Laird & Company

Last updated

Laird & Company
Current Bottling Plant, Laird & Company, Scobeyville, NJ.jpg
Current Bottling Plant
Location1 Laird Road, Scobeyville, New Jersey
Founded1780 (1780)
FounderRobert Laird

Laird & Company is a distillery located at 1 Laird Road in the Scobeyville section of Colts Neck Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. Founded by Robert Laird, it is the oldest licensed distillery in the United States and received License No. 1 from the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 1780. Laird has a rectifier and blender license from the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. [1]

Contents

History

Laird & Company Distillery Historic District
Laird's Apple Jack sign, Laird & Company, Scobeyville, NJ.jpg
Laird's Apple Jack sign
Location map of Monmouth County, New Jersey.svg
Red pog.svg
USA New Jersey location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 40°17′55″N74°8′33″W / 40.29861°N 74.14250°W / 40.29861; -74.14250 (Laird & Company Distillery Historic District)
Area25 acres (10 ha)
NRHP reference No. 100010927 [2] [3]
NJRHP No.5748 [4]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 31, 2024
Designated NJRHPSeptember 4, 2024

The history of the company can be traced to the immigration of William Laird from Fife in Scotland to Monmouth County in 1698. He was among the first to produce applejack in the area. His descendant, Robert Laird, served in the Continental Army under George Washington. Washington asked Laird for his recipe for "cyder spirits" before the Revolution. [5] [6] Today, none of the company's production is located in New Jersey. It obtains all its apples from central Virginia and distills its products in North Garden, Virginia. [6] Distilling at its New Jersey facilities ceased in 1972 and Laird's only blends, ages and bottles its products in Scobeyville. [6]

The Scobeyville property was listed as the Laird & Company Distillery Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places on October 31, 2024, for its significance in agriculture, architecture, and industry. The 25-acre (10 ha) historic district includes 5 contributing buildings, 2 contributing sites and 1 contributing structure. The Laird family's residence was built in three phases. The oldest section may date to before the American Revolutionary War. The next section was built around 1849 and the final section in 1934, when the house became the administrative office for the company. It features Colonial Revival architecture. The Still House was built between the 1880s and 1933. Three distilling equipment rooms were added in 1934 and 1935. The pond was created in 1934 by damming the Yellow Brook. The water was used for cooling the distilling equipment. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whisky</span> Distilled alcoholic beverage

Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colts Neck Township, New Jersey</span> Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey

Colts Neck Township is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located in the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 9,957, a decrease of 185 (−1.8%) from the 2010 census count of 10,142, which in turn reflected a decline of 2,189 (−17.8%) from the 12,331 counted in the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodford Reserve</span> Premium small batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey produced by the Brown-Forman Corporation

Woodford Reserve is a brand of premium small batch Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey produced in Woodford County, Kentucky, by the Brown-Forman Corporation. It is made from a mixture of copper pot still spirits produced at the company's Woodford Reserve Distillery, and column still spirits from the Brown Forman Distillery in Shively, Kentucky. Each 45.2% alcohol by volume bottle bears a unique batch and bottle number. The brand was introduced in 1996. Domestic sales of Woodford Reserve surpassed one million cases in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcoholic beverage control state</span> States in the United States that have a monopoly over alcohol

Alcoholic beverage control states, generally called control states, less often ABC states, are 17 states in the United States that have state monopoly over the wholesaling or retailing of some or all categories of alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine, and distilled spirits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bottled in bond</span> American whiskeys (or other spirits) produced to a set of specifications

Bottled in bond (BIB) is a label for an American-produced distilled beverage that has been aged and bottled according to a set of legal regulations contained in the United States government's Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits, as originally specified in the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. As a reaction to widespread adulteration of American whiskey, the act made the federal government the guarantor of a spirit's authenticity, gave producers a tax incentive for participating and helped ensure proper accounting and the collection of tax that was due. Although the regulations apply to all spirits, most bonded spirits are whiskeys in practice.

The New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control is an agency of the government of the state of New Jersey that regulates commerce in alcoholic beverages in that state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McCormick Distilling Company</span> United States historic place

McCormick Distilling Company is a distillery and alcoholic beverage importing company in Weston, Missouri. Established by Ben Holladay in 1856, the distillery has been registered in the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest distillery west of the Mississippi River that is still operating at its original location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Applejack (drink)</span> Alcoholic drink produced from apples

Applejack is a strong alcoholic drink produced from apples. Popular in the American colonial era, the drink's prevalence declined in the 19th and 20th centuries amid competition from other spirits.

The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority is one of the eleven public safety agencies under the Secretariat of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the Commonwealth. The agency administers the state's ABC laws. ABC stores are the only retail outlets in Virginia where customers may purchase distilled spirits. The profits that Virginia ABC contributes are collected from sales of distilled spirits at ABC stores, taxes collected on beer and wine sales, violation penalties and license fees. Since its establishment in 1934, Virginia ABC has contributed more than $9 billion to the Commonwealth's general fund. Virginia ABC employs more than 4,000 people statewide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington's Gristmill</span> United States historic place

George Washington's Gristmill was part of the original Mount Vernon plantation, constructed during the lifetime of the United States' first president. The original structure was destroyed about 1850. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association have reconstructed the gristmill and the adjacent distillery. The reconstructed buildings are located at their original site three miles (4.8 km) west of the Mount Vernon mansion near Woodlawn Plantation in the Mont Vernon area of Fairfax County. Because the reconstructed buildings embody the distinctive characteristics of late eighteenth century methods of production and are of importance to the history of Virginia, the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places despite the fact that the buildings are not original.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gooderham and Worts</span> Canadian alcoholic beverage distiller

Gooderham and Worts, also known as Gooderham & Worts Limited, was a Canadian distiller of alcoholic beverages. It was once one of the largest distillers in Canada. The company was merged in 1926 with Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd., and the merged firm was eventually sold to Allied Lyons in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcohol laws of New Jersey</span>

The state laws governing alcoholic beverages in New Jersey are among the most complex in the United States, with many peculiarities not found in other states' laws. They provide for 29 distinct liquor licenses granted to manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and for the public warehousing and transport of alcoholic drinks. General authority for the statutory and regulatory control of alcoholic drinks rests with the state government, particularly the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control overseen by the state's Attorney General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Rose, New Jersey</span> Populated place in Mercer County, New Jersey, US

Mount Rose is an unincorporated community located within Hopewell Township, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated at the corner of Carter Road, Pennington-Rocky Hill Road, and Cherry Valley Road. It is named for a local gardener. The Mount Rose section of Rocky Hill Ridge through the community also takes its name from the gardener. Richard Stout opened the first general store in the village around 1822 and in 1830, Josiah Cook and Reuben Savidge opened a second store. The settlement was also later home to two shoe shops, a dressmaker, wheelwrights, a blacksmith, a harness shop, an agricultural implements warehouse, a post office and a steam sawmill. In its heyday the community had about 20 houses. Nathaniel Drake opened an applejack distillery in the village in the mid-19th century. He made and sold peach brandy, apple cider and apple whiskey. The Whiskey House, the office building for the distillery and the only remaining Drake building in the village, is listed on the township, state and national registers of historic places. The community's schoolhouse, a stone building east of the crossroads, was later replaced by a frame building on the southern end of the village that is a private residence today. After 1880, Mount Rose began shrinking, due to the growth of nearby Hopewell Borough. It is planned that the Lawrence Hopewell Trail will go through the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scobeyville, New Jersey</span> Populated place in Monmouth County, New Jersey, US

Scobeyville is an unincorporated community located within Colts Neck Township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The settlement is named for the Scobey family which has inhabited the township since the 1700s. The site housed a one-room schoolhouse, a post office, and a general store. It was known for good fishing on the Yellow Brook which has its basin in Scobyville.

The production of beer in New Jersey has been in a state of recovery since Prohibition (1919-1933) and the Great Depression (1929-1945). Currently, the state has 123 licensed breweries: a large production brewery owned by an international beverage company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and 122 independent microbreweries and 19 brewpubs. The growth of the microbreweries and brewpubs since the 1990s has been aided by the loosening of the state's licensing restrictions and strict alcohol control laws, many of which were a legacy of Prohibition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey distilled spirits</span> Small alcohol industry in American state

The production of distilled spirits in New Jersey has not been a large industry in the state. Strict alcoholic beverage control laws in place during and after Prohibition (1919–1933) prevented the industry from growing for almost a century. In 2013, the state passed a law creating a craft distillery license. and issued the first new distillery license since Prohibition to Jersey Artisan Distilling.

The Colts Neck Inn is a steakhouse located on County Route 537 in what is now Colts Neck Township, New Jersey. Established as the Colts Neck Tavern in 1717, the inn became known as the Colts Neck Hotel before becoming a restaurant. A separate Colts Neck Inn Hotel was incorporated in 1997.

References

  1. "Wholesale/State Issued Licensee Listing (.xlsx)". New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control . July 18, 2018. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  2. "National Register Information System  (#100010927)". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  3. "Weekly List 2024 11 01". National Park Service. November 1, 2024.
  4. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Monmouth County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – Historic Preservation Office. September 27, 2024. p. 4.
  5. 1 2 Olson, Siri; Shugars, Miranda; Evans, Francesca (December 2023). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Laird & Company Distillery Historic District (Draft)" (PDF). National Park Service. With accompanying 65 photos.
  6. 1 2 3 Harrison, Karen Tina (July 13, 2009). "Jersey Lightning: The Story Behind Laird's Applejack Brand". New Jersey Monthly. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2012.