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Master of Malt Whisky Blog

Tag: Calvados

Calvados is a popular French apple brandy made in the namesake region of Calvados. For more information on Calvados, read these blog posts.

Fantastic French Brandies

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Fantastic French Brandies

Indulge yourselves in the final days of autumn in style with this fantastic selection of French brandies…

Autumn means the days are shorter, colder and darker. But this is nothing to fear or loathe because it’s the perfect setting to enjoy everything the wonderful world of French brandy has to offer!

And why not? French brandy is no longer a forgotten favourite. It’s ditched the stuffy old-man’s image. The three French ‘Appellation Contrôlée’* brandies, Armagnac, Calvados (the Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams to Cognac’s Beyonce Knowles) and Cognac, are all now welcome guests at cocktail parties and bartenders have embraced the bold, complex spirits with a wide range of styles and character.

So, join us, both seasoned experts and intrepid newcomers alike, as we run through some of the most flavoursome and fantastic French brandy around. À votre santé!

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Categories : We're drinking...
Tags : Armagnac, Brandy, Calvados, cocktails, Cognac
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Warming tipples for autumn evenings!

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Warming tipples for autumn eves

Join us as well celebrate all things autumn with a round-up of sensational seasonal spirits!

Autumn is a season loved by many. It’s all about comfort food and drink. It’s a chance to make the most of the produce from the seasonal harvest. It’s the time to attend bonfire nights and Halloween parties. It’s the season when we welcome the darkening nights and browning leaves with a hearty tipple and, let’s face it, heaps of bloody pumpkin spice.

But what makes the perfect autumn drink? Summer refreshers and cocktails are now out of the question. But winter warmers aren’t the required tonic just yet. In autumn, or ‘fall’, for our exceptionally literal friends in the United States, it only seems right to celebrate brown spirits: whisky, Armagnac, Cognac, Calvados and darker or spiced rums, as well as liqueurs and cocktails packed with seasonal fruits and colours.

In this spirit, we’ve produced a list of appropriately autumnal boozes. Each comes with a seasonal serve if you want to get creative. These ought to keep you going until the snow starts to fall.

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Categories : We're drinking...
Tags : British gin, Calvados, Glenrothes, Ledaig, liqueurs, Mezcal, rum, Rye Whiskey, scotch whisky, That Boutique-y Whisky Company
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Around The World In 80 Drams – Week 8 – Janneau

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Janneau

It’s week 8 in our Around The World In 80 Drams tour – we’re one tenth of the way through! We’re making our third and final stop in France this week, sampling yet another distinctly French spirit. As I mentioned last week, we were heading to a commune which my class in school couldn’t help but giggle at the name of when we were learning French geography. Yes, we’re heading to Condom to taste some Armagnac! But from which distillery? One that would take me over four hours to travel to from Courvoisier – it’s Janneau, of course!

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Categories : Armagnac, Cognac, Tasting Notes
Tags : around the world in 80 drams, Calvados, Janneau
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Around The World In 80 Drams – Week 6 – Domaine Dupont

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Domaine Dupont

Hello and welcome to the 6th stop on my Around the World in 80 Drams expedition! Last week we were in Belgium with the Filliers fellas, and this week we’re heading south to France! I mentioned that you should prepare for apples before reading this instalment, so of course that means Calvados is on the cards! We’re heading to one of the most well-known Calvados producers – Domaine Dupont!

I also mentioned that it would take me about 20 hours to travel between Filliers and Domaine Dupont via American crocodile, which I admit wasn’t much of a hint. I think I was just a bit more concerned about locating said American crocodile in Belgium at the time, both because it would be difficult and also because if I did find one it would be absolutely bloody terrified.

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Categories : Tasting Notes
Tags : around the world in 80 drams, Calvados
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The Eccentric History of Berry Brothers and Rudd — Part II

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Berry Brothers and Rudd

The first George Berry was born in 1787 and, at the impressionable age of 16, made the two-day journey from Exeter to London, in which city he remained. He would become an extremely successful merchant, maintaining a clear focus on wine and spirits – a tradition continued by his sons George Jr. and Henry – the original “Berry Brothers” who took the helm in 1845.

Berry’s young life was not without event. In 1838, he signed up as a special constable during the Chartist riots, alongside his friend, the future Napoleon III. Years later, whilst in exile in London, Napoleon used the very cellars at No. 3 to hold secret meetings. Two storeys below terra, the marvellous stone-walled chamber bears his name, and is home to a collection of ancient bottles from centuries ago, back when a member of the gentry would have his own glass bottle stamped with his seal. The sealed bottles would be taken to No.3 to be filled with wine or spirit, and returned when they were empty. Napoleon’s own bottle still stands in one corner.

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Categories : Cognac, Tasting Notes
Tags : Berry Brothers and Rudd, Calvados, Glenrothes, Independent Bottler
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New Product entitled… erm… “Brown Drink”

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browndrinkthumb

So – we’ve been doing our Drinks by the Dram whisky sample service for almost a year now, and in that time have decanted ‘loads’ of 700ml bottles into 30ml samples.
 
700 divided by 30 is 690, so even if one is slightly generous with the 30ml measure, there’s still going to be a little drop or two left over.
 
My original plan (and I thought it was a darned good one) was to save all of this up, and make some awesome cocktails at the staff Christmas party, or maybe do something at the directors’ joint birthday party, but it turns out that “a little drop or two” multiplied by “loads” is about 37 full-sized bottles-worth.
 
Even we aren’t that thirsty. More…
Categories : Armagnac, Cocktails, Cognac, Gin, Liqueurs, News, Rum, Whisky
Tags : Blended Whisky, Bourbon, Calvados, Dark Rum, Drinks by the Dram, Grain Whisky, Jenever, moonshine, New Make, Rye Whiskey, Single Malt Whisky, Sotol, Spiced Rum, White Rum
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Alchemist Whisky

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Signatory Whisky

Alchemy is one of Science’s earliest precursors; it is the tool the ancients used in the search of the three most desirable treasures known to mankind: gold, eternal life, and infinite knowledge.

 

The early Arab chemists – more conjurers and cooks than scientists – were obsessed with Alchemy’s elusive rewards, but they remained unattainable. They did, however, make one great discovery: alcohol – without which there’d be no whisky! More…

Categories : Tasting Notes, Whisky
Tags : Calvados, Highland Park, Macallan, New Release, Single Malt Whisky
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