apples

are the fruit of Malus domestica, a deciduous tree whose origins can be traced to the mountains of central Asia. Most apple production is for table use, cooking, or juice, which is sometimes used as a mixer for spirits (particularly in Europe). Some of the fruit, however, is destined for a higher purpose and used to make fermented and distilled beverages.

When fermented, apple juice makes cider (or, in the United States, “hard cider”—apple juice being generally drunk there unfermented). Cider’s first recorded consumption was by the ancient Greeks, and it was popularized by the Romans; its current strongholds include the west of England, the north of Spain, and the northeastern United States. Just about any of the more than 7,500 apple cultivars grown throughout the temperate world can be used in the production of cider, but the traditional and arguably best varieties for the purpose have a good amount of tannin and are high in sugar and acid.

Cider is also distilled to make spirits, although some of the most prized apple brandies are made from varietals too acidic to yield a drinkable cider. Like grape brandy, the beverages distilled from fermented apples have many names depending on geographic origin. The main types are cider brandy (England), apple brandy or applejack (the United States), batzi (Switzerland), obstler (in which apples are combined with other orchard fruits; Germany), and eau-de-vie de pomme and calvados (France). Of these, the last is unquestionably the best regarded, although American apple brandy also has its dedicated adherents. See applejack, calvados, and obstler. Apples are also occasionally used to flavor liqueurs, as in the German apfelkorn, which is naturally flavored, and the American green-apple schnapps, which is most assuredly not.

Roasted apples were incorporated into one of the foundational drinks of American mixology, the Apple Toddy, where they were muddled with sugar and mixed with hot water and rum or apple brandy. Today, they usually appear thinly sliced as a garnish, as in the Apple Martini, a 1990s Los Angeles favorite that is made by combining vodka and apple schnapps or another, less artificial, substitute.

Fournier, Adam. “Is Apple Brandy the Next Big Thing.” Daily Beast, October 9, 2018. https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-apple-brandy-the-next-big-thing (accessed March 16, 2021).

Neal, Charles. Calvados: The Spirit of Normandy. San Francisco: Wine Appreciation Guild, 2011.

By: Jason GrizzantiSee applejack, calvados, and obstler.