Calvados is apple brandy from the Calvados region in Normandy, double-distilled in alembic pot stills. It hasn't gotten a whole lot of traction in the United States, so the selection that one sees in liquor stores is rarely more than a couple of different brands. Lecompte is apparently one of the better-reputed producers, and I was lucky enough to find a bottle of their 12-year old version a couple of years ago, and I have been drinking it very slowly because there's little hope that I will be able to replace it once it's gone.Calvados (at least good Calvados) smells strongly of apples (shocking, huh?). This Lecompte is good Calvados, so once the alcohol blows off a bit, one gets a big whiff of apple. But it's a bit more complex than that. The 12 years in barrel has given this brandy a deep amber color that's a little bit surprising. The barrel time has also given the spirit a good dose of cinnamon and vanilla. This isn't alcoholic apple juice: it's apple pie in a glass. The only negative thing that I can say about it is that it has that metallic twang that is typical of Cognac and that I associate with copper pot stills. I'd rather that it not be there, but it's not terribly distracting. Drinking this makes me want to go out and buy all the Calvados I can find. Unfortunately, that would only be about three different bottlings.
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This month's Vogue (borrow it from Mamacita) has an article about apple brandy. It's not as good as what the Vogue food writer usually does, but it does have some nice history/background before he starts skirting around the "is distilling illegal, how can I get around the law, and did I actually distill any or not" parts of the article.
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