Bless you, Mr. Jack, for surely you have both harvested from and added to the bounty of the earth.
To my inquiries:
Had you heard the term applejack before? I learned it from my Great-Uncle Gabe, a Kentucky farmer who passed away in the 1960s at the age of 95.
He said his grandfather told him applejack was discovered by accident when some hard cider was accidentally left outside; when it was discovered the next day, someone noticed that it was only half frozen and poured off the liquid portion--and discovered to his (or her, I suppose) delight that this process had created something close to apply brandy. He told me that jack was old slang for moonshine, so folks started calling it applejack.
You can imagine my amusement when Applejacks breakfast cereal hit the market.
The dictionary tells me that applejack is a brandy distilled from hard cider, without any mention of the freezing process. I'm curious to know if Gabe made that story up--rural myth?
Where do you buy your supplies? All this talk of favorites has whetted my interest in getting back to brewing. I'm particularly interested in mail order sources for good yeasts.
Finally, does all this have anything to do with your name, Mr Jack?
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