Applejack: what it is, how it is made + 6 brands worth trying

1) Briefly about the drink
2) How Applejack is made
3) 6 Applejack brands worth trying
4) Recipes for Applejack cocktails

Briefly about the drink

Applejack - an apple-based brandy variety. Also known as apple brandy or calvados (Calvados). Often found on the US market, which is why it is also called American calvados.

How Applejack is made

The traditional production method includes the following steps:

Preparation and fermented brews.
The process of freezing fermented cider with the subsequent removal of ice (and water).
Increasing the alcohol content in the final product. Starting with fermented juice with an alcohol content of less than ten percent, the concentrated result (after freezing) can contain 25-40% alcohol.

Applejack has historically been easier to produce because freeze-drying distillation is a simpler method of production than evaporative distillation and does not require burning wood to produce heat.

The disadvantage of sublimation distillation, also called fractional crystallization, is that the substances that remain after the water is removed include not only ethanol, but also harmful methanol, esters, aldehydes and fusel alcohols.

Modern Apple Jack is produced by fermenting apple wort followed by distillation.

6 Applejack brands worth trying

Laird's Applejack Brandy

Laird & Company is synonymous with apple spirit and three centuries of family traditions. The company produces the vast majority of all Applejack and American Apple Brandy brands on the market, which have been successfully drunk since colonial times.
Black Dirt Distillery's Bonded Apple Jack

Made from Jonagold apples, Black Dirt Distillery's Applejack is a 100% apple brandy that honors the traditions of New York City.

The drink tastes like a baked apple with caramel notes. Bottled from a new charred oak barrel, Apple Jack is aged for at least five years to impress with its colorful flavor.
Koval Apple Brandy

Produced in small batches once a year, mostly from organic apples that have been hand-picked.

Approximately 7 tons of apples are involved in the process. Then they are mashed (or crushed into a coarse apple sauce) and fermented.

After preparation, applesauce is distilled and then aged in new American oak barrels for at least 6 months. 100% apples, nothing else.
Copper & Kings American Apple Brandy

A wonderful American apple brandy of copper color, aged in barrels of Kentucky bourbon and Spanish sherry Oloroso.

Fragrant, complex, with balance, finish and depth. Real, not spoiled natural taste and color, may become slightly cloudy in the cold.
Old Hampshire Applejack

This Applejack has a history with the town of New Hampshire, where colonists used the abundance of apples in the area for drinks and sustenance.

The drink is 100% produced from New Hampshire apples (including Crispin, Cortland, McIntosh and Honeycrisp varieties), which are then fermented with wine yeast.

Then the resulting cider is distilled twice in alembic and aged in charred barrels. The result is an alcohol with a characteristic caramel color and whiskey-like notes of vanilla, cinnamon and cloves.
St. George California Reserve Apple Brandy

Barrel-aged apple brandy with soft honey and cinnamon notes.

Made from a blend of local apples (Alameda, California) sourced from a single family orchard within 150 miles of the distillery. Produced in small batches.