On my travels through Normandy I discovered something the locals take seriously: Calvados.

It’s not just “apple brandy”. It’s a Normandy tradition — apples from the orchards, cider, then distilled and aged in oak until it turns warm, smooth, and properly rich. The bottle I brought back is a little piece of that trip… and today it’s also your first key.

Here’s what you need to know, and I’m not making it easy.

Aged spirits often carry short letter markings on the label. These are grading codes — used to show the spirit has been aged and to hint at where it sits on the “age ladder”. You might have seen markings like VS, VSOP, or others. They look simple, but they mean one thing: this bottle is trying to tell you something.

And on the bottle in the car… has a grade that matters.

Somewhere in the rear of the car is a bottle of Calvados.

1) Find the bottle.
2) Find the grade on the label.

Then convert those two letters into a number using this system A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5… (you can work the rest out)

Use this rule:

• Convert each letter into its number

• Subtract the numbers from each other to give you Digit 1 of the code. Also enter that digit to get your next clue.