20 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 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. Don't worry, we've stuck with the original fixed date.

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 200+ calvados cocktails for you to choose from.

National Brandied Fruit Day

Today is officially National Brandied Fruit Day, and in our world of cocktails, that means celebrating maraschino cherries.

From a Manhattan to a Last Word, some cocktails aren't complete without at least one skewered fruity treat. Tradition dictates that cocktail garnishes should be in odd numbers: one or three. However, dare to be different. Go against convention, and garnish your Last Word cocktail with a delicious pair of maraschino cherries.

It's also the day the Sydney Opera House opened

One of the 20th century's architectural icons was unveiled to the world on this day in 1973 when the Queen opened the Sydney Opera House.

It had taken more than 16 years to build, phenomenal engineering innovations, some notorious political infighting, and even street demonstrations across the city when the original architect resigned in 1966. Because Sydney wouldn't be the same without the Opera House, we're marking the opening of this great building with a musically named and very Australian Waltzing Matilda.