The Most Special of the Special
Guess what just landed in our warehouse? Twenty-five cases of the most amazing bottle we've ever acquired for K&L. There's really no way that I can truly convey how special this bottle is. What if I said that Camut has never bottled a 15 year old Calvados expression before? What if I told you that Camut has never before bottled a special cuvee for a retailer, let alone an American one? What if I told you that this was the best Calvados in the world? Would that be enough to get you excited? I'm so pumped up about this bottle I can hardly contain myself. Here are a few reasons why:
- Camut makes the best Calvados - bar none. There's no other spirit in the world where I can easily pick out one producer as being the very best. That's how good Camut is. They leave every other apple brandy producer in the dust.
- The Camut brothers do not need the money they make from Calvados - they are farmers and land owners. Therefore, they don't profit off of cider primarily and then distill what's left over. All of their cider is for making Calvados and they do everything the hard way. When you see how much time it takes them to grow the apples the right way and the dedication they put into it, you can't help but respect the hell out of these guys.
- Camut allows Charles Neal, their importer and our friend, only a tiny allotment for the entire U.S. Our 300 bottle batch is more than Charles gets of all the other expressions combined. This is very limited and very special, not to mention entirely collectable.
- The Camut brothers are so geeky about their craft it's insane. We lost Emmanual for over an hour before we realized he was across the street lurking in a barn full of his new obsession - barrel-aged vinegar. There were over 200 barriques full of vinegar in this building that had been aging for years. "Who are you selling these to?" I asked curiously. "Sell?" he replied.
- Read our blog post from January if you want to see some pictures are learn some more about their operation.
And that's that. If you're not excited about this Calvados now then you either don't like Calvados or you're a robot. If it's the latter, then you shouldn't be reading this blog anyway because robots can't drink alcohol. If you don't like Calvados, then that's just too bad because this bottle just arrived:
Adrien Camut 15 Year Old K&L Exclusive Pays d'Auge Calvados $115.99 - The Camut brothers have fully dedicated their lives to making Calvados just as their grandfather did - they believe in their craft and they get a sense of pride from doing it. In sports, there are athletes with raw natural ability and others who succeed through sheer hard work and determination. When you combine both of those elements you get Michael Jordan, or, in the world of fine spirits, you get Camut Calvados. There is no doubt that Camut is the DRC or Chateau Lafite of the Calvados world - they are the very best, hands down. Getting them to make us a special 15 year old Calvados, an aged expression they have never bottled before, was not something that came from discussions of money or sales margins. Our exclusive K&L bottling came after a long night of food, drink, and brotherhood at their country farm - talk of the Americans storming the beach at Normandy and the special bond between our two countries ever since. This 15 year is the perfect Calvados and showcases exactly what defines greatness in distillation - the elegant essence of apple on the nose, subtle vanilla and wood on the palate, and warm cider on the finish. It's impeccable and perfect in every way, quite possibly the best spirit we've ever acquired for K&L. It's a very big deal for our store and those who love Calvados will understand how special this is. The Camuts do not make special blends for people, but they have done so for us. Only 300 bottles available.
-David Driscoll