17 October

Our friends at Avallen Calvados launched World Calvados Day in 2020 to celebrate the French apple brandy. Hoorah!

They sensibly designated the 20th of October as World Calvados Day due to its falling on the eve of National Apple Day, which celebrates apples and orchards, autumn also marks harvest season. In France, the apple harvest that precludes the first stage of calvados production begins mid-October and lasts through to December.

However, for 2024, the French apple bureaucrats have decided that World Calvados Day should not fall on a given date but should float, like a bobbing apple, to land on the third Thursday of November.

Whatever the date, on one day a year, it's good to think about calvados and how it's made. The apples are washed, crushed and pressed, then fermented. The fermented juice is distilled, and the resulting distillate is left to mature in oak casks for a minimum of two years. Calvados is often made using a small amount of pears as well as apples, and is produced in North-Western France. Indeed, calvados is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, meaning it can only be produced using strictly defined methods in stipulated areas.

This apple brandy hailing from Normandy is bottled between 40 and 45% alc./vol., whereas its American cousin, applejack, is traditionally bottled at a higher strength of 50%. Best served in tulip-shaped glasses, there's no better reason to enjoy a glass or two of the fruity French brandy today.

In honour of the mighty apple and World Calvados Day, we're enjoying a Harvest Cocktail, a suitably autumnal cocktail. But, if like us, you'll be opting for several calvados-based cocktails, then may we suggest our 20 best Calvados Cocktails, or we've another 170+ calvados cocktails for you to choose from.

Evil Knievel's Birthday

This day in 1814 was very lucky for a handful of Londoners (though sadly rather unlucky for others) when a 7 metre (23 foot) tall vat holding 610,000 litres (135,000 imperial gallons) of beer ruptured, causing other gigantic vats in the same brewery to do the same.

As the tidal wave of beer flooded the streets around present-day Tottenham Court Road, people raced on to the streets to scoop up as much as they could. Sadly, the force of the wave destroyed two houses and a pub, and at least eight people drowned in flooded basements. The brewery was taken to court but the judge and jury declared the disaster an act of God.

The day has inspired us to drink a Byrrh & Beer, a drink that marries the French aperitif that's pronounced 'beer' with British ale.

Evil Knievel's Birthday

Guinness World Record holder for "most bones ever broken in a lifetime" (433), Evil Knievel was born on this day in 1938.

He died in 2007, aged 69, having lasted a surprisingly long time for a man who made his living out of impossible motorcycle leaps. Knievel's tolerance for pain was phenomenal, as was his eye for innovation. After failing to jump thirteen buses in Wembley, he walked off stage - despite suffering a broken pelvis. He tried (and failed) to cross Snake River Canyon on a custom-built, rocket-powered motorcycle. But the jump that ended his career was a rehearsal, for a leap over a tank full of live sharks, inspired by the movie Jaws. Knievel lost control and hit a cameraman, who went on to lose an eye.

This is one daredevil whose life is well worth celebrating. May we recommend you join us in a Devil's Manhattan?