This episode covers France’s traditional apple brandy, Calvados. It’s a tasty spirit with a long history and Alex Mermillod from the distillery Christian Drouin joins us to provide a primer on the product: how and where it’s made and drank and even how they get those apples inside the bottles!
Alex Mermillod has a true passion for high-quality spirits. This interest started in his youth thanks to the eau-de-vie being produced with fruit from his family orchard and was fostered through travel. In addition to his home country, France, he has lived in both Scotland and Mexico in his pursuit of education and experience with whisky, rum, eaus-de-vis, and agave spirits. He now travels globally to share his extensive knowledge of Calvados.
He joined the Calvados Christian Drouin company as export manager – brand developer in May of 2018 and has been involved ever since in the revival of Calvados, educating consumers about one of the most complex spirits with passion and enthusiasm.
Products, places and people mentioned in the episode
Alex Mermillod Instagram / Facebook
Christian Drouin Facebook
Christian Drouin distillery website / Instagram / Facebook
Christian Drouin online shop
Experimental Cocktail Club
Livre de Calvados by Christian Drouin
Look for Drouin Hashtags on social media to find more: #inapplewetrust #appleaddict #calvadoschristiandrouin
Cocktail of the Month: A.O.C.
by Nicolas Cruz Mermy and Cedric Moreau
30ml Blanche de Christian Drouin (unaged calvados)
20ml Amontillado sherry
50ml Bénédictine
10ml Yellow Chartreuse
Stir and strain into a chilled Nick and Nora glass and garnish with a lemon coin (small disc of lemon zest)
Big thanks to…
Alex Mermillod
World Radio Paris for editing and production
Son Little for the music we use
and YOU for tuning in, downloading and listening!
You can also find more of the best Paris cocktail talk at:
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As usual, we remind you to drink responsibly.
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