Calvados, applejack and apple brandy: the apple spirits compared

Category 10 of the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, Annex II covers cider spirit, perry spirit and cider and perry spirit. The spirit is made only by distilling cider or perry at less than 86% ABV, so the distillate keeps the aroma and taste of the fruit. The minimum strength is 37.5%, nothing may be flavoured, and added caramel may adjust colour only.

Spirit made by fermenting and distilling the fruit itself, rather than cider, falls under category 9, fruit spirit. Brandy has its own entry in the same Annex, built on wine spirit, so apple spirit is brandy in speech and not in the register. What is brandy sets out the whole family, and the apple brandy page covers this branch.

INAO’s Calvados page names cider apples and perry pears as the raw material. The spirit spends at least two years in oak casks after distillation, which is either a double run or a single pass through a column still. The production area takes in about 1,600 communes in Normandy and neighbouring departments. GOV.UK registers Calvados in category 10, first on the EU register on 12 June 1989 and on the UK scheme from 31 December 2020.

Calvados Pays d’Auge takes at least 70% apples and must be distilled in pot stills by double distillation, then aged in oak for two years or more. Calvados Domfrontais takes at least 30% perry pears, is distilled only in column stills and spends three years or more in oak. GOV.UK lists Pays d’Auge and Domfrontais as separate names, both in category 10. The calvados page covers the spirit and its cocktails.

Difford’s Guide prints the age terms a calvados label may use. Fine, Trois étoiles and Trois pommes mean at least two years. Vieux and Réserve mean three, VSOP, VO and Vieille Réserve four, and XO, Extra, Napoléon, Hors d’Age and Age Inconnu six. The age stated is that of the youngest spirit in the blend, so older spirit can sit behind any grade.

Domfrontais starts at three years in oak under INAO’s description, so a Domfrontais cannot carry the two-year grade. Difford’s adds that calvados stops ageing once bottled, and that a young bottle works in a cocktail as a base or as a modifier.

27 CFR 5.145 sets the American brandy class: spirit from fermented fruit juice, mash or wine, distilled below 95% ABV and bottled at 40% ABV or more. The word brandy alone is reserved for grape brandy, so apple brandy carries the fruit’s name, and the same section lets apple brandy be sold as applejack.

Blended applejack is a different product. It holds at least 20% apple brandy, on a proof gallon basis, kept in oak for at least two years, with up to 80% neutral spirits, at 40% ABV or more. The neutral spirit is why a blend tastes lighter than the straight spirit. The applejack page covers both bottles.

GOV.UK lists Somerset Cider Brandy as a geographical indication in category 10, with an original EU registration of 25 February 2012 and a UK scheme date of 31 December 2020. The technical file sets the area as the county of Somerset. The cider comes from fresh juice pressed from traditional apples, among them Kingston Black, Dabinett and Yarlington Mill. The spirit is distilled twice and aged in oak barrels of up to 700 litres, for at least three years, at 40% ABV or more, with no colouring.

Under Annex II the English spirit and Calvados are the same kind of drink, cider spirit. The technical file sets Somerset’s minimum at three years in oak, against two for plain Calvados.

Each age is a minimum. The strength floors below are those in the cited texts, and Difford’s Guide reports calvados bottled between 40% and 50% ABV.

Straight apple brandy and calvados lead stirred and shaken drinks. Our Jack Rose shakes 60 ml of applejack with lemon juice and grenadine, and the Widow’s Kiss stirs 45 ml of calvados with equal parts yellow Chartreuse and Bénédictine. The Corpse Reviver No. 1 pours calvados beside cognac and sweet vermouth, and the Diamondback puts 22.5 ml of calvados under rye.

Smaller measures sit under other spirits. The Pink Lady takes 15 ml of apple brandy beside gin, the Autumn Gold 20 ml beside bourbon, and the American Trilogy 30 ml of applejack beside rye. The Angel Face gives calvados a third of the glass with gin and apricot brandy.

Where the apple is cider or juice, no apple spirit is involved. The Stone Fence tops bourbon with dry cider, while the Harvest Mule, the Hot Toffee Apple and the Toffee Apple Sour use cloudy apple juice or a syrup made from it. Autumn cocktails and Bonfire Night drinks gather them for the season.

Difford’s Guide describes calvados as traditionally served after a meal with a dessert such as tarte tatin, and advises a tulip or small wine glass rather than a snifter, whose shape it says accentuates harsh aromas. It also suggests a young bottle, Domfrontais in particular, over ice or with soda or tonic water as an aperitif.