Calvados Du Pays D'Auge Hubert

This is pretty bold and flavorful, although some of the boldness and flavors are not totally on the mark for me. The aroma is tart, even sour apples, shading almost to apple cider vinegar. The flavor is quite sharp, with just a hint of sweetness at the beginning, then lurching into a tingly, tangy apple taste. The finish leaves you with that tingly sensation, faint spices, and noticeable but not overpowering bitterness. There is no age statement on this. It tastes young to me but I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about. It has a brash character to it, with the flavor coming in strong and punchy. That certainly has its charms, but I find those flavors leaning a little more toward the sour and bitter end of things than I'd like. This isn't to say that the overall taste is sour or bitter, but it does have a bit of those flavors in the mix. I've only tried one other calvados but this one is lighter on the softer baked-apple notes and heavier on the tart-apple notes, and I think I prefer the former. The price was pretty affordable for a calvados at $35. I've enjoyed the bottle and consider it a solid value but will probably look to try different calvados (or other apple brandy) in the future rather than return to this one.

Sweet nose and body with apple flavors throughout, spicy tannic finish with slight alcohol burn