We all know what happened at this beach on June 6th, 1944.
And it’s exactly those events that my good friend Charles Neal turned to several decades ago when, as a last resort, he put a guilt trip on Mr. Camut (who wasn’t interested in selling) in what represented a Hail Mary attempt to purchase some of this incredible Calvados for export. It wasn’t one of Charles’ proudest moments as an importer, but it was effective. The Americans had stormed the beach in Normandy, eventually overthrowing the Nazi regime, and liberating France in the process. Shouldn’t that be reason for us to keep the good relations going? Shouldn’t our mutual history warrant at least a few cases of Calvados?
The rest is history. Charles became the American importer for Camut and he’s been generous enough to let me come along for the ride on many occasions. I’ve written so many times about my visits to Camut at this point that I’m running out of superlatives. I took this photo as part of a television show that I was filming in 2015. You can see the giant foudres on the left, the ancient casks that hold Calvados as old as a century, dating back multiple generations.
But there’s no point in reinventing the wheel here.
If you want to glean the excitement of my first trip, here’s that post from my old blog.
For a more editorial overview, here’s a post from the second blog I started back in the day.
I’m writing about Camut again today because I’m about to open up an entirely new customer base to what I think is, unequivocally, the best spirit in the world. As a result of dedicated spirits aficionados across the country who have venerated these brandies much like I have, the Camut Calvados expressions have become something of a rarity. Not that they were ever widely available, it’s just there is even less to go around these days. But when you write articles telling people that you’ve just tasted the best spirit of your life, it tends to generate interest. Which means fewer bottles each time someone else decides they want to join the party.
If you want to talk about loyalty, tradition, friendship, and karma; then let’s talk about the Camuts. Having worked with Jean-Gabriel and Emmanuel for over a decade now, I consider them the giant, six-foot-five, Nordic brothers I never had. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them, and they apparently feel the same way because a giant allocation of their Calvados just came to me at Mission, despite the fact that I’ve yet to establish my new company as a customer. But that’s not surprising if you know the Camuts. Part of what makes Camut Calvados the best spirit in the world for me is the fact that the people making it are some of the best people in the world.
There are indeed specific technical reasons as to why the Camut Calvados is so good. To start, the apple trees are all farmed haut-tige, meaning they’re older and taller so that livestock can live side-by-side without worrying about the cows eating all the apples. The healthy communion of natural fertilizer and a living, breathing weed killer (eater) makes for better fruit. It takes longer to raise an orchard this way, but the benefit of doing so is palpable in every sip.
The still at Camut was built by their grandfather in 1950 and it’s the same copper pot apparatus the brothers use today. Very little changes at Camut. The idea of increasing production to supply a greater demand has never been broached. This isn’t a year-round operation. The brothers make what they make, and that’s it. To me, there is no single malt whisky, Bourbon, Cognac, Tequila or rum as good as the Camut Calvados. For my money, there’s nothing this good in any category of spirit, hands down. The is the mountaintop for micro-distillation. If you’re looking for the holy grail of boutique, farm-to-glass production, it may never get as good as this.
I’ve put my personal bottles aside, and now I’m ready to offer some of these beauties to all of you. That being said, I’m not going to put these live on the site for now as I want to make sure I allocate these babies properly. So…..if you’re interested in getting a bottle for yourself, send me an email at davidd@missionliquor.com and I’ll give you the full rundown on pricing, details, tasting notes, and availability.
-David Driscoll