20 best Calvados cocktails

Calvados is a wonderfully flavoursome base spirit in cocktail recipes, particularly with young calvados that retain the fresh, crisp notes of apple with less tannic oak influence.

So flavoursome is calvados that it is often combined with other base spirits (e.g. gin in an Angel Face) but it is also delicious in a simple Calvados & Tonic. For the selection of calvados-based cocktails below, I've favoured exclusively calvados-based cocktails where the character of the apple brandy shines through.

Accoutrement
With: Calvados, Strega, crément créole, lemon juice and creole-style bitters.
We say: Originally garnished with a cherry but deserved more of an accoutrement.

Apple Blossom Cocktail
With: Calvados, rosso vermouth and orange bitters.
We say: Concentrated lightly herbal apple with subtle zesty citrus. Quick to make and stupidly simple yet delicious.

Apple Brandy Sour
With: Calvados, lemon juice, sugar syrup, aromatic bitters and egg white.
We say: Sour by name – balanced sweet and sour apple by nature.

Apple Cart
With: Calvados, triple sec, lemon juice and apple schnapps.
We say: When a Sidecar is made with calvados, it becomes an Apple Cart.

Apple Jack Rabbit
With: Calvados, orange juice, lemon juice and maple syrup.
We say: Apple, orange and tart lemon enriched with maple syrup.

Fall From The Tree
With: Calvados, apple juice, lemon juice, cinnamon syrup and aromatic bitters.
We say: An autumnal apple and delicately cinnamon-spiced sour.

Feather Duster Crusta
With: Calvados, maraschino liqueur, grapefruit juice, passion fruit syrup, grenadine syrup and creole-style bitters.
We say: To quote the late, great Gregor de Gruyther, "quite a light Crusta", hence the name.

Forbidden Fruit
With: Calvados, gin, orange curaçao, ross vermouth, lemon juice, sugar syrup, aromatic bitters, and creole bitters.
We say: Despite the name don't expect a sweet fruity cocktail....

Harvest Cocktail
With: Calvados, vermouth amaro and aromatic bitters.
We say: A great after-dinner sipper.

Honeymoon
With: Calvados, Bénédictine, triple sec, lemon juice and egg white.
We say: A 1930s classic from the Brown Derby bar in Manhattan.

Jack Collins
With: Calvados, lemon juice, sugar syrup and soda water.
We say: You've tried a Vodka Collins and a Gin Collins, but what about a Calvados Collins?

Jack Rose
With: Calvados, lemon juice, lime juice, sugar syrup, raspberry syrup, grenadine, aromatic bitters and egg white.
We say: Split citrus juices and split syrups add to this classic's balance and complexity.

Lazy Man Flip
With: Port, calvados, sugar syrup and egg yolk.
We say: Creamy but not sweet with port and calvados sitting beautifully together.

Orchard Keeper
With: Calvados, bianco vermouth and honey syrup.
We say: Apple brandy delicately sweetened and flavoured with honey and aromatised by vermouth.

Pan American Clipper
With: Calvados, lime juice, grenadine, sugar syrup and absinthe.
WS¬¬¬¬e say: Essentially a Jack Rose with a couple of dashes of absinthe – and all the better for it.

Pomme
With: Calvados, apple juice, vanilla syrup and lemon juice.
We say: This cocktail's fruitiness and a slug of vanilla syrup gives it broad appeal.

Queen's Knees
With: Calvados, honey syrup, orange bitters, and brut sparkling wine.
We say: Apple brandy and honey nestle harmoniously with zesty orange and enlivening fizz.

Le Sang Jaune
With: Calvados, dry vermouth, elderflower liqueur, gentian liqueur and absinthe.
We say: The name translates as The Yellow Blood, which befits this spirituous cocktail's colour.

The Stig
With: Calvados, pisco, elderflower liqueur and sauvignon blanc wine.
We say: Whiter than white, yet mysterious.

Widows Kiss
With: Calvados, Bénédictine, Yellow Chartreuse, and aromatic bitters.
We say: Herbal with hints of apple, mint and eucalyptus.

100's more Calvados cocktails