Drake’s One Dance has more than three billion downloads on Spotify, meaning the Canadian has rapped the word Hennessy about 20 billion times on the one platform. Pete Doherty, the former frontman of British indie band The Libertines, released a song called Calvados in spring this year, which at time of writing had 370,000 hits. This gulf in listens mirrors the global reach of cognac compared with the farmer-made apple brandy of Normandy.

Its volumes may not be huge, but as a category calvados is relatively stable. Following significant growth in 2022, data from the Interprofessional Association of Cider Appellations (IDAC) showed 2023 domestic sales down 1.95% and exports down 1.23%, while the split of domestic to export sales is essentially 50-50.

“While this slight decline can alert our distilleries, it should not overshadow some reasons for satisfaction,” says Jean-Luc Pignol, president of IDAC. “We have regained a collective dynamic, with volumes equivalent to those of 2019 and demand that remains steadfast in an economic environment that is nonetheless tense and uncertain. Let’s emphasise our commitment to ‘value’ by continuing our work in innovation and upgrading and significantly increasing our impact on the French and international markets.”

In 2019 Avallen calvados was launched by Stephanie Jordan and Tim Etherington-Judge and today it ranks in the top 10 bestselling brandies in the world’s best bars, according to Drinks International’s Brands Report.

“It’s true that calvados is becoming a hipster choice, and that’s usually the stepping stone between something going mainstream,” says Jordan. “But the obvious question would be how long is that transition? There are also several challenges the category needs to overcome before it can make that transition.

“There isn’t a calvados brand owned by one of the ‘big 10’ spirits companies. It would make a huge difference if a Pernod Ricard or Campari invested in calvados because their distribution network alone would grow the category’s awareness. A big spirits company would also be able to spend big on marketing initiatives to establish a mainstream calvados cocktail.”

The latter point made by Jordan is arguably the most significant. The Pisco Sour has carried the entire pisco category for decades, while cachaça would be a shadow of itself without the Caipirinha, so imagine the upscale of calvados if it garnered a globally recognised cocktail.

The Café Calva – adding a shot of calvados to coffee – is one of the category’s most traditional rituals and the IDAC has previously used it as a key marketing strategy.

Jordan adds: “I’ve spent time on tour with the organisation trying to promote the Café Calva but often it turned into more of a coffee tasting rather than focusing on calvados.

“We’re putting the majority of our energy into pushing the Appletini as our signature serve. But not just for us, I want all calvados brands to use it too so that we’re aligned. For me the Appletini makes so much sense. It puts calvados and apples in the focus and it’s not a complicated drink. I want to push it in a retro style with an apple fan garnish and, because it’s not overly strong, it fits with those looking to regulate their intake, but it’s sessionable too.”

Core cocktail

Originally the Appletini was a vodka-based drink which, according to Difford’s Guide, was invented in 1996 at Lola’s in West Hollywood as part of a marketing campaign with Ketel One. Essentially the recipe was vodka, sour apple liqueur, citrus and sugar, whereas the Avallen adaptation replaces vodka with calvados and the sour apple liqueur with apple juice.

Of the 80-or-so calvados distilleries across the three appellations (AOC Calvados, AOC Calvados Pays d’Auge and AOC Calvados Domfrontais) Maison Busnel is the market leader, producing and selling 22% of all calvados by volume. Dating back to 1820, Busnel is now owned by La Martiniquaise and global marketing manager Constance Descamps talks about its new approach.

“Calvados is being developed to be increasingly aromatic, fresh and smooth, making it suitable for aperitif drinking instead of [something like] whiskey. Calvados is increasingly being consumed in cocktails, but also as an accompaniment to meals,” says Descamps.

“For the Appletini, we will be developing a recipe based on a Pommeau de Normandie base. We haven’t yet developed a proprietary cocktail recipe using Busnel calvados but there are many other delicious recipes.”

The Appletini could well be the cocktail that takes calvados global, the Holy Grail, but other candidates have passed the category by in recent years. In 2019 a calvados cocktail called Apples won Cocktail of the Year at the Class Bar Awards. The drink was created by Chris Moore at London’s Coupette and simply consists of calvados and carbonated apple juice. The cocktail is now made in collaboration with Maison Sassy and served both on tap in the London bar and in RTD cans via The Whisky Exchange, but there’s a feeling of too little, too late. Five years ago Moore moved to New York and essentially left the drink behind.

“I think if you asked Chris he’d have been disappointed that no brand significantly invested in the drink,” says Jordan. “I can’t help but feel if it were in the gin or vodka category then major brands would’ve been throwing budget at it. It’s almost like he was too early for the calvados category.”

It’s true that Apples is now sold commercially, but it very much belongs to Coupette when it could’ve belonged to the whole calvados category.

With the Appletini now being promoted through brands, rather than one bar, it represents a second chance to develop a drink synonymous with calvados that attracts both bartenders and consumers.

Should brands form a collective approach, it could help push calvados from the national acclaim of Doherty to the global icon status of Drake.