Brandy is essentially a spirit distilled from wine or fermented fruit juice. Grape-based brandy such as Cognac, which hails from a specific area in southwestern France, or Chilean Pisco are the most common. However, specialty varieties made from other fruits such as apples, pears and even raspberries have existed in Europe for centuries.
There is also a distinctly American take on brandy called applejack. The name originated in colonial New Jersey and the first batches of applejack were likely made by accident. Large barrels of fermented apple cider would begin to freeze over the winter, and since water and alcohol freeze at different temperatures, the water would freeze first on the outside of the barrel, condensing the alcohol in the center. Opening the barrel midwinter would reveal a thick ring of ice with a deep amber-hued liquid in the center. This condensed the flavor as well as the alcohol content since much of the flavors of hard cider are more soluble in alcohol than they are in water. Colonists would dip a ladle in the center and drink a sip of the liquid in the middle, which came to be known as applejack. This discovery led to another term: “Apple palsy,” a reference to the horrible hangover one has after drinking too much applejack made in this crude way. The problem was that freeze-distilling hard cider only removes the water and leaves in much of the methanol and other toxic volatile compounds that caused people to go blind from drinking too much moonshine. Luckily, modern distillation methods remove most of these compounds.
Laird’s Applejack is one of the oldest and most well-known applejacks on the market today. The company has been distilling applejack in Monmouth County, N.J., since the early 1700s. According to the company’s history, Robert Laird served as a soldier under Gen. George Washington in the Revolutionary War and was said to have fortified the troops with apple brandy. Washington later wrote to Laird to request the recipe, with several references in his diary to the production of “cyder spirits.”
Laird’s Old Apple Brandy is produced entirely from apples and aged in charred oak barrels for seven and a half years before being blended and bottled. The result is an impeccably smooth spirit with generous baked apple pastry, pear and vanilla aromas. It’s perfect for blending into fall cocktails, adding to baked goods as you would vanilla or stirring into a creamy sauce. Laird’s bonded applejack is another favorite. Bonded refers to standards from 1897 for distilled spirits. In this case, the liquor is distilled and then barrel-aged, making it very similar to bourbon. As such, it can be used to replace bourbon or rye in any cocktail to give it an interesting twist, such as this applejack sour.
Applejack sour
Ingredients:
2 oz Laird’s bonded applejack
1 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz cinnamon simple syrup, see below
1 egg white.
Combine the applejack, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white to a shaker with no ice and dry shake by combining the two tins together and shaking for 30 seconds, or until your arms get sore. Open the shaker and add some ice to the now light and foamy egg mixture and shake again before straining into a glass. Garnish with a couple drops of Peychaud’s bitters and a dash of freshly grated nutmeg if desired. Those who avoid eggs can use eggless substitutes such as Fee Brothers Fee Foam.
To make the simple syrup, you simply put 2 parts sugar and one part water in a saucepan over heat along with a stick of cinnamon and stir it until all the sugar dissolves and then let it cool. When you transfer it to whatever container you use you can put the cinnamon stick in it and it will continue to give some of its flavor to the syrup.
Roast chicken with applejack and sage
Ingredients:
1 4-pound chicken
2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh sage (rosemary is delicious also)
4 tablespoons apple brandy, divided
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pat the chicken dry and salt it inside and out. Combine the butter, mustard, herbs, two tablespoons of the brandy and the pepper and mix well. Rub this mixture all over the chicken cavity and over and under the skin. Let the chicken rest uncovered for one hour to come to room temperature, or refrigerate uncovered overnight.
When ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken in a large ovenproof skillet and roast, breast side up, until the chicken is crisp and the juices run clear when pierced into the thickest part of the thigh (165 degrees on a meat thermometer), about one hour.
TURN OFF THE OVEN (this is important to prevent a fire). Pour the remaining brandy over the chicken and baste with the pan juices. Return the chicken to the TURNED OFF oven and allow it to rest there 15 minutes before carving and serving.
This article appears in Citizens want a voice in CWLP.
