Laird's Products

In 1698, Alexander Laird emigrated from County Fife, Scotland to America where he eventually settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Believed to be a distiller in his homeland, William applied his skills to apples which were the most abundant natural resource in the area. This led to the production of Applejack for his own use, as well as his friends and neighbors. Prior to 1760, George Washington wrote to the Laird family requesting their Applejack recipe. Entries appear in Washington’s diary in the 1760’s referring to the production of “cyder spirits”. As a Revolutionary soldier serving under George Washington, Robert Laird and his family provided the troops with Applejack. In 1780, Robert Laird recorded the first commercial transaction at the distillery in the tiny community of Scobeyville, NJ. The Applejack distillery flourished at the Colts Neck Inn site until 1849, when a fire burned the distillery to the ground. Robert Laird, a fifth generation Laird, re-built the distillery at its current Scobeyville site. In 1851, expanded commercial production of Applejack began. In the early 1900’s, sixth generation Joseph T. Laird, Jr. faced Prohibition. He kept the company in operation by producing other apple products, such as sweet cyder and applesauce. Joseph’s son’s John Evans and Joseph T. Laird, III continued to produce non-alcoholic products until 1933, when Laird & Company was granted a federal license under the Prohibition Act to produce Apple Brandy for “medicinal purposes”. This allowed the Laird brothers to re-open the distillery. For almost 300 years, the art of producing Applejack has been passed down through succeeding generations of the Laird Family. Eighth generation Larrie W. Laird is now president of Laird & Company and heads America’s oldest family of distillers.