid by freezing the liquid leaving the spirit behind (because alcohol doesn’t freeze)

Using apples to create a high-proof spirit was not a new concept. They were MAKING CALVADOS in France long before the colonists came to America. However, in France, they distilled the hard cider using heat vs. cold.

Today, Applejack (also known as apple brandy) is made the same way, with heat. Using cold is both inefficient and dangerous - apparently, there isn’t a way to take out the methanol, the stuff that makes you go blind.

Laird makes applejack and it becomes quite popular. So popular that it catches the attention of George Washington (who we know likes his drink, see episode 7 on Fish House Punch)

In 1760’s Laird gave his recipe to George Washington - by the way George Washington established America’s 1st distillery in Mount Vernon, and he made Applejack, rum, and eventually whiskey.

Applejack was so popular that it was used as currency in the Blueridge Mountains. In fact, if you had an apple orchard and a still house on your property, your land was quite valuable.
This was the true motivation for our Johnny Appleseed, also known as John Chapman. He speculated that by planting apples, he’d grow the value of his land knowing that cider and jack were prized commodities.

So, Laird isn’t the only person making Applejack, and it is now America’s favorite spirit. In part because apples were abundant, but also because rum (America’s other favorite spirit) was heavily taxed by the British making Applejack even more appealing. Speaking of the British, Applejack has a connection with the Liberty Bell.

If you recall from American history, Philadelphia was captured by the British in the fall of 1777 during the battle of Brandywine (interestingly enough). Colonists needed to hide copper and brass from the Brits and they were afraid the Liberty Bell (the bell with the crack in it which is found in Philadelphia today, was in Philadelphia then. Colonists smuggled the bell to Bethlehem Penn. Frederick Leaser had just finished dropping off a shipment of Applejack in Bethlehem and helped to smuggle the bell up to Allentown for safekeeping until the Bell could be returned to Philly.
So if it weren’t for Applejack, the bell may have ended up in the hands of the Brits…

Applejack enjoyed a long history as America’s favorite spirit, even as whiskey grew in popularity in the United States. Abraham Lincoln even sold Applejack in his saloon in the 1830’s. (Berry & Lincoln New Salem, IL)

But then came prohibition… and it nearly killed off Applejack altogether. Applejack was so easy to make, but it was vilified and orchards were cut down. We lost tons of varieties of apples because of it. And Applejack was almost all but lost, but… thanks to the political connections of of the Laird family (who gave Washington the recipe), Laird’s Applejack survived as it was given special dispensation, deemed medicinal, and continued to be distilled. In fact, Laird’s distillery is the oldest continuously running distillery in America, making applejack since the late 1600’s, receiving a license in 1780

So when you say something is as American as apple pie, you can say it’s as American as Applejack too.

Make sure to listen every Wednesday at 12pm Est so you have time to go to the store, get the goods, and get ready to make your cocktail at home.

This week’s tip: Homemade Apple Cider

In a large pot add
8-10 apples, quartered
1-2 oranges, quartered
1/2 cup brown sugar
4-5 cinnamon sticks
1-2 nutmeg pods
Optional:
6-8 Allspice
3-4 cardamom pods
Once ingredients are in the pot, fill the pot with filtered water until all the ingredients are covered, approx. 10 cups
Place on medium low heat with the lid on for approx. 3 hours.
Once the apples have softened, use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to smash the apples and let simmer for an additional hour or two.
Let cool and strain using either a large sieve or a colander and a cheese cloth.
Discard the solids, or add back to the pot and fill with water to create a home simmer pot for the evening.
Store in the fridge until ready to use!