All About the Apples: Types of Apples in Applejack

Apple season is already here. Another year of apple picking, hayrides, and our favorite fall spirit: Applejack. Making Applejack starts with the star of the show, the apple. But what kind of apples make the best applejack? How are the best apples grown? We break down everything you need to know about the apples used for American Applejack.

Why Apples?

Applejack is the American spirit because of the number of apples we grow in this country. Apples grow naturally in the United States so they have always been plentiful. Early settlers pressed the apples and let them ferment, resulting in hard cider. It is this hard cider that was used to make Applejack in the cold winter months.

These days, the best apples come from farms that take great care to tend to the apples. Our apples come from Hardball Cider, grown on Elvern Farms, a 100-acre family farm nestled in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, with beautiful, scenic views of the Delaware Water Gap. Owned and operated by 4th-and 5th-generation family members, Hardball Cider takes great pride in creating the best apple cider, with no additives, preservatives, or pasteurization.

What Apples are Used for Applejack?

Applejack comes from apple cider, so the real question is what apples make the best apple cider? There are many types of apples, each one creating a different-tasting apple cider. Some apples create a sweeter cider, while others create a more acidic one.

Apples for Sweeter Cider:

1. Gala Apples. Quickly becoming the new top apple variety in the United States, Gala is mildly sweet with hints of vanilla and has a floral aroma.

2. Red Delicious. Red Delicious is one of the most recognizable apple varieties in the United States. Red Delicious are known for their deep to bright red skin, mildly sweet flavor, and only a few notes of acidity.

3. Courtland. Courtland apples are a cross between the McIntosh and Ben David Apple. They are known to be juicy–-both sweet and tart in flavor.

Apples for Tart, Acidic Cider:

1. Pink Lady. Pink Lady apples are very firm and exude a tart flavor and effervescent finish. These apples are one of the newer varieties in the United States, first cultivated in the late 1990s. These are the first apples to bloom, but the last to be harvested.

2. Braeburn. Braeburns have a reddish hue with yellow to light green undertones, and a creamy to the golden-colored interior along with a robust, sweet-tart flavor with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon. Often used for baking, these apples also make deliciously tart cider.

3. Jonathan. The Jonathan apple has tough, smooth skin, and is a sweet apple with a touch of acid. Its creamy yellow flesh makes it a great choice for pressing into cider.

How does apple cider become applejack?

Once the apple cider is pressed from the apples it is transformed into hard apple cider through fermentation. This hard apple cider then goes through the distillation process where steam distillation heats the cider resulting in evaporation of the alcohol, which is then condensed back into its liquid form. Authentic Applejack has a sweet apple nose and a dry, yet fruity, light to medium body, with a crisp finish. A warming brandy that is by far one of our most versatile spirits.

Fun Farm Fact

Farmers in the Lehigh Valley were making Applejack before our country was born. One of the best-known apples used in Applejack was the Baldwin Apple, which was discovered by a farmer in the 1740s named William Butters–-the eighth great-grandfather of our Founder and CEO Chad Butters! You can’t get more authentic than Eight Oaks Applejack.