Calvados 1 Foedre

Calvados is a distilled apple brandy similar to what in the US is referred to as applejack. The term Calvados is controlled by three increasingly restrictive appellation contrôlée. The most basic, AOC Calvados includes production location specification including the administrative départements of Calvados, Manche, and Orne as well as a few additionally allowed areas. 70% of the finished product must be AOC calvados produced with defined cider apple (or pear) varietals. A single column distillation is typical, however not required tho there are other production procedural requirements in pressing, fermentation, and distillation. Calvados must be aged a minimum of 2 years in oak. The more restrictive appellations are for Pays d'Auge and Domfrontais. AOC calvados Pays d”Auge includes additional regional and production requirements and AOC clavados Domfrontais is designed for pear based Calvados. Applejack here in the US has none of these requirements and is often produced with non-cider specific apples sometimes blended with neutral grain spirits.

The flavor of Calvados is of course highly dependent on the base varietals of apples and or pears used and often changes year over year. Often multiple years batches are blended to achieve greater consistency though a particularly good year's calvados may be released as is. Regardless, highly intense, concentrated fruit aroma and flavors are coupled with warm baking spice and deep caramel from the oak aging with a warming, alcoholic finish.

Reine des Renard Framboise [2023]

Flemish wild ale aged in our French Calvados foedre with raw apple cider for 12 months then refermented on an ample bed of Michigan raspberries which lend a Hyacinth hue reminiscent of the blush of Reinette apple skins and the fine, auburn coats of majestic forest foxes. The aroma is a crocheted burst of vibrant, almost candy-like raspberry intertwined with deeper notes of baking spice and apple strudel. A quick dash of tartness is followed immediately by a rumbling baritone chord of stewed raspberry jam and baked apples leaving one with a sense of wanderlust and excitement for what spring will brings us

PEAR Reine des Renard [2020]

Flemish Blonde ale fermented in our 14 year old French Calvados foedre with native, wild yeasts for ten months then re-fermented with pressed pear cider and aged for an additional year. One third of the beer was then racked on top of 250lbs of Bartlett pears from Seedling Farms to extract the natural tannins from the pear skins for three months before being back blended with the remaining beer from the foedre and subsequently bottle conditioned an additional two months. All in, a rather complicated, two year labor of mostly love we are very pleased to finally release.

The initial, pastoral aromas are of hay, pear skins, and English toffee with the warming tingle of spiced Calvados akin to a welcome glass of hot cider after a crisp, fall afternoon spent in the woods. Robust acidity and barnyard funk lead to a sparkling body with rounding tannins, a flourish of baking apples, and pear tartlets. The finish is a long, elegant affair of mulling spices, malic vin mousseux, and a whift of the memory of pear like the flash of a tail of a fleeing red fox.

Reine des Renard [2018]

From the ugly duckling of our foedre farm, a 34 hL cask that came from Normandy where it held Calvados for 14 years, this Flemish blonde fermented in foedre for 5 months with wild yeasts then refermented for 6 more months with 900 liters of raw apple cider. The cider was unpasteurized to preserve the native flora of the apples selected and pressed by our friend, Ryan Burk, who you’ll recognize as that devastatingly handsome lumberjack hipster from those Angry Orchard commercials. Thankfully this unpasteurized cider didn't start spontaneously fermenting, exploding on a truck after the shipping company “lost” it for a few days as it came from the fancy cidery in Upstate NY. We've subsequently made a second version using pears instead of apples. Both have similarly intense fruit and unabashedly classic horse blanket funk coupled with warm winter spicing and baked fruit pie aromas.