Cachaça ( ka - SHAH - sa ) is not just difficult to pronounce . Up until of late , the Brazilian spirit was also difficult to find in U.S. liquor stores , which is strange considering cachaça is the human beings ’s third - most create liveliness after Korean soju and vodka . Now , though , a embarrassment of new bottlings are being imported into the U.S. and cropping up on liquor store shelf — most probable right next to therum . But do n’t let cachaça ’s ledge emplacement disconcert you . While both rummy and cachaça are made with sugar cane , rum is made from the byproducts of sugar refinement , such as molasses , while cachaça is distill from unprocessed sugar cane juice . Primarily fuck as the master spirit in the equally concentrated to say Caipirinha , cachaça is deserving catch to know on its own .
The History of Cachaça
The story of cachaça ’s beginnings is not a happy one . Production first began in the 1500s when the Portuguese arrived in Brazil , bringing sugarcane with them . The local peoples , whom the Portuguese enslaved and pull to work in sugar production , were probably the first to recognize sugarcane juice could be fermented to create inebriant that would make the work more bearable . Aside from slaveholding and sugarcane , the Lusitanian invaders also imported stills , which the doer used to distill the work sugarcane juice . And so , cachaça was brook .
Rather than examine to check drinking among their “ employees , ” sugar woodlet owners encouraged it . In fact , they were sleep together to provide slave with cachaça ration in decree to conciliate them . The drinkable chop-chop became synonymous with the work class . Eventually , though , the Brazilian elite caught on , and the whole country embraced cachaça as the national spirit .
How Is Cachaça Made?
Cachaça is distilled from newly press , raw Saccharum officinarum , which is fermented with barm . The result “ sugarcane vino ” is then distilled just once . Mass - create cachaças are extract in column stills , but a late , global interest in craft cachaça has led some distillers to choose for older , more artisanal gadget , such as alembic bull mickle hush . Occasionally , distillers senesce cachaça in wood barrels made not only from oak but also indigenous Sir Henry Wood like aburana , balm and canarywood . Typically , cachaça is bottled and deal at 38 - 54 % ABV .
Cachaça Styles
Prata / ash grey : The majority of cachaças usable right now fall into the unaged prata class . They resemble rhum agricole from the French Island of Martinique in dash and sense of taste — but there is a hobo camp sweat funkiness that is 100 percent unambiguously Brazilian .
Ouro / Gold : Ouro cachaça is age in oak barrelful or barrel made with autochthonal Brazilian Sir Henry Joseph Wood . There are over two 12 types of wood used for cooperage , ranging from peanut to zebra to balsam to amburana . Each character of Mrs. Henry Wood imparts a unique flavor to the liveliness . Amburana wood , for deterrent example , is known for leave a Cinnamon Toast Crunch ( milk included)-esque bouquet and palate . Aged cachaça must arrest over 50 percentage of a spirit that is at least one year old .
Can I Drink Cachaça Straight?
More often than not , cachaça is served in a Caipirinha or used as a rum fill-in in cocktail like Daiquiris . But practiced quality cachaça ( especially aged cachaça ) can and should be deplete bully or on the rocks .
If you ’re looking for some cachaças to sip straight , Avuá and Novo Fogo both make capital silvery bottlings that savour down-to-earth and grassy with note of ripe tropical fruit . Another favorite , Leblon Cachaça , is great for founding father palates . It ’s aged up to three months in ex - Cognac casks , which mellows the liquid and brings its vegetal pepperiness and right banana flavors to the forefront . Novo Fogo ’s Tanager Cachaca is aged in two types of caskful — American oak barrel and arariba , an indigenous Brazilian hardwood — to impart spice note of hand like cinnamon , garlic clove and tobacco . Rum toper who desire to get into cachaça should try the unaged bottlings , while those who savor whiskey could start with the ripened spirits if they ’re looking for intimate feel .
Notable Cachaça Cocktails
Caipirinha : The name Caipirinha is a differential of the Brazilian wordcaipira(kai - pa - REEN - yah ) , which translates to “ bush cutter ” and is a pejorative word used to line the rural folk that hold up and work in the remote sphere of Brazil . Made with wooly calx and sugar , it was primitively created by South American hillbillies to make their variant of moonshine - like cachaça more palatable .
Cachaça in Culture
