National Calvados Week 2015
Try your five a day the Normandy way, with crisp, complex and classic Calvados this season. The Père Magloire National Calvados Week, is from Sunday 18th October 2015 until the Saturday 24th October, taking place bars across the UK in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Liverpool. For some, Normandy’s lush green pastures reach their ultimate expression in the region’s famed cheeses and rich dairy butter. We all know that it’s always been about the Calvados. The magical alchemy that transforms green apples into golden nectar, it produces apple brandy as soft, fresh and pure as the beguiling French countryside from which it’s born. The week long celebration marks the harvesting of the delicious apples for the production of Calvados. During National Calvados Week over 100 bars, shops, supermarkets and independent off licenses including 155 Bar & Kitchen, The Hawksmoor, Waitrose and Gerry’s of Soho, will have, special cocktails menus, Père Magloire Calvados range tasting, food pairing, and cooking with Calvados in their most succulent dishes.
Top London restaurant 155 Bar & Kitchen – The Vinyl Lounge, Clerkenwell, have created a mouth-watering tasting menu that sees the delicious Père Magloire range paired with chef Tom Luck’s delectable dishes for a whole week. Guests can enjoy a Pere Magloire VSOP Calvados paired with baked fresh oysters, Calvados Pere Magloire VSOP & cream reduction, brioche to start. Utilising the rich golden flavours of the Calvados, immersed in Chef Luck’s Glazed Pork Belly, Baked Apple Purée, Celeriac, Heritage Carrots, Crackling, Jus paired with a Calvados Pere Magloire 12 Year Old. No meal is complete without the sweet taste of a terrine with Pressed Apples, Puff Pastry, Caramel, Vanilla Ice Cream paired with Calvados Pere Magloire XO. As the perfect Digestif, it is the perfect refreshing kick-starter into the evening.
Père Magloire Calvados Delicious Sour will be available throughout various bars in the North West
Ingredients
- 20ml Calvados Père Magloire VSOP
- 20ml peach wine,
- 20ml lemon juice
- 1 egg white shaken
Method: Shake all the ingredients and pour over ice, garnish with a dried apple.
Calvados can be at enjoyed simply at home with a simple serve that is as refreshing as a Calvados and Tonic or Applejack – Père Magloire Calvados with cloudy apple juice for late summer drinks in the garden. Why not try pairing Calvados with cheese at home, white-rinded cheeses such as Camembert and Brie. Milder versions work particularly well with Calvados, as is the case with slightly riper cheeses.
The leading Calvados brand worldwide is Calvados Père Magloire with the Père Magloire VSOP, XO and 12 year old seen as the finest Calvados liquid available. The drink takes its name from the Latin mapmaker’s description for the dramatic Norman coastline – “Calva-Dorsa†indicating two mighty cliff buttresses stretching between Arromanches and Anneles. In the early 19th century Gervais Magloire became an innkeeper in Cagny, a village located on the main road between Paris and Normandy. Besides the excellent food and the comfort of the inn, he also aged his own Calvados. The high quality of his “eau-de-vie†became famous and soon became known as “le Calvados du Père Magloireâ€. During the 50 years he operated the inn, the reputation and renown of Calvados Père Magloire grew beyond the borders of Normandy and spread all over France.
Père Magloire use both methods of distillation to create a distinctive range of styles, both aoc Calvados and the more specific aoc Calvados pays d’Auge. Softer single distillation preserves the essence of apple flavours and aromas, giving to Calvados the intense and strong taste of its origin. Double distillation of ciders, on the other hand, leads to the selection of the lightest aromatic esters, and produces spirits with floral notes and delicate aromas. The process involves the apples being crushed and pressed out to form the must. The fermentation is entirely natural too, taking six to eight weeks, at the end of which the cider is at 5 to 6% Alc./Vol. After the distillation, the young alcohol is matured and aged in oak barrels, selected by Père Magloire’s Cellar Master – the oak trees source only from one French forest, Fôret de Tronçais.
So why not try something new and different this October in a restaurant, in a bar at home share with friends. Then you can genuinely ask: How do you like them apples?