Apple Jack

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Fletch78

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With a permit, it's legal to make. There are many distillation permits out there. Does anyone know where I can legally buy some? My ex-pat friend in London raves about it. From reading online, you really can't make it in the South, the temps in the winter have to get very very sub-zero to really freeze-distill an amount of alcohol out of it that is any higher than a staunch apfelwein. And it's not legal as a homebrewer, even if I had a freezer that went to 50 below zero. The few things I've found online to buy some are unreliable, like corn whiskey with apple concentrate, or glorified Schnapps. Thanks in advance.
 
You could just buy some... http://www.lairdandcompany.com/products_applejack.htm

They have a store locator where you should be able to buy some locally. I found some in a near by suburb. Its the stuff George Washington used to stop in for a cup or two of.

As for making your own I was going to try the ice distill method sometime, but I live in Michigan where its freaking cold in the winter.
 
All the the threads about making it yourself are pretty laughable, a typical household freezer won't even freeze a bottle of wine, so the highest ABV concentration you can get is 15% or so, which you can exceed with just yeast and sugar. But I can see if you live in Wisconsin or Michigan, the outdoor temps in winter might get you a little higher than that, as they did back in the good old days. I've had Appalachian style apple spirits, distilled with the heat method, and it doesn't taste very good. There's probably a reason those people, traditionally, made corn mash whiskey instead of apple jack: why waste perfectly good cider when you can make lightning out of corn?
 
You could just buy some... http://www.lairdandcompany.com/products_applejack.htm

They have a store locator where you should be able to buy some locally. I found some in a near by suburb. Its the stuff George Washington used to stop in for a cup or two of.

As for making your own I was going to try the ice distill method sometime, but I live in Michigan where its freaking cold in the winter.

That's not real applejack. Just look at the info sheet.... 35% apple brandy & 65% "neutral spirits". I don think anyone sells real applejack and I have read that it can give you a killer hangover if you drink too much. Unlike heat distilling, freeze distilling leaves behind all the heavier fusel oils (and also more flavor).:drunk:
 
That's not real applejack. Just look at the info sheet.... 35% apple brandy & 65% "neutral spirits". I don think anyone sells real applejack and I have read that it can give you a killer hangover if you drink too much. Unlike heat distilling, freeze distilling leaves behind all the heavier fusel oils (and also more flavor).:drunk:

Look at the pdf from that page. It says the "Old Apple Brandy" is pure apple brandy not blended with anything and is the original "Apple Jack"
 
I recently wrote a blog on Applejack... I got most of my material from Annie Proulx and Lew Nichols in Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider . Basically, applejack is pretty nasty stuff like llenrocs said. All of the impurities of distilling, like finger nail polish remover smelling heads, are still there in AJ, but concentrated since the water has been removed.

If you can, get your hands on Annie Proulx and Lew Nichols in Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider to find out more.
 
Look at the pdf from that page. It says the "Old Apple Brandy" is pure apple brandy not blended with anything and is the original "Apple Jack"

Look again. The "Old Apple Brandy" is another product on the same product sheet. There is also a 12 year old brandy listed on the same product sheet.

It specifically says that the Applejack is a blended brandy.

I too have the Proulx and Nichols book... an excellent source of info about cider.
 
Actually, on an episode of Basic Brewing Radio, James found out that it is most likely legal to concentrate your homebrew by freezing. Federal and state laws are quite ambiguous in that regard. As a result, we have decided to allow topics concerning freeze concentration but still forbid discussion about home distillation in the traditional sense.
 
My freezer has frozen bottles of wine -- even champagne -- before. We sometimes put them in there to cool them down for serving more quickly. Then we drink something else and forget about them. :eek:
 
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