Michel Huard-Guillouet Private Barrel Selection '#110' Calvados, 2013

This private barrel selection from Michel Huard-Guillouet feels like a quiet expression of the orchard: earthy, sun-ripened, and deep. This is farmer liquor. Distilled from organically grown mature old-fruit trees: orchard fruit, cider, baked apple skin, and a gentle sweetness that feels natural and textural. I am savoring a lovely rusticity with hints of wood, spice, and autumn leaves grounding the fruit. More than anything, this deeply personal single cask launches my Season. Tonight, glass-in-hand find me by the fire, inside or out by the firepit, unpretentious and charmingly apple-y, this is the kind of Calvados that makes you think about heirloom trees, the soil, and the people tending them year after year.