Sugarcane juice fermented and distilled in copper pot stills, 38-48% ABV. Brazilian colonial spirit, distilled in Pernambuco since 1532.
1532 Pernambuco sugar mills — slaves discovered cachaça when fermented sugarcane juice (garapa) bubbled in cane press tanks. The Portuguese crown banned it in 1635 to protect Madeira wine; the ban triggered the Cachaça Revolt of 1660 in Rio. Brazil's oldest distilled spirit, predating rum by ~150 years.
Brazil produces ~1.4 billion liters yearly across ~5,000 distilleries. Minas Gerais alone has 8,500+ artisanal alambiques. The 2012 US-Brazil agreement formally distinguishes cachaça from rum; before that, US labels said 'Brazilian rum.'
Clear (branca) or amber (envelhecida, aged in Brazilian woods like amburana, jequitibá). Grassy raw cane funk, banana ester, and a sharp green note. Aged versions pick up vanilla and toasted oak. Drinks neat in shot glasses (dose) at any Brazilian bar.
Distinguishes from rum: cachaça uses fresh sugarcane juice, rum uses molasses. Fermentation 24-36 hours with wild yeast (artisanal) or selected (industrial); single distillation in copper pot stills (alambique) at 38-48% ABV. Brazilian law caps ABV at 48% — anything stronger is aguardiente, not cachaça.
Variations
Branca (white, unaged, for cocktails like caipirinha); Amarela/Ouro (yellow, aged 1+ years in native wood); Premium amburana cachaça from Salinas, MG smells of cinnamon-vanilla; Paraty, RJ historic distilleries (Maria Izabel, Engenho D'Ouro) make collector bottles.
On the Palate
Where Cachaça sits in the Brazilian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 1How it's made
4 steps · 60 min active · 89520 min waiting
- 160 min
Crush 50 kg fresh sugarcane in a roller mill to extract juice.
- 22880 min
Add yeast; ferment 24–48 hours to ~10% ABV wash.
- 3240 min
Distill the wash twice in copper pot still; collect the middle cut.
- 486400 min
Optional: rest in copper tanks 6 months; or age in Brazilian-wood barrels 2+ years for aged cachaça.
