Calvados, cider spirits, pear distillates and traditional liqueurs show the enormous diversity that apples and pears can produce beyond cider itself.
LA SIDRA.- When apple spirits are discussed, Calvados is probably the best-known name. But the world of spirits and liqueurs derived from apples and pears is much broader.
Donato X. Villoria’s tasting notes, published in issue 269 of LA SIDRA, explore products from France, Switzerland, Euskadi, Iparralde and Navarra.
There are cider spirits, pear distillates, liqueurs made with wild fruit and even bottles in which the apple or pear itself grows trapped inside.
The products tasted include Boulard Grand Solage, a French Calvados combining young and aged distillates; Williamine, a Swiss pear spirit; Sagardoz Kuartango, a spirit linked to cider; and Makatza Egiazki, a liqueur made with wild pears from the Pyrenees.
The tastings also include Larra Barri Patxaka Premium, a wild-fruit liqueur from Navarra, and French spirits with an apple or pear trapped inside the bottle.
These products differ greatly from one another.
Their alcohol content, ageing, raw ingredients, techniques and aromatic profiles vary, but they share a starting point: showing that apples and pears can give rise to a much broader family of drinks than those generally familiar in Asturies.
A world that begins with fruit, but does not end with cider.
Related reading
- Chestnut wood for cider spirits
- Cider spirit tasting
- Using apples and cider derivatives
- Domaine de la Galotière at SISGA 2026
- LA SIDRA 269
