Latest news with #Calvados
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Tour de France 2025: Evenepoel wins time trial as Pogacar powers into yellow
Tadej Pogacar struck the first blow in his rivalry with Jonas Vingegaard by taking the overall Tour de France lead after finishing second to Remco Evenepoel in the stage five time trial in Caen. Pogacar's performance exceeded expectations and will have hit hard on Vingegaard's Visma‑Lease a Bike team bus, with the double Tour winner now more than a minute behind his Slovenian rival after only five days of racing. 'I was surprised,' Pogacar said of the gap he opened up on the Dane. 'I'm not going to lie. I was not expecting to be so far ahead of him in this time trial. I expected him to be closer to Remco, but maybe he didn't have a great day.' While the Olympic and world time trial champion Evenepoel, riding at an average speed of 54km/h, claimed an expected stage success, Pogacar was the real winner, as Vingegaard's challenge wilted in the heat of the Calvados afternoon. With Vingegaard now under pressure to combat his rival, there may be further tension in the camp, with his American teammate Matteo Jorgenson, winner of the Paris-Nice race in March, just nine seconds behind him. 'I don't have an explanation,' Visma's head of racing, Grischa Niermann, said of his team leader's result. 'Of course, we hoped for more. I guess Jonas didn't have enough power today.' Pogacar, however, was not getting carried away. 'I always have eyes on everybody, not just one guy,' he said. 'You cannot discount all the riders up to top 10 in general classification. 'Jonas is the most hungry to get back time, he's in super good shape, his team's in good form, so they will try, maybe tomorrow or the next day.' Yet there is no doubt the pendulum has now swung in Pogacar's favour. Evenepoel, winner of the 2024 Tour time trial stage to Gevrey‑Chambertin, had predicted he would make up almost a minute on Pogacar and, quickly into his compact position, set off at breakneck pace. Despite winning the stage, the Belgian did not achieve the time gains for which he had hoped. The Slovenian, blindsided by a flying Evenepoel in the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial a month ago, was this time a different prospect. His performance around Caen was much more competitive than expected and kept the Belgian in check, while transforming a slim overnight advantage over Vingegaard of 8sec into a significant 1min 13sec. But on a stage thankfully free of any of the pile-ups that have marked some of the earlier stages, the safety debate still shadowed the peloton, after the Canadian rider Mike Woods, 122nd overall in the Tour, said that race organisers ASO 'love crashes'. Writing on his blog, the 38 year old Woods, a stage winner in the 2023 Tour, said: 'Despite their claimed attempts to make the sport safer, one gets a sense – when watching any highlight reel they create – that blood, broken bikes, and some poor bastard walking into an ambulance are what they love to sell.' Another casualty of earlier crashes, Emilien Jeannniere of France, who was catapulted into the crowd barriers in the stage to Dunkirk on Monday, quit the race after it was discovered that he had broken his shoulder, even though he successfully finished stage four into Rouen. 'It's sad to abandon my first Tour, but there are other races and I have to put my health first,' the 26 year old rider said. Others are faring better, with the rising British talents Oscar Onley and the Tour debutant Joe Blackmore quickly finding their feet in this year's race. In contrast, prospects looked gloomier for Ineos Grenadiers with Carlos Rodriguez now languishing in 16th place, four minutes behind Pogacar, after the first time trial. The sixth stage on Thursday, from Bayeux to Vire, includes six categorised climbs and may see more sparring at the uphill finish, on the 14% slopes of the Avenue d'Atlacomulco.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Tour de France 2025: Evenepoel wins time trial as Pogacar powers into yellow
Tadej Pogacar took the race lead in the Tour de France from Mathieu van der Poel, after finishing second to Remco Evenepoel in the stage five time trial in Caen, and opened clear daylight on his key rival, Jonas Vingegaard. While Olympic and world time trial champion Evenepoel, riding at an average speed of 54km/h, claimed an expected stage success, Pogacar was the day's real winner, as Vingegaard's challenge wilted in the heat of the Calvados afternoon. Although Luke Plapp, a Giro d'Italia stage winner, and Vingegaard's teammate Edoardo Affini, had set the earlier pace, by the time the Belgian crossed the finish line in Caen they had both been blown away by Evenepoel's unrelenting speed. But Pogacar's performance exceeded expectations and will have fuelled despondency on Vingegaard's Visma Lease-a-bike team bus, with the double Tour winner now well over a minute behind his Slovenian rival before the first mountain stage. Evenepoel, the winner of the 2024 Tour time trial stage to Gevrey-Chambertin, had bullishly predicted he would make up almost a minute on Pogacar and, quickly into his low compact position, set off at breakneck pace. But it was not the dominant display many had predicted. Pogacar, blindsided by a flying Evenepoel in the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial a month ago, was this time a different prospect. The Slovenian's performance in the roads around Caen was much more competitive than expected and transformed a slim overnight advantage on Vingegaard, of eight seconds, into a significant lead of 1min 13sec.
Eater
09-06-2025
- Business
- Eater
Brandy From New York? This Upstate Distillery Is Counting on It.
Since the brandy distillery Klocke Estate opened last summer in Claverack, New York, the restaurant has been the draw. It's dazzling, situated on a hilltop above 160 acres of farmland, orchards, and vineyards. The seasonal American menu from chef Becky Kempter shows off leek croquettes, a spring cavatelli with ramps, asparagus, peas, and mains like roast chicken or lamb shank. Klocke deserves its spot among the handful of mid-Hudson Valley restaurants that are destinations. Of those, it's undoubtedly the most luxurious. In the dining room, chandeliers and floor-to-ceiling windows cast soft light over myriad textures: crushed velvet and William Morris-style floral designs on the walls, a marble fireplace with a Victorian tapestry hanging above, and exposed wood beams. Tables are situated around a custom glass cabinet in the middle of the room which displays co-owner John Frishkopf's library of brandies, Armagnacs, and Calvados. It's a lush setting to observe the sage-colored Catskills in the distance. Still, the restaurant, Frishkopf says, primarily serves to 'set the table for our brandy.' At the moment, brandy isn't flying off the shelves in the U.S, but Frishkop and his husband, Brett Mattingly, are playing a long game to establish regional brandy's preeminence. It already has provenance: Laird's Applejack in New Jersey, founded in 1780, is the very first distillery in the United States (It's also one of the few legacy brands today run by a woman.) And there's evidence that a man named Jakob Planck brought several stills from Holland to the northern Hudson Valley, around the time brandy was first being exported from Europe by Dutch fleets, in 1638. The state of brandy in the U.S. doesn't daunt the founders. 'Eventually, the brandy we make here in Claverack,' says Caleb Gregg, director of farming and production, 'will sit beside the world's great brandies, specifically Cognac caliber.' Frishkopf, a Boston native, was first inspired to make brandy on the plum and apricot orchards of friends' estates while based in Prague early in his finance career. Returning to the Northeast in his 60s, he wanted to make brandy commercially. The region is one of a few places, he says, where conditions for growing cider apples and grapes were always ideal— for brandy, not for wine. Brandy grapes are harvested earlier than wine grapes, when they have a sugar content (or brix) between 16 and 18 percent. That relatively low sugar produces an alcohol content between eight and ten percent after fermentation, ensuring it will be below 60 percent after distillation. Additionally, lower sugar levels result in higher tannin and acid content, according to Gregg, providing the necessary structure for brandy's prolonged aging process. In 2017, Frishkopf and Mattingly purchased the property. With the help of veteran distiller Dan Farber in California, Cornell University, and expert wine and apple farmers around New York State, they selected 43 varieties of organic cider apples and nine organic white grapes, all suited to the climate and terroir of the Hudson Valley. Mattingly, an MIT grad, raised on a family farm, designed a master plan for planting using a permaculture approach that weaves sustainability and self-sufficiency into the design. In 2020, the team planted the first trees and vines. Despite that most apple growing in the East has moved south due to risks like fireblight, the team remains committed to organic farming — with an eye to bring back cider apples that used to grow in the region for hundreds of years — with the help of old and new technology. They monitor digital wind, temperature, and sun on large flat screens. They implant organic bacteria cultures to battle fireblight, powdery and downy mildew, and other bacterial infections. They position black locusts posts where eagles and red-tailed hawks can sit and hunt larger pests, like voles. As of this writing, four successful grape and apple harvests have been pressed and fermented into wine and cider, and distilled in a copper Alembic Charentais still imported from Cognac. Right after distillation, the spirits are transferred to barrels made from aged French oak, where they will mature for another three to thirty years, depending on the batch. 'It takes patience,' according to Gregg. '...and we may find out, in 25 years, that the grapes we're growing are better suited for younger brandies, for example. That's the fun part.' Consumers might not try the estate's best brandies for decades. Perhaps they'll keep improving long after Frishkopf and Mattingly retire. With hope, they've invested in infrastructure that will outlast them — including the storage facility, the still, and above all, people like Gregg, who, in his late 20s, manages all aspects of brandy production. While customers wait for the first batch of brandy, Frishkopf sees his role as a teacher and host. In addition to the brandy library, they're also producing ready-to-drink vermouth. Klocke currently sells their white vermouth and sweet red vermouths under the Brevis label, three cocktails—an appletini, a brandy manhattan, and a brandy old-fashioned—three eau de vies, and what they call an unoaked brandy, or the Klocke Estate 00. Frishkopf says that their customers will be able to taste the evolution of their brandy over the years, which reinforces the time theme as the through line of the brand. Frishkopf points to the Dutch word for clock as inspiration for the name; the vermouth label Brevis, named after the Latin word for brief; and the ready-made cocktail label, Flyback, named after the term for when a chronograph returns to zero. During dinner service at Klocke, diners often catch magnificent sunsets. It quickly became a tradition for everyone to emerge onto the west-facing patio with their drinks for twenty minutes to stare toward the mountains where Rip Van Winkle mythically fell asleep for twenty years, across land that has fallen in and out of cultivation for generations. Often, the waitstaff and cooks join them, signaling there's no need to rush. Sign up for our newsletter.
NZ Herald
28-04-2025
- NZ Herald
Six incredible food tours in Europe, from Netherlands to Northern Ireland
WHISKEY GALORE – Northern Ireland Amid the green fields on Northern Ireland's County Antrim coast near the world-famous Giant's Causeway, where the winds blow and the water is clean and pure, is a small town that is home to Old Bushmills, the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world, established in 1608. Take a tour to learn more about the whiskey-making process - one that takes malted barley, grinds it up into a mash with water and then distils it before putting it in oak casks to mature. The tour finishes with the best bit – a taste test in the distillery bar. No Northern Ireland whiskey experience is complete without a visit to a local pub or two, and well worth a visit is the Bushmills Inn, where you can enjoy a glass of 25-year-old Bushmills Malt from the inn's private cask by the cosy glow of an open peat fire. THE BIG CHEESE – Italy With its fine local produce of hams, handmade pastas and balsamic vinegars, the Italian province of Emilia Romagna has a rich culinary tradition. But its most famous product is undoubtedly Parmigiano Reggiano, a hard, granular cheese with a rich, nutty and slightly salty flavour. Better known as parmesan cheese, this 'King of Italian cheeses' has been in existence for around 700 years and is so valuable that it was once accepted as currency. Dotting the hills and valleys around Parma are the dairies and cheese houses where the prized wheels of cheese are produced using a method little changed over the centuries. The Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Consortium conducts visits and guided tours to the region's cheese-making dairies where you will discover what makes Parmigiano Reggiano so special, including its long and careful aging process of up to 24 months or more. THE SPIRIT OF NORMANDY – France 160 Just over an hour's drive from Paris is Normandy's Pays d'Auge region – a picturesque landscape of small villages, rolling meadows, russet-coloured apple orchards and half-timbered farmsteads. This is where highly-prized apple-based drinks such as robust ciders and especially Calvados are produced. This fiery apple brandy takes its name from a ship that sailed in the ill-fated Spanish Armada of 1588, and has been distilled with typical French passion for more than 400 years. To learn more, enjoy a tour at Manoir d'Apreval, a family-owned estate surrounded by a lovely apple orchard in the village of Pennedepie (10km east of Deauville) that creates a line of fine Calvados and ciders made in small presses from 17 varieties of apples. Double distillation, in addition to the apples originating in the Pays d' Auge region are requirements for Calvados to achieve the AOC label (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée), the highest honour that can be bestowed on a French product. PINCHOS TIME IN LA RIOJA - Spain Right in the heart of La Rioja's capital city of Logrono s Calle del Laurel, famous for some of northern Spain's finest pinchos bars. Pinchos (also called pintxos) are the Basque region's take on tapas, basically snack-size portions of food, from simple tortilla Espanola (potato omelette) or anchovies on bread, to more elaborate miniature creations of haute cuisine. They are usually cheap, and when paired with a glass of local red wine, usually cost only a few euros. For an expert's view and to learn more about the marriage of Rioja wines and pinchos, book a guided tour to sample Rioja and pinchos pairings in a variety of bars with Jose Berger, otherwise known as the Wine Educator. 'Going out for pinchos is a great social activity, and I love nothing more than getting a group of friends together and visiting some favourite spots,' says José. ALL BEERS GREAT AND SMALL – England Brewing beer in the English county of Yorkshire has a long and distinguished heritage. For a fascinating insight into the workings of a traditional brewery, visit Masham's Theakston Brewery established in 1827. There's plenty to see and do including the working cooperage, where one of the country's last remaining coopers still handcrafts barrels using traditional tools. Guided tours of the brewery are available, after which you can sample the fine range of beers in the brewery tap. Try the legendary dark and rich Theakston's Old Peculier served from wooden casks (also available as an alcohol free 0.0% version called Nowt Peculier), or one of the newer creations like coffee flavoured Barista Stout or Hairy Bikers Zesty IPA. Also of interest to the beer aficionado is the rival Black Sheep Brewery next door who also offer brewery tours.
The Citizen
25-04-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Citizen
Savour the season with an apple harvest cocktail
Inspired by traditional orchard drinks and old-world European liqueurs, this apple harvest cocktail is simple to make but full of character. Served in a small stemmed glass, it's the kind of drink you might pour after a walk through fallen leaves, or as a slow sip while dinner cooks in the background .The base is apple brandy or Calvados, a spirit that's rich with fruit and oak, paired with a splash of dry cider and a touch of spiced syrup. It's strong enough to stand alone, but smooth enough to sip slowly. Ingredients 40ml Calvados or apple brandy 20ml dry cider (still or lightly sparkling) 10ml spiced syrup (see below) Optional: dash of Angostura or orange bitters For the Spiced Syrup: 100ml water 100g brown sugar 1 cinnamon stick 2 cloves 1 small piece of star anise Strip of orange peel Method To make the syrup, simmer all syrup ingredients together for 10 minutes. Cool and strain. In a mixing glass, combine the Calvados, spiced syrup and bitters (if using). Stir gently with ice until chilled. Add the cider and give it a final gentle stir. Strain into a small stemmed glass. Serve as is, or garnish with a dried apple slice or twist of orange peel. Variants Swap the dry cider for a small pour of mulled cider if you're looking for something even more comforting. For a richer, more rounded flavour, try replacing half the Calvados with a dark or spiced rum. For a lighter version use a crisp, sparkling apple juice instead of cider.
