Comparing Apple Brandy on the Rocks and Angels’ Share by Kilian

I was lucky to get a bottle of Apple Brandy on the Rocks and give it a good week of wear before the official launch date in September 2021. What can I say? Ladies and gentlemen, it is a super cozy compliment-getter for the colder months! In this regard it totally shares the likability-DNA of Angels’ Share from the same Liquors Collection that was released in 2020. Both create an atmosphere of disarming amiability that draws people in your vicinity in and spreads positive vibes.

Kilian the brand is great at incorporating notes of spirits into delectable fragrance compositions that are an authentic expression of the founder’s DNA – Kilian Hennessy comes from the family with a remarkable heritage in cognac making (they are responsible for the letter H as in Hennessy in the name of the world’s largest luxury conglomerate LVMH). And while Kilian the perfume house is not associated with Hennessy cognac (in fact, it belongs to Estee Lauder, not to LVMH), they are great at exploring the boozy deepness that notes of noble spirits can lend to fragrances.

Apple Brandy on the Rocks is dedicated to the most American liquor of them all – apple brandy, also known as applejack. In fact, apple brandy was the first brown spirit that the colonists started distilling upon their arrival. Apple trees were ubiquitous, and so using apples to produce alcohol was an obvious thing to do. Apple brandy has been around since the 1630s, more than a century before bourbon appeared on the radar and the state of Kentucky came to exist. For a long time, it was the most widely used type of alcohol. Hard to believe, but early colonists consumed it in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. Everybody made and drank it – even Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Compared to its modern appearance, the taste of the original applejack was quite different, way more harsh.

In fact, the name applejack refers to the way it was produced by the colonists – it was made by “jacking”. Means that the apples were first fermented into hard cider that was then frozen in the ice – the water would freeze, the concentrated alcohol would gather in the middle of the ice block and get harvested. The freezing process was repeated several times to get a really strong version of the brandy. Its proof earned the drink nicknames like “Jersey Lightning” or “Corpse Reviver”. Jacking was a very low-tech and simple method, anybody could do it. Unfortunately, it does not conform to the modern safety standards, as it leaves traces of many health hazard substances in the final product. Today, apple brandy is produced by more traditional distilling, but the name applejack reminds of its roots in early America.

Kilian’s choice of apple brandy as the topic of the newest release is quite clever. While the drink’s popularity had greatly declined in the middle of the last century, it is having a revival in the recent years thanks to the renaissance of the cocktail culture (think New York nightlife) and small scale distillery start-ups that experiment with traditional spirits like apple brandy, giving them an up-to-date face lift. Apple Brandy on the Rocks is very American in the sense that it has a huge outgoing and charismatic personality, like an all-American sweetheart, homecoming queen and captain of the cheerleading team. The apple start is universally likeable, the woody dry down is magnetic.

Compared to Angels’ Share, Apple Brandy on the Rocks is not as sweet, has a pronounced apple accord (I imagine sweet red apples, not the sour green ones often employed in perfumery) with some lighter-pitched pineapple to help the fruity segment blend with the rest of the composition. Warm cardamom with roast aromas smoothes the transition into the boozy and ambery woody part that echoes the wood from Angels’ Share – a bit tart, drenched in delectable liquor (rum, in this case) and adorned with vanilla and ambroxan to weaken the knees of those around you.

Basically, Angels’ Share is more traditionally gourmand with the sweet notes of chocolate & hazelnut pralines, as well as spices often used for baking during the winter Christmas season (first and foremost cinnamon). Apple Brandy on the Rocks has more of a fall vibe surrounding it. Ripe apples, tart brown wood with golden rum – all of it speaks more of the harvest season than of winter pastry.

Angels’ Share is the perfect companion for the days one wants to spend wrapped in a warm blanket watching the snow fall behind the window. Apple Brandy on the Rocks is a perfume that invites to go for a walk outside, kicking the fallen red and orange leaves on the ground as you move through the park. Doesn’t mean, of course, that one is only to be worn in winter and the other exclusively in autumn. Both Kilian fragrances will work great in pretty much any season. Just painting a picture for the sake of comparison here.

Don’t know Kilian’s original Apple Brandy (now discontinued), so can’t make any comparisons myself. The popular opinion hast it that the original was denser and more like the raw straight brandy. The new version is indeed lighter, has more air to breathe freely. The addition of “on the Rocks” to the name is not a coincidence. On the Rocks is an accord that Kilian employs to bring the chilled sensation to their fragrances (Vodka on the Rocks is another example), it’s a blend of bergamot, pineapple and cardamon.

This boozy fragrance is designed to be easily liked, to create the atmosphere of uncompromising pleasantness around you. A master stroke by the perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur (who was also the nose behind the original Apple Brandy and Vodka on the Rocks in addition to other Kilian hits like Straight to Heaven and Black Phantom) that is guaranteed to be one of the most successful launches of the season, soon to be seen in all top-whatever lists on YouTube.

At the moment Apple Brandy on the Rocks has already appeared in several shops on- and offline. In Berlin you can get it at Delfi Perfumery (that’s where my bottle is from), soon also at KaDeWe and online on Kilian’s official website, ausliebezumduft, luckyscent, Peony Melbourne, 24s.com and in numerous other shops that sell Kilian.

Intrigued by the description? Have you tried it? What’s your opinion?

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