The North American settlers may have had a bit of applejack for breakfast, but don't think it was a sweet cereal. Applejack is a brandy distilled from -- you guessed it -- apples, and Robert Laird was among the first to make it in the New World. (Laird fought in the Revolutionary War under George Washington and supplied the Colonial troops with applejack.) He formally established the Laird distillery in 1780, and today the ninth generation of the Laird family continues to make applejack -- which is aged from four to eight years. The firm also imports (mostly Italian and French) wine and hard spirits (vodka, gin, grappa, tequila). Laird's beverages are distributed throughout the US.