Wrap-up: Brazil-In-Chicago Cachaça Tasting

Photo Credit: Leticia Gomes

It was a night to remember, at least for those of us who didn't sample that much cachaça. Those of us who might've given up alcohol for lent would have taken solace in the fact that, well, at least it was already Sunday in Jerusalem by the time we got started. 

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of working with Marcelo Jarmendia of Brazil in Chicago to put together a tasting of some of the best cachaças around. Locally available and otherwise, the products tasted by the intimate, capacity gathering provided a well-rounded survey of the state of artesanal cachaças today.

The evening started with a discussion of the Confraria de Cachaça do Copo Furado (Rio's cachaça appreciation society) by my mother-in-law, Cláudia Fernandes, who once served as its president. My father-in-law, José Alberto Kede, then went into detail about the history and production of cachaça.

After my schpiel about my experience with cachaça and building this site (even sharing the Maria Izabel feature), we went straight to the tasting. Details after the jump.

First, a quick outline of the tasting:

Brand	Type	Rested In	Duration (Months)	U.S. Avail?
Werneck	Tradicional	Steel	6	No
Novo Fogo	Silver	Steel	12	Yes
Copa	n/a	Ipê / Oak	6-to-12 / 24	Yes
Cabana	n/a	Jequitibá	6 to 9	Yes
Werneck	Prata	Jequitibá	6 mos	No
Monte Alvão	Ouro	Grappia	12 mos	No
Monte Alvão	Ouro	Amburana	12 mos	No

Some general notes:

• Of the above, I've visited two of the distilleries. A feature on my tour of Werneck is hopefully coming soon. (I'm still recovering from a data crash.) You can see where Copa comes from by checking out the post about Magnifica and watching the video, which I shared at the tasting.
• As a tasting of high-quality, artesanal cachaças there were most certainly no clunkers. That said, among this elite set, Monte Alvão distinguished itself for its unique, complex flavors. (It's also a personal favorite. I won't lie. Ichor flows from Monte Alvão's stills, I swear. Unicorns happily crush the cane under the watchful doting eyes of fairy princesses.)
• I was a little suprised at the initial prejudice some people had against the steel-rested cachaças going into the tasting. That said, Werneck Tradicional and Novo Fogo Silver won over some believers, especially the latter.
• At least two participants asked twice about Copa, I'm guessing because it's probably the closest out of the seven to more familiar spirits and the clove and honey aromas really seem to resonate with folks. 
• Cabana and Werneck Prata showed the group that you can't rely on the color of the cachaça to determine its general quality or whether it has been aged—a fallacy I run into way too often, sometimes even in the professional press. Jequitibá, a native wood, imparts very little in the way of color and flavor characteristics. In fact, jequitibá-aging is a characteristic of some of the best cachaças I've tried.

I want to personally thank Matti Anttila of Cabana (FB, Tw), Jason Mongomery and Bryan Pyka of Copa (FB), and Dragos Axinte of Novo Fogo (FB, Tw) for graciously providing their respective products for this event and, thus, helping to support Brazil In Chicago's mission. 

Comments

[Capn Jimbo's Rum Project]

At The Rum Project (linked), cachaca's are definitely a valued and important style of cane juice rum. It is the national drink of Brazil, sold in huge quantities worldwide, with the exception of the US.

Sadly, the cachacas imported here are far from the best. Check this out: here are the top 20 cachacas in Brazil (#1 being best), most of which you will never see here:

20 — Volúpia
19 — GRM
18 — Seleta
17 — Abaíra
16 — Lua Cheia
15 — Mato Dentro
14 — Corisco
13 — Sapucaica Velha
12 — Indaiazinha
11 — Maria Izabel
10 — Piragibana
09 — Magnífica
08 — Armazém Viera
07 — Casa Bucco
06 — Boazinha
05 — Cladionor
04 — Germana
03 — Canarinha
02 — Anísio Santiago
01 — Vale Verde

I look forward to obtaining a few of these...