Applejack

Jersey lightening, or what Americans call their traditional apple brandy and what everyone else considers the uncouth counterpart to French Calvados.

Surprisingly, there's only one applejack distiller left in the world, Laird & Company. The company presses whole apples into cider and then ferments the cider in 20,000 gallon wooden tanks from seven to 30 days, until the right level of alcohol content and acidity is obtained. If left too long, the cider turns to apple vinegar. Fermented juice is distilled in pot stills. The first distillation raises the proof to 80 to 40 percent alcohol. The brandy is then reduced to 130 proof and stored in oak barrels for four to eight years. Only a 45 percent of this brandy is used to make applejack, though. Like flavored vodkas, most of applejack is made up of neutral grain spirits and water.

Applejack has a bite so strong we think of it only as a mixer. But with recipes like the Corpse Reviver and the Jack Rose boasting its name, we think of it often.

The term dates back to the early 17th century, and when used outside the cocktail realm, it may also refer to an apple syrup or an apple turnover.