Skip to main content

A Truly Presidential Spirit: Laird’s Applejack

applejack
You might not know it, but former presidents George Washington and Barack Obama have more in common than just being trailblazing presidents. They both really like knock-knock jokes. Kidding. The truth is, they both liked applejack. Not only did they like applejack, but they liked a specific brand, one that’s been around now for 237 years—Laird’s Applejack.

For Washington, he loved the stuff so much that he asked for the recipe so that he could reproduce it at home. Former President Obama didn’t distill the stuff himself, but he did serve Laird’s at cocktail parties he hosted during his presidency.

The company’s distilling roots, which has been run consistently by nine different generations of the Laird family since 1780, actually stretch back almost a century more to 1698 when William Laird landed in Monmouth County, New Jersey, from Scotland and began distilling apples. It was William’s grandson, Robert, who opened the first commercial distillery and helped the Revolutionary War efforts by supplying the troops with applejack. Currently, ninth generation Lisa Laird Dunn sits at Vice President and World Ambassador of the company.

In between Washington and Obama, many other presidents have enjoyed the applejack—from Abraham Lincoln who served it in a saloon he ran before becoming president to Lyndon Johnson who gave Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin a bottle at a summit in Glassboro, N.J. in 1967 to Bill Clinton, who served Laird’s at various events during his presidency.

In total, the company currently produces five apple spirits at their Virginia facility: Laird’s Blended Applejack (40% ABV, $21.99), Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy (50% ABV, $29.99), Laird’s 7 ½ Years Old Apple Brandy (40% ABV, $31.99), Laird’s 12 Year Old Rare Apple Brandy (44% ABV, $65), and their latest release Laird’s Jersey Lightning Unaged Apple Brandy (50% ABV, $27.99) which came out around two years ago.

While the product is distilled in Virginia (and has been since the 1970s), Laird’s is headquartered in New Jersey, just down the road from where William Laird originally set up shop. Last year, the company produced around 60,000 proof gallons of apple brandy. For each barrel of apple brandy produced, 7,000 pounds of apples—a mix Red Delicious, Gala, Golden Delicious, Winesap and Granny Smith sourced from the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains—are used.

So, next time you’re feeling like you could run the country, remember, you aren’t going to do it right if you don’t have a bottle of Laird’s Applejack (or two) handy.

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
Learn these amazing spring cooking tricks from a Michelin Star chef
Spring is an exciting time but we don't always know what to cook this time of year. Here are some expert ideas
Chef Vikas Khanna

Spring is an exciting time for eaters. More and more fresh produce shows up at the market and store and the days begin to beg for lunches at the park and evening dinner parties. But it's not always simple to know what's in season and how to maximize flavors during these months that guide us toward summer.

One thing we do know is that we love a good spring cocktail, like a Cherry Blossom Sour, during the spring season. There are more spring fruits and vegetables to work with than you might think, and the warmer weather thaws the soul.

Read more
It’s time to learn about bourbon — here’s your guide
Put down the IPA and meet the actual coolest drink in town — bourbon
Boubon in a glass

Hello class, and welcome to Bourbon 101. Don't worry; we're not like those other schools where you aren't allowed to drink during class. We're cool. Now, get your notebooks and a glass of whiskey ready because it's time to dive into the history of this America's spirit.

It would be hard to find something more American than bourbon, except for maybe a bald eagle draped in an American flag with a baseball and an apple pie clutched in its talons. In any case, the history of bourbon follows the highs and lows of our country as a whole with good times, great times, and really bad times. It was built with ingenuity in a time of great hardship and flourished despite the best efforts of outside forces.
What exactly is bourbon?
It's time to dive into a little American history here. Look, even if you weren't a fan of history class, this is a pretty fun subject. In case you're unaware, bourbon is highly regulated by the government in nearly every way (and that's a good thing). To be legally called "bourbon," there are several rules that need to be followed:

Read more
Chicken oysters are delicious (and you probably didn’t know they exist)
You'll be craving this chef's secret after one taste.
chicken oyster yakitori

What's the best part of perfect roast chicken? The tender breast? The juicy thigh? Maybe the crispy skin? Those are all delicious parts of a roasted chicken, but they are also the wrong answer. We're here to let you in on a little secret that not everyone knows about. The best parts of a roasted chicken are, without a doubt, the two little nuggets of happiness buried on the back of the bird known as the chicken oysters.

The chicken oysters have historically been a snack for the chef, a small payment for a job well done. Not many people are aware of their existence. But we're here to tell you that after you know where to look, you'll never forget about them ever again. Every chicken has two oysters, so that means they are a pretty hot commodity and you can decide whether to share the other one or not. We won't judge you if you don't.

Read more