Before bourbon, the orchard.

An American drinking tradition grew on trees.

Long before bourbon became America’s spirit, the country drank from the orchard.

Early American farms planted apples by the acre, and much of that fruit went to the cider press. Fermented cider was an everyday drink, shared across social classes and woven into the work and gatherings of a young country.

Some of that cider was taken further. Distilled, it became apple brandy, also known as applejack. In New Jersey, the Laird family’s records document a commercial applejack transaction in 1780.

Over the following century, grain whiskey grew in prominence. Orchard spirits gradually lost their place in the American glass.

Pommeau picks up the thread. The name is French; the instinct is one American orchards knew well: apples, brandy and time. Here, fresh cider meets apple brandy before the blend is aged. Stillbound makes ours in Hotchkiss, Colorado, and rests it two years in oak at 5,359 feet.

The orchard came first. It is worth tasting again.