October 20th saw over 500 people get together from all over the world as part of the second World Calvados Day celebrating Normandy’s signature spirit.
Normandy ambassadors living everywhere from New York, Sydney and Dakar to Tokyo, Brasilia, Vietnam and Mauritius used any excuse to get together with fellow Normans, friends, workmates and family to put Normandy in the limelight!
One date, several recipes
Normans got their creative juices flowing to celebrate the 2023 event in bars, restaurants or at home!
Get-togethers in “calvados-friendly” bars in Paris, London, Adelaide and Seoul where a dozen ambassadors met up at the Calvados Garden to celebrate the cocktail bar’s first anniversary.On the other side of the pond, ambassadors living in New York hooked up for a drink at a famous French cheese shop. Véronique used her after work event with the French-American Chamber Of Commerce to introduce fifty people to calvados at a French pop-up in Chicago.
Over in Asia, Henri hosted an event at a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City whilst Norman introduced over forty people to our iconic calvados in Hong Kong with the help of Club France International.
Normandy fans in Mauritius got the chance to enjoy seafront drinks with Clarisse.
Jean-Pierre, our ambassador in Dakar and member of the Clos Normand association, got a hundred people together to introduce them to calvados-based cocktails.
Normandy’s chefs even got their restaurants involved in the event. Chef Bernard Anquetil and pastry chef Frédéric Madelaine joined forces to serve a 100% Norman dinner at Le Petit Tonneau, run by one of their friends in central Tokyo. Chef Christophe Prud’homme in Dubai served Normandy specialities at his restaurant looking out onto the Museum of The Future.
Adrian and Maison de la Normandie helped host a special day with lots of Normandy product tastings in Jersey. It also raised funds for the Beresford Street Kitchen charity to help people with learning difficulties and/or autism.
In the meantime, Sébastien in Sydney, Antoine in Montréal and Arthur in Brasilia invited their loved ones and fellow ambassadors to their homes for a get-together.
Normandy celebrated with an open day at the Calvados Père Magloire l’Experience distillery and an event at FENO, Normandy’s fine food festival, the same night in Rouen.
Calvados in figures
- 51% of shipments exported overseas in 2022
- Almost 3 million bottles sold worldwide (2022)
- Calvados is now exported to over 90 countries
- 3 million trees help make the brandy
- Normandy has almost 300 distilleries and micro-distilleries around the region
- Calvados has 3 AOCs (designation of controlled origin)
Normans home and away: we’ll see you next year!
If you’d like to get involved in the next event, please email Agnès – [email protected]
The Normandy Ambassadors network now has twenty clubs with a thousand members who either hail from Normandy or love the region.
The Normandy Ambassadors network
Thematics
