The Corkscrew | Calvados, French apple brandy with a kick, perfect for palate cleansing or an after dinner digestif

Calvados, the tipsier version of apple cider, is reputed to have roots in 8th-century Normandy, France. It is a type of brandy, but differs from those made in Cognac and Armagnac, because calvados is distilled from cider, not grapes.

More than 200 varieties of applecan be used in the distillation of calvados, which requires a balance of tart, sweet and bitter fruit. To make the cider, apples are picked when ripe, washed, pressed and fermented – a process that takes six to 12 weeks. Fermenta­tion uses only the natural yeasts from the skins and the natural sugars in the fruit, at ambient temperatures; heating or cooling the pressed apples is not permitted. The resulting cider contains about 4.5 per cent alcohol.

Two types of distillation method are allowed – alembic and continuous column still. Calvados made using the first method, where the cider is distilled twice, has a lovely complexity after ageing in oak for a mini­mum of two years. After the second distilla­tion, the calvados is colourless and potent (about 70 per cent alcohol). Barrel-ageing gives the brandy its toasty amber colour, and the longer it is aged the deeper the hue.

Calvados made in a continuous column still is meant to be enjoyed young as it has a tart, fresh, appley taste. Minimum ageing is two years and batches can be blended together before bottling, resulting in a brandy that contains 40 to 45 per cent alcohol. A little water is permitted to lower the strength.

The department of Calvados has three subregions: AOC Calvados, AOC Calvados Pays d’Auge and AOC Calvados Domfrontais.