Hi all, It's time for me to stock up on alcohol for the winter, even if I don't drink very much. I was just going to post about the available less inexpensive Islay scotches (my preference) but I also see I have a choice of three different brands of calvados at the nearest large liquor store. I've always wanted to try some - for obvious reasons - have any of you tried these? Calvados Pere Magloire Calvados VSOP Boulard Rye Cask Finish VSOP Calvados Calvados Boulard Pays d'auge Scotches (I think these are all single malts) Laphroaig Quarter Cask Laphroaig 10 Year Old Ardbeg 10 Year Old Bunnahabhain 12-Year-Old Lagavulin 8 Year Old Bowmore No 1 (I've had this) Laphroaig Select
I've never bought calvados by brand and, to be honest, in Normandy cafés whether I chose the cheapest €6 or the €12 glass, I can discern little difference. It's a pleasantly warming fire-water but the complexities are beyond me. It's fantastic flambéed over apple crêpes though so I always have a bottle in the house. As for the malts, I've not drunk the Laphroaig Select nor the Bowmore No.1 but I'm not in general a fan of Bourbon cask whiskies...often too vanillery for me. The Ten Year Old is good, but very strongly flavoured. Ardbeg never disappoints. You won't go wrong with the 10. I've not tried the 12 year old Bunnahabhain, but the Toiteach a Dha is a current favourite. Lagavulin was usually a 16 and for years it was a stand-by, I don't think that I've tried the 8...which doesn't mean that I haven't had a glass slid in front of me, simply that I didn't remember by the next morning, which is a recurring theme. A failure to make tasting notes means that there is a certain amount of uncertainty. It's all personal taste anyway and there is a lot of pretentiousness around.
There is also Fine Bretagne (sometimes known as Lambig) - made from Brittany apples in the same way as Calvados is made from Normandy apples and Armangac - to me its smoother than Brandy and therefore more pleasant TD
Christmas is coming, and there must be a few small pleasures in life. Excellent observations and recommendations from you all chaps (Chris, Rich, TD). Chris, without my disclosing too much geographical bias, do try an Irish variety as I would hope you'll be pleasantly surprised. Tyrconnell by preference, but Jameson is mightily smooth for a less expensive experience. I'm with Rich on the Calvados, in my senior years I only take it in coffee now, as a heart-starter (as required) on the cold winter days. As for the Bunratty, only give in to curiosity if you have a predilection for melancholy, singing off key, and premature blindness (though you could always use it for lighting the barbecue, and then be sorry for using it to light the barbecue). Kind regards, always, Jim. P.S. Do try an Irish, you will find one that you like. Good luck to you dear chap.
Thank you Jim, you are most kind! I do have a small bottle of Jameson in my cupboard at the moment. Also a bottle of Bowmore 12 year, which is nearly empty - hence the thread. I suppose if I don't like the calvados I can use it on fruitcakes for the rest of my life. I don't make it very often, but I imagine a note of apple would not be a terrible thing in fruitcake.
I'll second Jim on the Jameson. I don't care for Scotch but I like a bourbon now and again. I'm going to ask for a bottle of Calvados once a consensus is reached here just for the Normandy connection, if nothing else. I love the stories of people leaving their houses unlocked with glasses of Calvados set up on the tables inside for the coming allied soldiers.
We just need to see a few accounts from veterans that "liked" it ;-) I've always liked Calvados Calvados - Wikipedia but tastes do vary. Interestingly "regulations officially gave calvados a protected name in 1942" - war? what war? ;-) Edit - I first saw this (link below) a few years back and wondered if it would be drunk. There was a 1944 tale I recall of "finds" of Calvados first having to be "tested" - just to ensure that they were "safe" ;-) Lemorton Calvados-Domfrontais 1944
You could of course progress to the next level of spirit/alcohol Eau de vie - Eau de vie - Wikipedia., although this shows nice commercially produced bottles of 40ish% proof, I was given some in a Martini bottle that is somewhere near 75% proof. I am informed that once the locals made cider from their local apples then they were permitted to send a small quantity off for distilling into eau de vie and i have to say its very good for cold starting - both me and the car !! TD
Are you suggesting the troops didn't like it, or that it would just be fun to collect a thread of soldiers' accounts which mention it?
Dave. There is a farm by one of the smallest CWGC cemeteries in Normandy.It is at the hamlet.if it can be called that, at Chouain at the entrance to a farm and was originally a battlefield cemetery.This farm advertises and sells Calvados and I would think is legal but my farm made liquor was illegal and I would think was made in the old traditional way. Incidentally,to the British, the Chouain CWGC is sometimes referred to as Jerusalem.Without checking,I think there are 36 burials there,mostly Durham Light Infantry.Also there are three Army chaplains interred there. Getting back to selected liquors.I have to mention Marc which has a little history behind it.Over the years I have had numerous bottles of it.Unfortunately I have thrown an empty bottle out but will illustrate a bottle from a source I have in the UK.I usually pick up a couple while in France. Will continue later with the interesting story behind Marc which is appropriate for French occupational clandestine activities so often discussed on the forum...also distilled by the locals but I prefer the Burgundy Marc distilled by a renowned wine producer....have to ring my sister...she's a night hawk.
Perhaps more along the lines of I've seen a wide range of accounts so perhaps it would justify a thread on soldiers accounts during and after the war which mention it, both verifiable, possible and apocryphal. Items like people swigging a whole mug of it thinking it was local apple cider and being startled by its strength, to "gifting" it to visiting bigwigs then giving it to the rest of the boys because said "bigwig" had evidently "survived" ;-) There are quite a few accounts and a wide variety of stories so they could fit together quite well in one thread
Pere Magloire is my Calvados of choice, and more readily got over here in the UK compared with some others, Unfortunately in the last two years or so, supermarket own brand Calvados has all but disappeared; Tesco and Sainsbury no longer sell it and Waitrose stocks Pere Magloire - but at considerably higher cost than in France.
I opened the bottle of Pere Magloire last night. Very nice - maybe it wasn't as burning as I expected because I didn't try to drink it like cider I also got the Laphroaig 10 year. At my usual rate of consumption these will last me a couple of years! My memory (which might be faulty) is that a few years ago when I thought "I'd like to try calvados" it was not as easy to get here in Canada - I could get it in Toronto but had to go to a distant store. So it may have become more popular or the French may have done better at marketing it, or something. (We still have the prohibition-era holdover of a government-run store for liquor and foreign beer. It does mean I only have to check in one place to see if I can get a bottle. Different shops will have different stock and you can get them to transfer things if need be)
