About the Producer
Lairds is THE apple brandy producer in the US and is a national treasure. If you haven’t had Lairds yet then you need to fix that immediately. They have a wide range of excellent apple brandies including the 12yr that I’m reviewing today. I strongly recommend the Bottled in Bond or 10th generation bottles if you can get them.
The Laird’s family and distillery have a long and storied history that extends back before the founding of the nation. Laird’s was the first official licensed distillery in the US, officially incorporated in the new nation 1780, making them the oldest operating distillery in the US.
Alexander Laird immigrated to the US from Scotland in 1698; by 1717 the family distillery was operating behind Colts Neck Inn in Monmouth, NJ. The old inn is steak around today as a steakhouse. The Laird family claims that George Washington, one of the largest distillers in America at the time, wrote to the Laird family asking from their apple brandy recipe and provided Washington’s troops with brandy during the revolution. I’m always a little skeptical of these type of claims, Michters has a similar story, but it’s an interesting story nonetheless.
During prohibition Laird’s survived by producing other apple by products and by getting a medicinal license to sell brandy as medicine. After prohibition the Laird’s distillery expanded by buying 2 distilleries including the current distillery in VA.
Details
- Column distilled at the Lairds Distillery in North Garden, Virginia.
- Fermented and distilled from a blend of Virginia grown apples including Jonathan, Gala, Winesap, Stayman , Pippin and Delicious apples
- Aged in New Jersey
- Aged for 12yrs in first fill ex-bourbon barrels
- 44% abv.
Nose
Powerful aroma of polished wood. Sweet baked apples. Allspice. Light citrus. Good but right on the edge of being too oaky.
Palate
Very oaky. Intense flavor of polished wood. Dry. Less apples than the nose but they are still there. A little restrained. Spicy cinnamon. Very reminiscent of an okay but fruity bourbon. Fairly full flavored and some noticeable heat despite the low proof.
Finish
Medium and spicy with both cinnamon and oak. Traces of apple.
Rating: 6
Overall
Simultaneously very good and disappointing. The oak notes dominate a bit, if this was a bit less oaky and let the apple shine through then this could go from very good to great. As it is though this a very good brandy although at ~$100 there are better options available; would recommend people seek out Laird single barrels first.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite
10 | Perfect | PerfectUpvote5DownvoteReplyShare
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