ELSEWHEN APPLEJACK | MMXVII

ELSEWHEN Applejack 2018
700ml, 44% alc/vol, limited release of 588 individually numbered bottles

-Best Overall Brandy in the 2024 New Zealand Spirit Awards-

Tasting notes

The concentration of fruit softened by charred American oak in this vintage creates an exciting interplay of flavours, with hints of pear, warm spices and toasty almond. The flavours keep changing long after you think you’ve finished.

Process

This batch was started in 2018 by making pure apple cider from 14,000 kgs of 100% Tasman grown heritage Cox Orange Pippin and Pink Lady apples. After fire concentrating some of the juice into apple molasses, it was fermented slowly over winter, then double distilled. It has been carefully aged in charred 100L and 200L American Oak barrels, then rested in ex-Four Roses Bourbon casks before vatting and hand bottling. 

Slow, seasonal, labour intensive... worth it.

How to Enjoy ELSEWHEN Applejack 

ELSEWHEN has been designed from the beginning for versatility, sitting comfortably both in your brandy glass and in your cocktail, also bringing a distinctive smooth fruit complexity anytime you want an NZ alternative to bourbon or rye whiskey. Beautiful in the classic Jack Rose cocktail, it also excels as:

• Applejack Sazerac
• ELSEWHEN Old Fashioned
• Mela d’Alba (Applejack Negroni)
• ELSEWHEN and Tonic – especially nice with the bright tang of East Imperial Yuzu Tonic

What is Applejack?

While technically Applejack is an apple brandy, ageing in charred American oak barrels is very similar to spirits like bourbon or rye whiskey, and you’ll notice that the caramel and vanilla work beautifully with the distinct smooth fruit complexity of cider brandy aged this way.

About Elsewhen & Rough Hands

ELSEWHEN is an embodiment of the possibilities of Applejack. It takes inspiration from great historic traditions as well as past dreams of the future. It imagines that future where robots lovingly hand make our spirits while we enjoy a life of leisure. The most delicious premium crafted spirits don’t always have to be serious.

Rough Hands is the creative output of Fritz Kuckuck and Maria Grau. They have had projects ranging from gin barrel aged beer to light festival art installations to botanical ciders.

More flavour. More fun.

The company came about after homebrewing led to home distilling... which led to opening NZ’s first “craft distillery”. When that distillery was bought out by partners, Fritz and Maria were free to do whatever they wanted. They realised they had developed a love of rum, but had a desire to distil local produce. Could they make rum from apples? They haven’t yet, but…

Looking at a return to the spirits industry, they knew it just had to be bigger. Not in a commercial, make-more-money kind of way, but in a this-needs-to-make-a-difference kind of way.

Cocktails to Mars! What if we start taking spirits off planet? What would really matter then?

These are the questions they asked themselves in the early stages of Elsewhen. Having grow up in a world of 1960’s and 1970’s sci-fi, and developing a love for early 20^th century design and drinking culture, they wanted to create a retro-future universe where applejack was never forgotten.

Each batch of Applejack is a vintage, made from a single harvest year. When it runs out, it’s gone.