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IT’S MID-MORNING, we’re deep in the heart of Normandy, standing in a deserted bar, and we’re having our first drink of the day – an apple gin.

Yes, you read that right. The gin we’re drinking is made from a base spirit created from apple, and it’s a revelation combing the citrus and juniper notes of the gin botanicals, with the tart and sharp flavours of the apple.

“We regularly have bartenders here and they always want to talk about gin,” says our host, Guillaume Drouin. “I thought I ought to make one so we had something to talk to them about too.”

The point here isn’t that it’s possible to make gin with apples – we’re in Normandy and when it comes to alcohol, what a Norman can’t do with an apple isn’t worth doing. On this visit we taste pommeau, which is partially fermented apple juice mixed with apple brandy; beer that has been mixed with calvados; and, of course, the region’s renowned fine cider and calvados itself.

No, the point here is that the leading mixologists are flocking to the calvados region to seek out quality calvados.

It’s a mystery why apple brandy isn’t more popular, and why calvados isn’t generally celebrated as the finest example of the style.

It may be, though, that it exposes a division within France itself. While the elitist regions of Champagne and Cognac, and the famous wine-producing regions of France, have successfully convinced the world that France is a Mediterranean and sun-drenched country producing the world’s finest grapes, the northern part of the country has fared less well.

Normandy and Brittany are poorer, more rural and rustic. There are regions made up of extensive farmland, of weather-beaten seaside resorts, and

of pretty towns. They are regions tinged with sadness and with a raw history. This is the stage for countless wars, including the two great wars of the 20th century, and their fields are the final resting place of thousands of young men.

NORMAN LEGACY

But there is a nobility here, too. The Norman legacy in Normandy is one of stylish buildings and impressive churches, abbeys and cathedrals. The coastline boasts open, sprawling beaches and quaint fishing villages, and history beckons at every turn. Brittany’s Celtic connections have left a legacy of great food and drink. And in these regions you will find world-class beer, whisky, cider and, from selected regions of Normandy, calvados, an apple brandy widely regarded by those in the know as the finest in the world.

Traditionally, though, calvados has been stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand too rustic to appeal to upmarket restaurants and hotels, being based on the common old farmyard apple and not the noble grape; and on the other too traditional and old fashioned for the fashionable style bars and influential trendsetters.

That, though, is changing, as Drouin’s comments above show. It’s not by chance that two of three of the finalists in the gin competition held by Number 3 gin at Berry Bros & Rudd in London included calvados in their drinks. Nor that one of London’s most stylish and up-and-coming bars, Coupette, puts calvados cocktails at the very heart of its cocktail offerings.

Add to that the fact that it’s appearing in its own right across the world, and as a much-cherished ingredient in modern cocktails. Kyoto alone has more than 250 bars stocking it, and famed restaurant Nokka in Helsinki stocks scores of different varieties. New calvados embassies are opening across the world. Indeed, official calvados IDAC figures show that in 2017 57% of the 6m bottles of calvados sold were exported, with the US, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Japan and Russia the leading markets.

We’re at family distillery Calvados Christian Drouin because it is at the forefront of the changing mood of calvados, but there are countless other places we could have gone. What they share in common is the way they are adapting to demands from the modern bar and restaurant trade.

Sales have been going so well for the Christian Drouin distillery that it has had to expand rapidly. It renovated two cellars at its farm in Gonneville-sur-Honfleur in 2012 and 2015, and storage space was added at the distillery site in 2013. A cider plant was added in the middle of the orchards in 2013. This year more offices were being added.

As bar staff and restaurateurs seek out products with provenance and heritage, the spirit is being better understood. In fact, there are three distinct styles of calvados, each produced in different parts of the region.

The production of the style known as Calvados Pays D’Auge has a great deal in common with that of single malt whisky. Local producers know all about distilling fermented apple juice twice, removing the first and last parts of the run during the second distillation. And they have a long history and understanding of ageing the spirit in oak casks. Nor is it by chance that all the apples produced in the region fall into one or four categories – bitter, bitter sweet, sweet and sharp.

Even the orchards have been geared for perfect cider and calvados production. Calvados apple trees have long trunks, so there is space underneath the branches for cattle to graze. The cows fertilise the land, but they have another role, too. They like to eat apples, and know how to shake the branches to make apples fall.

But over the summer months the apples that fall first are the rotten ones, so the cows help the producers separate out bad apples. And then, on September 10, the cows are moved on and the first harvest begins.

Maturation takes place in oak barrels that vary in size. At Christian Drouin, mainly small casks are used, and the evaporation rate – the angel’s share – is about 4% a year, twice the Normandy average, and about twice that of Scotland, too. Calvados may be aged for many years, and Christian Drouin has spirit that has been aged for 70 years.

That explains why the apple brandies from this region are so respected. But, just as it was for Scottish single malt producers, making the transition to mixing fine spirit into cocktails required a major leap of faith.

COCKTAIL USE

The use of calvados as a cocktail ingredient came as something of a surprise to the region’s producers. But just as surprising was the fact that the new drinks makers were turning not just to the sweet, fruity and light spirits of Calvados Pays D’Auge, but to aged and more expensive vintages, too.

“From Los Angeles to Tokyo, by way of London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore in particular, calvados has been at the forefront of trends in cocktail bars,” says Drouin.

“When the use of calvados in cocktail bars began we thought only the youngest versions, such as Sélection Blanche de Normandie would be used. Somewhat to our surprise, we discovered sumptuous cocktails made with our VSOP or even Hors d’Age (calvados aged over 15 years) in New York – in Alain Ducasse’s restaurants for example.”

The attention that calvados has had has not gone unnoticed by Normandy’s tourist authorities either. As with scotch whisky, the hunt for provenance and heritage and the convenience of the proximity of Normandy to the UK and countries across Europe mean that the spirit has started attracting its own tourist trade, too.

At Pont-l’Évêque you’ll find the Calvados Experience, ‘an immersive, multi-sensory journey’ into the story of calvados. If you’ve ever visited the Famous Grouse Experience in Scotland, you’ll have an idea of what to expect. You wander through several rooms while an audio-visual presentation tells you all about calvados. It’s a tad Disney, but it serves as a very impressive ambassador for a drinks style that is growing in popularity. The Calvados Experience shop also shows what a diverse and versatile spirit calvados is.

It is proof that the good will come out. Calvados is better than good. It’s a great, versatile and refreshing spirit. It goes well with food, it tastes good neat, and it can be the base for stylish and sophisticated cocktails.

While the debate rages as to whether sherry can really have a major comeback or is a hipster fad, or whether grape brandy such as cognac and armagnac will take the crown away from whisky, calvados is a simple stepping stone and an easy spirit to love.

Perhaps its time has come. Move over champagne makers, get in line cognac producers – your friends in the north want their time in the sun.