The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-24
----------------7---------- REAL JERSEY APPLEJACK.
Interesting Particulars Regarding
 Jersey Lighting"

 Jersey Lighting"
 Although apple brandy is produced
 in several States, the real, pure
 Jersey Lighting" comes only from | Monmouth County, N. J., where the same old stills have been continued from father to son for generations. | Whether the technical secrets thus dis covered and handed down or the care exercised in selecting the apples and handling the cider through the various processes Is the cause of it Is hard to prove, but certain 1t is that nowhere has the fine excellence of this old-time tipple reached such perfection. Urban beverage epicures would pay ridiculous prices eff they knew) for the nectar that is still common in this favored county among the well to do rural population. Time was when the farm ing had not yet suffered from Southern and Western competition, and prior to
 the revenue tax, when it was the cus- tom in the hot days of the harvest, to send the men in the fields water pail filled with applejack, tin cup floating on top; value nowadays about $9 a paiIfu And every farmer who was anybody would have five to ten barrels in his cellar maturing, these being the product of his own apples, distilled for him at the nearest stillhouse. Yet many old fellows affirm that lin them days" there was little or no drunknness surely not so much as now, anyhow. While it's consumption out of the State seems not to have increased much its quality has not been debased, as any one can testify who drinks the old Monmouth liquor in company with the usually poor substitute served by SD many otherwise first class cafes in this city. The Monmouth man drinks it straight, and uses it In place of rye in mixture such as cocktails, juleps, highbals etc. He particularly delights in the Sunset or Jersey Sunset, which is applejack on clipped ice and water, in a long glass, with a swish Of lemon peel and a dash of Angostura on top, the latter being allowed to float on top [ for it's sunset hue The applejack mint iulep is without doubt a delicious con- coction. In drinking it the use of straw is considered proclamation. The spearnfint, fresh from the garden IS stuck in literally, so that ones nose Is buried in it by the act of drinking. Then it is that as the nectar gurgles in the throat giving refreshment and con- tent, one hears the rippling brooklet, the singing of the forest birds. smells the wild flowers and apple blossoms, and wishes for nothing but another. An old "residenter," who knows more about applejack than hen about chickens says that the old Monmouth distillers make only cider Cor apple)
 brandy, which equivalues hewine made from the first pressing of grapes. The distilled cider is not only the best brandy, but the dearest to make. Pomace Is crushed apples without the juice expressed therefrom cider Is ex- pressed juice; cheese is the residue of the fruit after the juice has been ex- pressed. Now pomace and cheese with water added are used by some dis tilers to make a cheaper applejack, just as winters keep adding water to grape skins and pressing out more | wine" But the Monmouth applejack is always cider brandy, to which fact it's high reputation among connoisseurs is no doubt due.
 If one of our mixed drinks sharps would invent a drink with good Mon- mouth applejack for it's basis, or intro duce one of those here mentioned, it would stand to increase his reputation and receipts.-The Liquor Trade Re- view