Cachaçagora - Cachaça, Caipirinha, And Cocktails

John Travolta Ypioca Ad: "Vamos Brazilizar"

So my sogra (mother-in-law) was surprised I hadn't seen this ad yet:

Just to make it abundantly clear what an acquisition by a big player can do for your ad budget, here is an Ypioca ad that ran in Greece, pre-acquisition by Diageo:

John Travolta versus man in ape suit. You decide.

Don't bother with the Google Translate; "brazilizar" is not really a word. That said, if you're moved to check, you'll get a lot of links to stories about this ad.

Diageo Buys Ypióca As Consolidation Continues

In what is perhaps one of the biggest global bets placed on our favorite spirit, Diageo announced that it has purchased Ypióca (one of cachaça's and Brazil's most storied companies) for 300 million pounds ($470 million). 

Some quick thoughts on the news:

• Scale matters: The big guys aren't terribly interested in buying smaller operations without scale or footprint. Ypióca has both. It doesn't seem like buying a smaller brand and ramping it up is in any global player's strategic plan. (Note Grupo Campari's purchase of Sagatiba last August.) For an idea of how big this footprint is, walk 30 yards in any direction on Copacabana Beach and try not to hit a Ypióca kiosk. Closer to home for most of my six or seven readers, go to a liquor store and check out the cachaça "rum" section of any three stores. There's a better than two-in-three chance Ypióca will be there. 
• Timing matters: Not that Diageo needs to hear it from me, but Rio hosting the World Cup and the Olympics in 2014 and 2016, respectively, must've had something to do with this deal. It's not like Ypióca was a nobody on the global spirts stage for the past several decades. We're probably going to see more of these buys as these world-class events near. The thing is, the list of Ypióca-scale brands isn't very long. 
• Exchange rate matters: The real has taken a hit in relation to the pound, down 14.5% from a YTD high in February 23 and down 20.5% on a trailing-twelve-month-high basis (summer 2011). 
• Cachaça matters: Ypióca had net sales of $94 million (Dec. 2011 pro forma). So, currency effects aside, Diageo paid five times earnings to nab a gigantic presence in the category. (Yes, I know that Grupo Ypióca has business interests outside of cachaça, but I'm pretty sure Diageo's executives didn't say "Wow! And we can get a paper-and-cardboard business too?") 
• Family matters: I can't possibly believe the Telles family took the first offer that Diageo brought to the table. I'm guessing this took awhile. You don't sell a family-owned company of more than 160 years and five generations on a whim.

It's not a secret that I've never been a big fan of Ypióca, strictly as a matter of personal taste, though I do recognize that this transaction is breathtakingly huge for this category. While the fight to become the Grey-Goose-or-Patrón-of-cachaça still wages—and is not decided by this particular transaction—it would be tough to top this particular deal just in terms of the raw scale involved. 

Thanks to Copa's Jason Montgomery, who popped this item into my Facebook feed. 

Disclosure: Diageo is a client of my day-job, Edelman PR, though the firm is not specifically engaged in the communication and promotion of this transaction.

Photo credit: solonbro

Reviews of Cachaça 61 and Ypióca Ouro

The Keep Your Spirits Up blog has reviews of Cachaça 61 and Ypióca Ouro, two industrial brands. 

Cachaçaria Ypioca Featured In BrazzilMag

BrazzilMag has a great interview with Ypióca's Aline Telles, the curiously teetotalling descendant of the brand's founding family, about their restaurant/cachaçaria in Fortaleza.

Yes, there is some prejudice when it comes to cachaça in Brazil - Ypióca is exported to more than 40 countries around the world, and is a respected brand abroad. However, when it comes to Brazil, people here do not view the brand the same way they do other spirits like whiskey or tequila. Our proposal with this space is to help to break this perception by bringing the product to a shopping mall in order to demonstrate that there a certain level of sophistication to cachaça.

More at BrazzilMag.

Paul McGee at Chicago's Whistler Brings-a Pinga

On Friday, friend-of-Cachaçagora Renata Graw celebrated the first anniversary of her design firm, Plural.

The gathering took place at the site of their latest installation, the front window of The Whistler, a bar in Logan Square. (Above.)

Look closely at the menu, and you'll see that there was a pleasant surprise for yours truly.

Yup... The Whistler serves a cocktail named after one of cachaca's many nicknames, "Pinga." It features Ypióca cachaça, sloe gin, egg white, and fresh lime.

Tried it, of course. It was great... A must. 

Credit goes to Whistler bartender Paul McGee. The Whistler is at 2421 N. Milwaukee Ave.

All photos: Leticia Gomes

Most Awesome Cachaça Collection I've Yet Seen In North America

I found this treasure trove today at Sam's Wine & Spirits in Chicago's South Loop.

Here, you can see Cachaça 61 (ten better than Cachaça 51, I guess?), Ypióca Ouro and Crystal, Leblon, Rio D, Água Luca, and both varieties — bálsamo and jequitibá rosa — of the absolutely sublime Aroma Brasil. 

The reason why you can only see the bálsamo Aroma Brasil there is because I bought the last jequitibá rosa. The bálsamo was on sale for $19.99, so I grabbed that too. (It's just as good, if not better, than the five-barrel-awarded jequitibá rosa.)

Also took home the Água Luca.

Now that my travel is going to stick to this continent for the foreseeable future, you'll see more results from the tasting lab.

Booze Muse On The State Of Cachaça In The U.S.

There's a great, comprehensive wrap-up piece over at Booze Muse about the state of cachaça in the U.S. The article focuses on the efforts of several brands to elevate our favorite spirit from its perception as a cheap, rough, engine-cleaner of a drink to a premium category.

Today, however, cachaça is reaching a more refined audience thanks to the efforts of a handful of dedicated companies that have done a lot to bring the spirit to a higher level. “Cachaça is today in the same position that vodka, chianti and tequila were about fifteen years ago,” explains Steve Luttman, producer of Leblon, one of the more recent brands specially created for the international market. “The images of these three categories were dramatically changed in quality and presentation via Absolut or Grey Goose for vodka, Antinori for chianti and El Patron for tequila—each of these brought a better product to the market with much superior sales and marketing.”

In addition to Leblon's Luttmann, the piece quotes representatives from Cabana, Ypióca, Sagatiba, and Beleza Pura.

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney

I'm on the road on business, right in the middle of the second of four trips into the Asia/Pacific region. So far, only one caipirinha has been obtained on this trip and it was here in Hong Kong. (Made from Cachaça 51. Evidently, the bartender thought that using half the sugar stashed behind his bar was Uma Boa Idéia.)

Catching up on my cachaça news, I noticed that A Mountain Of Crushed ice took on one of my favorite topics, the difference between cachaça and rhum agricole.

Two recipes piqued my interest. The first comes from, of all places, Women's Wear Daily:

’Tis the season to raise a glass—and after the year we’ve had, goodness knows we could use a tall one. WWDScoop gathered cocktail recipes from expert hostesses around the globe and asked “The Liquid Chef,” Junior Merino, head mixologist at Rayuela in New York, to offer his take on each.

Caipirinha aux Fruits Rouges

• 4 shots of Cachaça (Cabana Cachaça is recommended)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Handful of strawberries, chopped, stems removed
• 1/2 mango, peeled, pitted and chopped
• 2 kiwi, peeled and chopped
• 1 mandarin orange, peeled and chopped

THE LIQUID CHEF SAYS: “You don’t want to overpower the drink with fruits.” He suggests omitting the mandarin, because of its distinctive taste.

WWD didn't include preparation instructions, unfortunately, but I'm sure the name gives some hint.

Meanwhile, the Alcoholian offers the "Dark & Stormy":

Dark & Stormy

• 1.5 oz cachaça
• 1 oz of lime juice simple syrup
• 5 oz of ginger beer

To make some lime juice simple syrup, juice a few limes, strain out the pulp, put the remaining juice in a small pan, and add a few tablespoons of sugar (just short of a 50-50 blend of lime juice and sugar). Eyeball it, you’ll be close enough. Once you drink one, you won’t care anyway. As the lime juice heats up, it gets a little cloudy as the sugar dissolves. Then suddenly, it is clear again. Turn off the heat and let it cool. This stuff keeps in the fridge nearly forever, so make a lot so you will have some handy.

Now just add a few ice cubes to your martini shaker, drop in the cachaça and your lime juice mixture and shake it till your nose bleeds or your teeth come loose, whichever happens sooner. Pour this in a glass and top with your ginger beer (or ginger ale — ginger beer is way better though).

Finally, I leave you with an Ypióca commercial that apparently ran in Greece:

Stay tuned.

Photos From Ypióca's Cachaça Museum

Museu da Cachaca
Originally uploaded by Navarus

Flickr user Navarus has a photojournal of Ypióca's cachaça museum. Enjoy!
 

Retail Watch: Superior Wine & Liquor, 750 N. Clark, Chicago, IL

From here on out, I think I'm going to only do a "Retail Watch" post if the store offers something other than, or in addition to, Ypióca and Leblon.

Keep in mind, I'm open to contributors. (Just so this category doesn't end up being all-Chicago-all-the-time.)