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C. Drouin From Normandy (Pays d'Auge), France
Extensive Vintage Stocks Are The Backbone of This Classic Pays d'Auge Calvados
Extensive Vintage Stocks Are The Backbone of This Classic Pays d'Auge Calvados
A Country House in Normandy
Calvados has been in production for more than 400 years, but C. Drouin Calvados began rather unintentionally around 1960. Christian Drouin Sr., grandfather to the current head of the company Guillaume Drouin, purchased a country house in the Pays d’Auge area of Normandy in 1960. The house sat on a farm with an apple orchard, and Drouin Sr. harvested the apples on his estate in hopes of seeing a return. He was disappointed to find that the price for apples was so low that he wouldn’t even recoup his harvesting expenses, so he held onto his fruit and sought an alternative solution.
Drouin Sr.’s friend, Pierre Pivet, had a mobile still and would travel to various farms to distill cider into calvados. This friend agreed to advise Drouin Sr. on pressing his apples into cider and distilling the cider into calvados, teaching him the art of making calvados from start to finish. Thanks to Pivet, even the earliest vintages of calvados produced were of a consistent and high quality.
The Next Generation Takes Drouin Calvados to Market
Drouin Sr. made calvados year after year, but was too busy to establish the sales and distribution network to get it out into the market, so his stocks continued to mature in the cellars. After twenty years of this, his son, Christian Drouin, set out to bring the company to life with sales and distribution. The calvados stocks in the cellars had never been blended together, so individual vintages remained in separate casks and were available to use for blending and single vintage bottling. At the time, calvados was not viewed as a high-end spirit on par with cognac, and it was largely consumed in France and neighboring countries. Drouin wanted to change that, and worked to get his calvados into Michelin-starred restaurants and the best bars to help elevate the category.
The C. Drouin Estates
The original farm was used exclusively for production until 1990, when a second estate was purchased nearby. Today, about half the apples used for C. Drouin calvados come from the 20 hectare orchard at the original farm, and the other half are sourced from five nearby growers that have a long relationship with Drouin family. Thirty different varieties of apples are used, falling into four categories: sweet, bittersweet, bitter and acidic. Different varieties ripen at different times between late summer and early winter, so apples are stored until the proper mix has been achieved. Then the various varieties from each of the categories are blended together and pressed into cider simultaneously. The cider is all pressed at the original farm, with wild yeast fermentation taking place at both properties in a combination of 100+ year-old wooden vats, stainless steel tanks and concrete tanks. All distillation takes place at the new estate. There is a total of three stills. The original mobile pot still from 1946, which was designed and operated by Pierre Pivet, continues to be used. There are two stills on the mobile platform, heated by direct fire, and a third, charentes-style still has also added to expand production. Maturation in a diverse range of previously used barrels takes place on both properties, though reconditioned ex-Bordeaux barrels from top chateaux are used the most.
C. Drouin
Tradition and Taste

Hotaling & Co. stands for status, not status quo. Together on one shelf, we unite liqueurs that are anything but ordinary, curating a selection of spirits that speak to artisanal excellence.

C. Drouin Products
Calvados
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C. Drouin Sélection Calvados
Unlike the rest of the C. Drouin Calvados, which are Calvados Pays d'Auge AOC, Sélection is bottled under Calvados AOC and uses both apples and pears from the Domfront region. It is distilled using a column still and emphasizes fresh fruit notes and a lighter style that is exceptional for use in cocktails. 40% ABV
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C. Drouin XO Pays d'Auge Calvados
Aging is similar to the VSOP, though maturation includes former cognac casks, bringing more spice and complexity with notes of almond and flowers. 40% ABV
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C. Drouin Hors d'Age Pays d'Auge Calvados
Aged 15+ years and one of the signatures of C. Drouin. Significant usage of ex-cognac casks emphasizes deep, rich notes of orange peel, baking spices and apple pie. 42% ABV
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C. Drouin 'Pomme Prisonnière' Pays d'Auge Calvados
C. Drouin has given a traditional favorite new life by substituting a boskoop apple instead of a pear inside the bottle with Pays d'Auge Calvados. Boskoops preserve better in calvados than any other type. It is harder to grow an apple in a bottle than it is a pear, because apple trees drop much of their crop as the fruit develops. Less than half of the bottles end up with an apple inside, thus making Pomme Prisonnière extremely limited. 40% ABV
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C. Drouin Blanche de Normandie
With a nod to the traditions of Normandy, this apple brandy is double distilled and allowed to rest in stainless steel tanks for 18 months. Water is gradually added to bring down to proof and to gently aerate, helping the spirit become rounder and smoother. Blanche de Normandie harnesses a lively fresh apple fragrance and is well-suited for use in cocktails. 40% ABV
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C. Drouin Pommeau de Normandie
Pommeau de Normandie is the harmonious combination of apple juice and calvados, in which the apple juice is mixed before fermentation with calvados in the proportion of ¾ juice to ¼ calvados. C. Drouin uses primarily bitter apples to make Pommeau de Normandie. The mellowness of C. Drouin pommeau is the result of aging in oak casks for three to four years, with blends typically ranging from three to 10 years. 17% ABV
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C. Drouin VSOP Pays D'Auge
Aged 5 to 12 years. Ninety percent of maturation takes place in ex-Bordeaux, and the remaining 10% happens in ex-port, ex-sherry and ex-banyuls casks. This expression starts moving away from the fresher fruit flavors towards baked apple and spices. 40% ABV