Kaluga Hybrid, Imperial
Huso dauricus × Acipenser schrenckii
Hand-selected from the largest, most evenly sized beads. Rich and buttery with a long, clean finish. The imperial grade is where the Kaluga hybrid stops feeling like a substitute and starts standing on its own.
Refined enough to eat alone off the back of the hand or a mother-of-pearl spoon. Adding blini at this grade is a step down, not up.
Pairings
- Champagne
- Vintage blanc de blancs, Krug Grande Cuvée
- Wine
- Dry Champagne, White Burgundy Premier Cru
- Spirits
- Chilled premium vodka
Production
- Source
- farmed
- Producer
- Kaluga Queen (Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang)
- Processing
- malossol
- Grade
- imperial (select)
Legal & sourcing
Farmed Kaluga hybrid; fully legal in the US. Kaluga Queen exports ~84% of production to the EU (2024 data); China now accounts for ~35% of global farmed caviar output.
CITES Appendix II — international trade requires documentation. Wild harvest is banned; all commercial product is farmed.
Top-grade bead selection — order it plain to taste the difference from the royal tier.