Private company

Laird & Company

Logo: lairdandcompany.com3

Distillery

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.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1780Founded1
Current Bottling Plant, Laird & Company, Scobeyville, NJ
Photo: Zeete, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

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.2

The story

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. 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. Distilling at its New Jersey facilities ceased in 1972 and Laird's only blends, ages and bottles its products in Scobeyville.

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.

From Wikipedia’s article on Laird & Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1780Founded Founded1

Funding

Where the company's money came from, by calendar year: private offerings filed with the SEC, federal grants, loans, contracts and other assistance from USAspending.gov, and PPP loans from the SBA. Each bar links to the records below.

Money received by year$556.2K 2020–2020
Money received by yearMoney received by year, 2020–2020: $556.2K in all. PPP loans $556.2K.$0$200K$400K$600K2020 · PPP loans: $556.2K2020
Figures by year
YearPPP loansTotal
2020$556.2K$556.2K

PPP loans

Paycheck Protection Program loans of $150,000 and up, approved April 2020 to July 2021, from the SBA6. Matched to this company by name and state.

  1. Apr 30, 2020$556.2K PPP loan (first draw) from JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association6To LAIRD AND COMPANY, Scobeyville NJ; $564.6K forgiven Nov 10, 2021

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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    Company websiteLaird & Company logo
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