An apple a day is enough... Drouin Calvados - by our blogger Jan Ohrt

An apple a day keeps Drouin Calvados by our blogger Jan Ohrt

Spirits blogger Jan Ohrt took a virtual trip to Normandy to taste some apples at Christian Drouin and to find out if their more than 200 gold medals are deserved and if it's true that they absorb about 1,000 times more CO2 than they produce.

Post by Jan Ohrt

Immediately after World War II, Christian Drouin had the idea that he wanted to develop the world's best calvados. He started by driving around the neighborhood and buying what farmers had in stock of calvados with the goal of further developing it through careful aging in different types of new and used barrels. A few years later, he took the plunge and started his own production, but we had to wait until the late seventies before he could bottle the first bottles that were entirely his own. And that was the start of an unprecedented success not only in France but all over the world.

Today, the house itself owns sprawling apple orchards containing more than 35 different apple varieties that together absorb 600 tons of CO2 per day. Cows walk among the trees, eat the fallen apples and keep the grass cut. So the apple orchards are tended to daily by the cows and therefore only the healthy, healthy and tasty apples end up in production. Since the production "only" emits 200 tons of CO2 per year, the balance is more than positive.

Producing good calvados is just as complicated as producing good cognac and is done in much the same way. The carefully selected fruits are pressed into must, which is then fermented, distilled and aged in carefully selected barrels for a shorter or longer period of time. There is a lot that can go wrong along the way, but when you get all the variables of the process right, the result is both unique and outstanding.

The house of Christian Drouin has accomplished this an astonishing number of times and has more than 200 international gold medals to its name across its vast and varied range. Here you'll find calvados in every conceivable form. With 35 different apple varieties in the backyard, hundreds of different barrels both new and very old in stock, and a long and traditional approach to the craft, the house allows you to keep the doctor away with a new apple every day for at least a year.

I got to taste three different titles from Christian Drouin's very extensive portfolio of calvados:

Christian Drouin Rhum JM Angels Small Batch #7
France has been making great rum on their overseas possessions since they started trading slaves and growing sugar cane. This ten-year-old calvados from Pay d'Auge has spent its last eight months in six old rum casks sourced in Martinique from one of the oldest and most esteemed distilleries on the island. On the nose, it opens friendly and inviting with notes of vanilla, brown sugar and toast before releasing aromas of roasted apple and apricot. In the mouth it is honest, with a fine balance between power and roundness, and the finish is long and sweet with apple skin and seeds.

Christian Drouin V.S.O.P. Pay d'Auge
At Christian Drouin, all calvados under 20 years old are marketed as blended. The ingredients come from their large selection of different barrels that previously held cider, calvados, port and sherry, which give the final product both sweetness and complexity. The nose here is fruity with citrus and prune and on the palate you'll find mild spices and good barrel aging flavors. It's balanced with neither astringency nor bitterness and the orchard flavors linger well and long with a slight hint of cloves, arnica and some medicinal notes.

Christian Drouin Rhum Caroni Angels Small Batch #6
Caroni Rum has long held a place on the top shelf of all rum lovers, so it was natural for Christian Drouin to ask his good friend Luca Caroni for help. In 2004, he found some well-used casks in Trinidad and sent six of them to his old friend. They were filled with the best calvados the house had to offer and eight months later Drouin had the next product in their Expérimental series. Here, the nose is full of burnt apple and dried apricot mixed with petroleum and brown sugar. In the mouth, it is fresh and lively with alternating impressions of both burnt and smoked apple with good richness and length, and a hint of smoke at the end.

For me, this little apple blast was a very good experience and I haven't even finished exploring Christian Drouin's many apple orchards. And fortunately, there are plenty to choose from.

Relaterede produkter

Experimental de Christian Drouin 17 years Caroni Angels Small Batch No. 6 France Calvados 70 cl 40%

Experimental de Christian Drouin 17 years old Caroni Angels Small Batch No. 6 France Calvados 70 cl 40%

EUR 135,50

Christian Drouin VSOP France Le Calvados Pays d´Auge 70 cl 40%

EUR 60,75