Nose: Baked apples, or perhaps more completely, Peter’s apple crumble (brown sugar, butter and whole oats), with sliced apples and sultana raisins, cinnamon and cloves and a dash of lemon. Julie, my toughest critic, says it smells like fall. And she is right. There are also hints of pipe tobacco in the empty glass. For me, the nose is why I bought this and keep coming back to it.

Palate: I taste the oak first. A drying sensation, with root beer barrel like notes, the bite of tannins and a strong dose of cloves. Then the touch of apple sweetness and cassis tartness coats the palate. This is actually better on a larger pull, as on small sips the oak overwhelms but with more spirit the fruit strikes back.

Rating: 6 / 10 – I come back to this bottle somewhat regularly and was surprised I’d never jotted anything. It has everything I want on the nose. It was one of the first milisimes calvados I ever bought and opened my eyes to the quality that lay in the region. The palate is both wonderful and can be a bit too much oak depending on my mood. This is my second bottle of this specific millesime and I loved it deeply. Which might make you ask why it’s a 6 and not a 7 or 8 given my scale? Truth is, I have since then collected an embarrassment of riches and have other Drouin releases I find better balanced and go to more often. So a 6 today, but perhaps higher when the mood strikes.