Applejack is the American apple brandy, made by Laird's in New Jersey since the family's 1780 founding date — the oldest licensed distillery in the country New Jersey Monthly. The name comes from "jacking": freeze-concentrating hard cider by letting it partly freeze through winter and drawing off the higher-proof liquid.
🍎 Apple · New Jersey & the US
Applejack
America's colonial apple spirit — historically freeze-concentrated ("jacked") cider; today a straight or blended apple brandy.
Method: Cider brandy (distilled cider)Apple brandyJersey Lightning
Producers
Christian Drouin
Coudray-Rabut, Pays d'Auge · Normandy
A benchmark Calvados house in the Pays d'Auge, prized for long-aged, single-vintage bottlings.
ApplePearCider brandy (distilled cider)Widely available in the US
Père Magloire / Boulard / Lecompte
Reux, Pays d'Auge · Normandy
A major Norman group (Spirit France) behind several historic Calvados brands and Pommeau.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Widely available in the US
Théo Capelle
Sotteville, Cotentin · Normandy
A Cotentin producer of AOC Calvados, Pommeau de Normandie and cider.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Limited US import
Domaine de la Couterie
Beuzeville, Pays d'Auge · Normandy
A five-generation Toutain-family estate distilling Calvados in the Pays d'Auge.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Rare / allocated in the US
Comte Louis de Lauriston
Domfront, Domfrontais · Normandy
A Domfrontais house whose pear-heavy Calvados showcases the appellation's minimum 30% pears.
ApplePearCider brandy (distilled cider)Limited US import
Claque-Pépin
Normandy · Normandy
A Norman producer of certified-organic Calvados.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Rare / allocated in the US
Coquerel
Normandy · Normandy
A long-established Norman Calvados brand.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Limited US import
Maison Ferré
Perche Regional Park · Normandy
A Perche producer of Calvados, cider and Pommeau.
ApplePearCider brandy (distilled cider)Rare / allocated in the US
Rollon / Maison du Père Tranquille
Routot, Normandy · Normandy
A Routot house aging its own Calvados on site.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Rare / allocated in the US
Busnel
Cormeilles, Normandy · Normandy
A historic Norman Calvados house documenting the region's centuries-old cider tradition.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Limited US import
Somerset Cider Brandy Company
Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset · United Kingdom
England's answer to Calvados — oak-aged cider brandy (3 to 20 years) and the Somerset Pomona, from West Country cider apples.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Limited US import
Laird & Company
Scobeyville, New Jersey · US Craft
The oldest licensed distillery in the US, distilling New Jersey applejack since around 1698.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Widely available in the US
Copper & Kings
Louisville, Kentucky · US Craft
A Louisville house making pot-distilled apple brandy, absinthe and barrel-experiment brandies.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Wasser (ferment → distill)Limited US import
Cedar Ridge
Swisher, Iowa · US Craft
An Iowa distillery producing apple and grape brandy.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Limited US import
Cyril Zangs
Glos, Normandy · Normandy
A boundary-pushing organic Norman apple-brandy producer with a natural-wine sensibility.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Limited US import
Distillerie du Gorvello
Sulniac, Brittany · France — Périgord & Brittany
A Breton distillery making lambig — Brittany's apple brandy — plus pommeau and cider.
ApplePearCider brandy (distilled cider)Rare / allocated in the US
Fowey Valley
Lostwithiel, Cornwall · United Kingdom
A Cornish producer of oak-aged cider brandy from West Country apples.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Rare / allocated in the US
Nikka
Yoichi, Hokkaido · Japan
Japan's whisky giant, founded on apples — its Hokkaido operation still distills apple brandy.
AppleCider brandy (distilled cider)Rare / allocated in the US