Applejack

Traditional Applejack (American Apple Brandy)

Applejack is a historic American apple brandy whose name comes from the colonial 'jacking' process of freeze-distilling fermented cider. This home version uses straightforward freeze concentration to raise the alcohol content, yielding a spirit with deep apple character and rustic roots in New England.

Prep

30 min

Total

30 min

Serves

Yields about 1.4 L (≈ 50 fl oz) of finished applejack from 4

Difficulty

Medium

Recipe ingredients

• •4 L (1 gal) hard apple cider, dry, fully fermented cider with no residual sugar, ideally 6–8% ABV from a cider house, not pasteurized sweet cider

Steps

1. 1 Pour the hard cider into wide, shallow food-grade plastic or stainless steel containers (do not fill more than 5 cm / 2 in deep) and place them in a freezer set to about −18 °C (0 °F).
2. 2 Leave the cider undisturbed for 6–12 hours; it will freeze solid with a higher-alcohol liquid (the 'applejack') concentrated in pockets in the ice.
3. 3 Remove the containers from the freezer and let them sit at room temperature for 20–30 minutes, until a visible liquid pool forms at the bottom of each container.
4. 4 Working quickly before the remaining ice melts, pour the pooled liquid through a fine mesh strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth into a clean bowl. Discard the ice (or reserve it for slushies).
5. 5 Repeat steps 1–4 two more times: freeze the collected liquid, drain off the slush, and discard the ice each round. Each cycle concentrates the alcohol further.
6. 6 After 3 freeze cycles you will have roughly 1.2–1.5 L (40–50 fl oz) of amber liquid at approximately 20–30% ABV. (True commercial Applejack is distilled to 40% ABV / 80 proof; home distillation of alcohol is illegal in many U.S. states without a permit, so this concentrate is the legal home-kitchen path.)
7. 7 Optional: strain the finished applejack once more through a coffee filter for clarity, then bottle it in clean glass bottles with tight-fitting lids.
8. 8 Age the bottled applejack for at least 2 weeks in a cool, dark place before drinking; the flavor smooths considerably with 1–3 months of resting.
9. 9 Safety note: discard the ice at every stage, do not drink it, and never taste the concentrate until it has been fully separated. Drink responsibly and be aware that home-concentrated applejack can still be deceptively strong.