Spirits

Apple Brandy

Apple brandy is spirit distilled from fermented apples or cider and usually aged in oak, and our recipes take it at 40% ABV. It is a family name rather than a legal one under Regulation (EC) 110/2008, covering Normandy’s calvados, American apple brandy and applejack, and English cider brandy. Our Autumn Gold sets it beside bourbon.

Quick Facts

ABV40% ABVWe count it at 40%; American bottled-in-bond apple brandy is 50% under 27 CFR 5.88.

Legal categorySpiritNot a name in Regulation (EC) 110/2008: sold as cider spirit, apple spirit or a protected name such as calvados

OriginNormandy, the United States, England and elsewhere

Flavour Strengthmedium bold

Our keeping timeIndefinitely unopened. Once opened, years if kept sealed and upright out of the light, though the aroma fades slowly.

Storage

Sealed and upright, out of direct light: it keeps like any brandy.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens.

The ingredient

About Apple Brandy

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

Baked AppleOakOrchard Fruit

Tasting Notes

Dry orchard fruit over oak warmth: baked apple without the sugar, deepening with age.

Apple brandy is a family, not a single spirit

Ferment apples, distil the result and age it in oak, and you have apple brandy. The details split the family: whether the fruit becomes cider first, which still is used, how long the spirit rests in wood, and whether neutral spirit is added afterwards. Each branch answers those questions its own way, and the label usually says which branch you are holding. Strength varies with the answers, from the 37.5% legal floor for cider spirit to 50% for an American bonded bottle.

In British law the name is cider spirit

GB spirit drink law keeps the word brandy for grape spirit. Distilled cider is cider spirit, at least 37.5% ABV with nothing added but caramel for colour, and distilled apples are apple spirit. Two protected names on the GB register sit within those rules: Calvados from Normandy and Somerset Cider Brandy, while Cornish Cyder Brandy is still under consideration. US rules also let apple brandy be sold as applejack.

The apple brandy family, from INAO for calvados, 27 CFR 5.145, 5.146 and 5.88 for the American bottles, and the GB register on GOV.UK with the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, Annex II, for the British ones and the liqueur.

Calvados

Where: Normandy, France
How it is made: Cider distilled in a pot or column still, at least two years in oak
Strength: 40% minimum

Straight American apple brandy

Where: United States
How it is made: All apple brandy; bonded bottles have four years in wood
Strength: 40 to 50%

Blended applejack

Where: United States
How it is made: At least 20% aged apple brandy, the rest neutral spirit
Strength: 40%

Somerset Cider Brandy, Cornish Cyder Brandy

Where: England
How it is made: Local cider, distilled; Somerset protected, Cornish applied for
Strength: 37.5% minimum

Apple schnapps (not a brandy)

Where: Anywhere
How it is made: Sweetened, flavoured spirit: a liqueur
Strength: At least 15%, as a liqueur

Spirit	Where	How it is made	Strength
Calvados	Normandy, France	Cider distilled in a pot or column still, at least two years in oak	40% minimum
Straight American apple brandy	United States	All apple brandy; bonded bottles have four years in wood	40 to 50%
Blended applejack	United States	At least 20% aged apple brandy, the rest neutral spirit	40%
Somerset Cider Brandy, Cornish Cyder Brandy	England	Local cider, distilled; Somerset protected, Cornish applied for	37.5% minimum
Apple schnapps (not a brandy)	Anywhere	Sweetened, flavoured spirit: a liqueur	At least 15%, as a liqueur

Any straight apple spirit suits an unnamed apple brandy

Our Autumn Gold asks simply for apple brandy and works with any of the straight spirits in the table. Where a recipe names calvados or applejack, use that. A blended applejack carries far more neutral spirit than apple, so it comes out lighter than either straight one.

Using it

Using Apple Brandy

Usage

Our Autumn Gold shakes 20ml with 45ml of bourbon, lemon and maple syrup. A recipe that names apple brandy without a country will take a young calvados or a straight American bottle; a blended applejack gives a lighter result.

Pro Tip

Next to a strong whiskey, match the strengths. In a drink with bourbon at full measure, a 50% apple brandy keeps the apple audible; at 40% the bourbon takes over, which makes a fair drink, though not the one written.

Top Tips

Check an American label for the word blended. Blended applejack is mostly neutral spirit; straight apple brandy is all apple.
Under 27 CFR 5.88, bottled in bond on American apple brandy means 50% ABV and at least four years in wood.
Apple schnapps and apple liqueurs are sweet and far weaker. They are not apple brandy and will not stand in for it.
Store it as any spirit, closed and upright, away from the sun.

Possible Substitutions

Calvados: The French apple brandy: drier, at 40% or more
Applejack: The American line: the blended bottle is lighter, the straight one fuller

Production Method

Apples are fermented, as whole fruit or pressed into cider, then distilled and usually aged in oak. Under Regulation (EC) 110/2008, distilled cider is cider spirit and distilled apples are apple spirit; Calvados and Somerset Cider Brandy are protected names within those rules, and Cornish Cyder Brandy has applied.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is apple brandy?

Any spirit distilled from fermented apples, either whole fruit or cider, and usually aged in oak. Calvados from Normandy, American apple brandy and applejack, and the cider brandies of Somerset and Cornwall all belong to the family. They differ in the fruit, the still, the time in wood and whether neutral spirit is added.

Is apple brandy the same as calvados?

Calvados is one kind of apple brandy: the Normandy kind, made under INAO’s appellation rules with a two-year minimum in oak. Apple brandy from America or England follows other rules, so it can be younger, stronger, or distilled from apples without making cider first.

Is applejack the same as apple brandy?

Sometimes. 27 CFR 5.145 lets apple brandy be called applejack, and older American recipes use the words for the same thing. The bottle sold as applejack today is usually blended applejack, which under 27 CFR 5.146 needs only 20% of two-year-old apple brandy; neutral spirit makes up the balance. A straight apple brandy is all apple.

What does bottled in bond mean on apple brandy?

It is a US designation. Under 27 CFR 5.88 the spirit comes from one distillery and one distilling season, spends at least four years in wood and is bottled at exactly 50% ABV. On apple brandy it means an all-apple, strong bottle, the kind that holds its own beside bourbon or rye in a stirred or shaken drink.

Is there British apple brandy?

Yes. Somerset Cider Brandy is a protected name on the GB register on GOV.UK, for spirit made by distilling cider, and Cornish Cyder Brandy has applied: the register has listed it as under consideration since 11 October 2021. Like calvados, both are entered as cider spirit, not brandy. Either works when a recipe wants apple brandy but names no country, as our Autumn Gold does.

Can I use apple schnapps instead of apple brandy?

No. Apple schnapps is sugar-sweetened and flavoured, a liqueur of 15% ABV or more under Regulation (EC) 110/2008, where apple brandy is unsweetened spirit of 40% or more. Swap them and the alcohol roughly halves while the sugar climbs, and the drink falls out of balance.

Sources.

Correct as of 16 October 2026.

legislation.gov.uk, “Regulation (EC) No 110/2008, Annex II (as retained in UK law)”.
Cornell Law School LII, “27 CFR § 5.145 Brandy”.
Cornell Law School LII, “27 CFR § 5.146 Blended applejack”.
Cornell Law School LII, “27 CFR § 5.88 Bottled in bond”.
GOV.UK, “Somerset Cider Brandy: protected spirit drink name”.
GOV.UK, “Cornish Cyder Brandy: application for protection”.
INAO, “Calvados”.

Make something

Made with Apple Brandy

Featured In These Cocktails

Autumn Gold

Often Used With

Guide by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 16 October 2026

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