Laird’s , the pioneering American distillers of applejack and apple brandy, is owned by the Laird family: descendants of William Laird of County Fife in Scotland, who in 1698 settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey, then a rich agricultural area across Lower New York Bay from New York City. Although documentation is scarce, Laird family tradition holds that by 1700 William had already drawn on the distilling skills he brought from his homeland and the abundance of apple orchards in the area to make apple brandy, if initially just for personal use. This was by no means uncommon in that time and place. Some branches of the family continued to produce relatively small quantities of the spirit for local sale. See applejack.
The current company’s origins can be traced to the cider mill a branch of Laird’s descendants operated in Scobeyville, an out-of-the-way corner of the county. In 1851, they apparently added a small distillery to the operation, which was taken over by Robert Laird (1835–1912) just after the Civil War. Laird made improvements to the distillery on numerous occasions, including rebuilding it from scratch in 1871 and again after it burned down in 1875, but it appears to have remained very much a sideline to his cider and apple-butter business, and he appears to have sold largely to the local market until around 1900, although there is a record of him selling some barrels to Park & Tilford, the prominent New York City liquor dealers, in the 1870s. By this point, applejack was in vogue in the huge New York City market, driven by the popularity of such drinks as the Star Cocktail (an applejack Manhattan), the Widow’s Kiss, and the Jack Rose. See Jack Rose and Widow’s Kiss. Laird was not the biggest applejack distiller—that was probably the Sayre Bros., in nearby Orange County, New York—or the best known, which was Capt. David Walling, another Monmouth County distiller. But Laird was able to get a premium price for his product, probably because while many of his competitors made their applejack in whole or in part from the “cheese,” or pomace left over from cider-pressing, he insisted on making a pure cider brandy from the free-run juice of English redstreak cider apples, most likely using the wooden three-chamber still that was the local industry standard. See still, three-chamber.
The company survived Laird’s death and not only endured Prohibition but thrived by switching production to sweet cider and applesauce, among several other resourceful products. It started distilling again in 1933 when, with Repeal looming, two of Robert Laird’s nephews were awarded not only the state’s first new distilling permit (making the Scobeyville facility New Jersey DSP 1) but also a federal contract for one million gallons of “medicinal” spirit to help keep the United States supplied until more distilleries could be restarted. From then on, Laird’s was far and away the leading applejack distiller in America.
As agricultural land, including orchards for apples and other fruits, slowly dwindled in northern New Jersey, Laird’s sought out a more stable source of apples and ultimately shifted distilling operations near Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, which was rich in American history and orchards. Laird’s continues to produce its range of apple brandies there to this day, sourcing all of its apples from Virginia. The aging, blending, and bottling still take place in New Jersey.
While Laird & Company has diversified into a range of products for international distribution, their constant focus on heritage helped preserve the Laird’s Applejack brand and tradition. The cocktail renaissance of the early twenty-first century saw interest in Laird’s applejack awakened from a decades-long slumber as bartenders around the world began to investigate America’s distilling and cocktail origins. See cocktail renaissance. The contemporary focus remains on Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy and Bottled-in-Bond Applejack, the latter of which has become a darling of the mixology community. Rarer still are aged apple brandies included in a regular set of limited release offerings. (The entry-level Laird’s applejack is a blended product, where straight apple brandy is mixed with neutral spirit; it was introduced in 1972.)
There were once several hundred applejack distilleries; now there is a re-emergence of American craft distilleries producing the spirit today. While the fortunes of applejack have oscillated, Laird’s has become synonymous with the category, with over three hundred years dedicated to the family business.
“Jersey Lightning.” Jersey City News, November 23, 1892, 3.
“A Million Gallons of Apple Brandy.” Red Bank (NJ) Daily Register, October 4, 1933, 1.
“Monmouth County’s Cider Mills.” Red Bank (NJ) Daily Standard, December 13, 1929, 3.
“Robert Laird’s Funeral.” Long Branch (NJ) Daily Record, March 2, 1912, 1.
“Scobeyville and Vicinity.” Monmouth (NJ) Democrat, June 8, 1871, 3.
Weiss, Harry B. The History of Applejack or Apple Brandy in New Jersey. Trenton: New Jersey Agricultural Society, 1954.
By: Allen Katz
Half-gallon (1.9 liter) bottle for Laird’s straight apple brandy, 1930s. Source: Courtesy of Lisa Laird Dunn.