Cachaçagora - Cachaça, Caipirinha, And Cocktails

Cachaça Tour (Pt. 5 of 6): Barril 39

Here we have a very special installment of my 2009 Cachaça Tour documentary — a trip to Barril 39. Some of you may remember Barril 39 as the winner of the first blind taste test I held a little more than a year ago. 

This tiny operation, passed from late father to son, is undergoing a period of transformation and renewal. The horse-powered cane-crusher atop the hill will be replaced by a modern electric one. New structures have been erected to handle each step of the cachaça-making value chain — crushing, fermenting, aging, bottling — whereas a very small room handled most of these tasks before. Further, each building stands lower on the hill than the next, making gravity do some of work for the small distillery. 

All of this said, the old setup is a wonder of homespun ergonomic ingenuity. Proprietor Sérgio Azevedo's father originally arranged everything such that he could run almost all of the operation from his wheelchair. The fermentation tanks, for example, are smaller than usual and raised well above the floor, connected by a network of pipes and valves set within easy reach. 

Of greatest interest is the product I have yet to taste: Sergio sent me home with a bottle of Barril 39's one-thousandth distillation, carrying the old "Terras Altas" label, from which only a few liters exist.

No, you can't have any. However, please enjoy the video and the slideshow.

Video

Slideshow

Reaction To Last Week's Tasting

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"Phil... Congratulations! Your blog is very important for expanding the knowledge of good handcrafted cachaça." - Kede, father-in-law, cachaça enthusiast

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The main inspiration for Cachaçagora was the passion for this spirit that is shared by my in-laws, Claudia and Kede, who live in Rio de Janeiro. Claudia — you occasionally see her referred to as "Mamãe" here — is the president of the Confraria de Cachaça do Copo Furado, a group that regularly meets to talk about cachaça. (The name, translated, is "The Cachaça Brotherhood Of The Pierced Glass.")

Anyway, Kede (pictured in the chef get-up) gave us some expert, in-country context for our blind tasting. Read the translation after the jump.

Cachaçagora Holds Its First Blind Tasting

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On Thursday, September 4, my wife and I held Cachaçagora's first blind tasting here at the Gomecile. Here were the contenders:

• Cuca Fresca Pura Gold
• Leblon Cachaça
• Barril 39
• Velho Pescador

All of these are aged in oak barrels, anywhere between six months and five years. Two — Leblon and Cuca Fresca — are available in the United States. The other two were retrieved during visits to Brazil and, near as I can tell, are either not widely available in the U.S. or not available at all.

Our judges, clockwise from upper-left, were Frederico Setti, Eric Tatro,  Leandro Ribeiro, and Bleu Caldwell.

Each cachaça was poured prior to the guests arriving. Our tasters were encouraged to look for smoothness and depth-of-flavor, rating each cachaça on that basis according to whether it was their first, second, third, or fourth choice. I then averaged the scores (like golf, achieving a lower number is best) and unveiled the rankings at the end.

As Fred was sure to mention, no cachaça was clearly "bad". He, in particular, struggled to find a number-one choice. That said, all tastings demand a ranking of some type.

Find the results after the jump.