The Spirit World

Useful info..I will try at home. I love to drink.
thanks for good tips.
orawin

Orawin, your “I love to drink” comment reminds me that I should probably clarify that my articles here aren’t to promote “drinking”, but instead to increase the appreciation of “quality” cocktails.

I am a strong proponent of moderation in drinking, and don’t want anybody to feel that these postings positioning cocktails simply as an “lcohol delivery vehicle”

Robert - I don’t think many here have that misconception about this website promoting “drinking” in the frat-boy sense of the word. With the time, trouble and cost involved with creating these cocktails, they are meant to be savored (I have that bottle of pre-made margaritas in the fridge as my system for delivering alcohol).

A different question - How does someone order one of your cocktails at a restaurant (my bar-mongering days are long gone)? I can imagine the look on the face of a waitress and the multiple visits to the bartender if I order a Jack Rose or Aviator. You may need a new post to answer this one.

jrp

You’ve picked one of our favorite cocktails here, Robert. Glad you’ve gotten to it. For the most part we’ve only had them with Calvados because apple brandy is otherwise very difficult to come by. Which brings me to the questions I’ve been saving for you about “Applejack”.
The Laird’s product which you’ve pictured is only 35% apple brandy and the rest is grain alcohol (excluding the water used to bring the whole of it down to 40 proof). That’s not much apple, and I wonder what type of apple spirit our forebears really used when they first mixed up the Jack Rose.
I’ve also been wondering how “blended” apple brandy became confused with traditional applejack, a spirit made from hard cider “distilled” by freezing in barrels through cold New England winters.
Did you know that Laird’s doesn’t make apple brandy in New Jersey any more? They distill it in Virginia, near Charlottesville.
And lastly, have you ever seen a Jacqueminot rose?

JRPfeff,
I agree, it can often be very difficult to get “quality” cocktails at the majority of bars and restaurants. Which is part of the reason why I take my “evangelism” of culinary cocktails so seriously.

When I first started getting into cocktail I convinced myself that the only place I could get a “good” cocktail was at home because of the sad products that I’d get in most bars. Eventually I realized that if I spent some serious time on it, I could actually find some bartenders who took cocktails as seriously as I did…

Thomas,
Yes, Laird and Normandy Calvados are two different beasts. And Laird does take some “shortcuts” in their product, but frankly I’d rather drink it then the “ice distilled” variation of old. It is important to remember that not only doesn’t alcohol (easily) freeze (which is why “ice distilling” almost works), but also that some alcohols are more poisonous than others. The “art” of distilling is paying attention to the heads, middles, and tails, all of which contain alcohol, but only the middles contain the “right” alcohol.

And no.. I’ve never seen a “Jacqueminot rose”, and while some say that this is how the name “Jack Rose” came about, I think it is more likely that it came because this “appleJACK” cocktail has a roseish hue to it… but then that’s just an undocumentable opinion.

(Thomas… re-reading my message I realize it might seem a tad snide… didn’t mean it that way. Thanks for your insight and opinions.)

No offense taken, Robert.

And yeah, everything I’ve heard confirms that “real” applejack == killer hangover.

There are a few other apple brandy makers in the U.S. besides Laird’s who deserve a mention:
Black Star Farms in Michigan makes a nice “Spirit of Apple”:
http://www.blackstarfarms.com/winery/spirits/?id=157

I’d love to try Clear Creek’s “Pomme”. McCarthy goes for the Calvados style:
http://www.clearcreekdistillery.com/Pomme.htm

And perhaps one day we’ll see a (legal) apple brandy from the North Carolina mountains.

I still wonder if Laird’s built their brand with a pure apple brandy and what other brands mixologists used to use in their Jack Roses.

Thanks Thomas, didn’t know about Black Star, but love the Clear Creek stuff, but just doesn’t produce the flavors in the Jack Rose I look for (Fabulous in a Fallen Leaves however).

Laird’s new bottle for AppleJack is a much needed improvement, it might just help them see the light in creating a higher end version. I’ll hopefully be talking with them about this soon.

I’d love to see the Laird’s brand get a boost. Seems like they’ve declined a few shelves since their heyday. When I visted their distillery in Virginia a few years back, their distiller showed me a retail bottle of their pure apple brandy. But I’ve never seen it in a store.

FYI: Laird & Company DOES make an apple brandy and it seems until recently they made a Bonded Applejack.
Or maybe they stopped a while ago and I was just fortunate to come across the black label BIB bottles in my small, local Jersey liquor stores?

In any case, I was very sad to read that the product is no longer distilled in New Jersey. When introducing my friends to “true” cocktails (IMHO) I always try to work in Applejack and its history. If this is true this would be very sad indeed.
I’ve sent an email to Laird & Co. to find out if this rumor is true. (Also, I’ve asked if they still produce the BIB Applejack and WHEN they’ll finally have tours of their facility. I hope they haven’t solely become an importer.)

Rich
PS Guess where I’m from. Go ahead, guess!

Red, I think they only distill in the Shenandoah Valley because that’s where the apples are. Not much apple production in your state any more, alas. New Jersey used to be a big apple state until Prohibition.

In addition to the blended Applejack Laird’s makes the BIB Straight Apple Brandy and 7 & 12-year old apple brandies. It’s my understanding that the BIB is hard to find but I was told by a person in the Laird’s sales office that it’s also bottled under the name Captain Applejack in the Carolinas and Virginia (and, apparently, in Illinois where I purchased it). I haven’t tried Laird’s aged apple brandies but the BIB is delicious.

The “Captain Applejack” is a bottom shelf “blended” product as well.
My understanding is that “bottled in bond” merely means that the taxes have been paid on the hooch. In other words, “not bootleg”. The term is no indication of purity, content or quality.

Actually, the term bottled in bond (BIB) comes from the Bottled-In-Bond Act of 1887 which mandated that the spirit is aged at least four years and bottled at 100 proof (50% alcohol) in a federally bonded warehouse under government supervision.

Now, I can’t recall if the bottle of Laird’s 100 proof (BIB) I had (old black paper label) was Applejack (blended) or straight apple brandy.
I’m thinking it was probably apple brandy as I believe the BIB Act required the spirit to be straight and not blended?

I have not received a response from Laird’s as of yet.

Rich

Yeah, but the Act of 1897 has long since been repealed, and only applied standards for whiskey. All the phrase means currently is that the liquor was bottled before the federal alcohol tax was paid and the spirit was removed from the federally bonded warehouse. It is a meaningless term.

But here’s another idea:
I now have a bottle of Captain Applejack in front of me. It is made by the Virginia Fruit Brandy Distilling Co. of Eatontown, N.J. It has “Bottled in Bond” prominently across the top of the label. It is described simply as “apple brandy” which means that it is only apple brandy (as 27 CFR sec. 5.39 requires the presence of any neutral spirits to be stated on the label). There ya go.

This is getting too confusing, I think I need a drink. :->

I’ve been told that “Shoppers Vineyard” (http://www.shoppersvineyard.com) Carries Laird’s products, and they have pretty good shipping policies. Currently listed on their site are the 100 Proof Apple Brandy, 12 Year Apple Brandy, 7.5 Year Apple Brandy, and Apple Jack.

Robert,

Thanks! I usually drive the the extra 36 round trip miles due to their selection. Next time I’ll call ahead or put in an order as they never seem to have it in stock while I’m there.

There is an interesting discussion on Applejack going on in the Cocktail and Spirits posts at eGullet under “Cheap for Mixing/Expensive for Sipping?”

Rich

PS So I guess in this case (Laird’s) the BIB does mean quality IF your looking for pure apple brandy and not a blended version.

Rich

Thanks for the lead on Shoppers Vineyard, Robert, and on the eGullet discussion, Red! Here’s a link to the latter:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=69089

Hey guys–
Though I like a good cocktail–what inspired me to look up this recipe is Hemingway’s reference to it in The Sun Also Rises–Bill Gorton has had a couple of “Jack Roses” at the Crillon in Paris. I wonder what the French Jack Roses was like in this 1926 context…maybe the Calvados over the American Apple Jack? I’m gonna try it and see…