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July 21, 2011
Calvados and Memory
One of the things I really dislike about the South's long, hot and hazy summers (this week is, so far, conforming to the template) is that Calvados seems so out of place in the midst of it. Calvados is an apple-based brandy from Normandy (the best of it still comes from there) that on the nose and palate delivers complex layers of apple (unsurprisingly, and ranging-even in the same bottle-from fresh Granny Smith to apple pie to something more cidery), accompanied by, variously, vanilla, almond, cinnamon, butter, caramel, etc., often with underlying smoke or spiciness. It should be self-evident why anyone would love it for slow sippin' on the back porch, especially in the fall.
It also has the power to transport. When I drink it I get the most powerful memories of visiting Indian Ladder Farms (the landscape of which is pictured), a really magical place near Albany that was a favorite fall haunt as a child. We would visit several times every fall for fresh-pressed cider (they have an honest to goodness, and operational, old-fashioned cider press), fresh sugar donuts (among connoisseurs it is well known that Indian Ladder Farms makes the single best donut on Earth), pick your own apples, pumpkins, etc. etc. We would also simply wander around the farm and stare up at the turning leaves along the Indian Ladder cliffs, through which Mohawk Iroquois trade routes had operated since the Dream Time of upstate New York. The air was crisp; the world was at once very new and ancient. It felt perfectly autumnal.
On days like this I really miss Indian Ladder Farms in the fall.
On days like this I really miss upstate New York.
Posted by dag at July 21, 2011 8:04 PM