What if ancient celtic/roman applejack?

The first recorded reference to apple cider was made by roman troops invading Britain in 55 B.C. Julius Caesar found out that the local celts were fermenting the local crab apple to make a alcoholic beverage.

Now what if they went one step further and invente hard liquor (applejack).Freeze distillation is a low-infrastructure method of production compared to evaporative distillation. Apples and applejack have historically been easy to produce in small quantities. Hard apple cider was an important drink in the colonial and early years of the United States, particularly in areas without access to clean water, but was often considered insufficiently palatable and bulky to store.

Rather than consume an alcoholic fruit beer, the cider harvested in the fall was often separated in the winter via freeze distillation, by leaving it outside and periodically removing the frozen chunks of ice, thus concentrating the unfrozen alcohol in the remaining liquid. From the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than 10%, the concentrated result contains 30-40% alcohol.It is slightly sweet and usually tastes and smells of apples.

Sources:
wikipedia - Applejack

Cider, Hard and Sweet: History, Traditions, and Making Your Own (Third Edition) by Ben Watson
 

GdwnsnHo

Banned
It could certainly be an interesting export. Something pretty low-effort to produce.

I can safely say though that I know very little about the important of apple-growing in Roman Britain - but if the drink proved at all popular it could certainly be a worthwhile export, though I imagine it'd be more successful further north where the winters could be more guaranteed.

Where there other drinks made in a similar manner? If someone with that training came along, made the drink - and managed to make it popular or a fad with those of stature, then you could certainly have it emerge and sustain itself.

Then again - who knows if Applejack wasn't already being made at the time?
 
Freeze distillation requires temperatures below 0F, iirc (<-20C in real terms).

That's easy to do in Little Ice Age New England, rather harder to do in Britain.
 
Freeze distillation requires temperatures below 0F, iirc (<-20C in real terms).

That's easy to do in Little Ice Age New England, rather harder to do in Britain.

Are you sure about that? I've looked at several online guides to making applejack via freeze distillation, and all they say is that the temperature must be below 0C, for obvious reasons.
 
Depends on how strong you like your liquor.

As the whole process depends on the least concentrated alcohol freezing and being removed then you need to plan for cold temperatures if you want to get up near 40% v/v ethanol

A 40% v/v ethanol solution will freeze around -20C but that isn't what you are taking off. A 10% ethanol (strongest cider you are going to get) freezes out a -5 C and its around this temperature you should get reasonably strong liquor forming in the residue.

Still, unless you live half way up Snowdon you'll be lucky to see -5 C for any length of time in England.
 
Depends on how strong you like your liquor.

As the whole process depends on the least concentrated alcohol freezing and being removed then you need to plan for cold temperatures if you want to get up near 40% v/v ethanol

A 40% v/v ethanol solution will freeze around -20C but that isn't what you are taking off. A 10% ethanol (strongest cider you are going to get) freezes out a -5 C and its around this temperature you should get reasonably strong liquor forming in the residue.

Still, unless you live half way up Snowdon you'll be lucky to see -5 C for any length of time in England.

-5, eh? OK, I'll admit my numbers were more based on sticking stuff in the freezer and see what happens. ( :) )
-5 should be doable, most years, in Britain.

(I was using 7% Strongbows, sticking it in the Freezer, and then separating out the water ice slush from the applejack.)
 
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