Crafted by the country’s oldest distiller, Laird’s Applejack is a venerable American brandy as old as the Republic itself. The company’s founder, Robert Laird, fought in the American Revolution under the command of General George Washington. Soldiers of the beleaguered Continental Army were fed and given Applejack while camped near the Laird family’s inn in Colt’s Neck, New Jersey. Laird’s Applejack is made from tree-ripened apples grown in Shenandoah Valley orchards. The apples are naturally fermented in large, 20,000-gallon oak vats.

William Laird, a County Fyfe Scotsman, emigrated from Scotland in 1698 and settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Believed to be a distiller by trade, he applied his skills to the most abundant natural resource available in this area of the New World – apples.

Applejack was a well known “cyder spirit” throughout growing America. In the 1820’s, American evangelist John Chapman, better known as “Johnny Appleseed”, preached to congregations along the Ohio River Valley, and distributed apple seeds to his followers. He also instructed them in the production of Applejack- hence the continued popularity of Applejack in this region.