During a recent visit to the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA, I enjoyed my very first Stonewall Cocktail made with two simple ingredients... gin and apple jack brandy.  Not only was it the first time I had a Stonewall, it was my introduction to Apple Jack Brandy.  

How did I not know about this delicious Apple Jack Brandy???

1. I love brandy/whiskey/scotch!  2. I love apples!

I will ask one of the bartenders for the proportions soon, but if I forget, I will have no problem with finding out myself through trial and error :-).

Today I found myself researching how Apple Jack Brandy came about in the 1600s. 

Apple brandy has been in America since the 1600's. It all started with early colonists producing hard cider from their apple orchards, but then took it a step further and created an even stronger alcohol. Why not right?  What these smart colonist would do is in the winter, wooden barrels of cider were left outside to freeze.   "Jacking", as it was called, was a process of freezing the cider and then skimming off the high-proof alcohol that did not freeze.  This alcohol became their high-proof applejack. 

I won't go into the whole process of American made Apple Jack Brandy or how George Washington became involved, but I have linked the full article from Liquor.com here. 

On a side note, did you know Johnny Appleseed was from Leominster, Massachusetts and he was instrumental in establishing apple orchards throughout the mid-west? I didn't know that little factoid until a few years ago.