Brazils Fiery Spirit

The rise and rise of cachaa, from low-grade firewater to cocktail queen.

ts Saturday afternoon at o bar do Geraldo in Chapada, an unremarkable backlands hamlet in the state of Minas Gerais, and part of the municipality of the colonial gold-mining town of Ouro Preto 15 miles (25 kilometres) away. Two scraggy horses are tethered beside a handful of cars and pick-up trucks on the unpaved village square, and inside the barebones bar a dozen men are gathered around a game of cards. In a clearing in front of the bar, where dogs loiter hoping for scraps, a bottle of Skol beer shares the table with a glass of clear, slightly viscous R$1 (36p) pinga cachaa which a trio of artisans are sharing, sipping it between glasses of beer. Its a long way from the cocktail bars of New York, Berlin and London, and the pubs of Portland, Dsseldorf and Leeds, where cachaa has undergone an explosion in popularity in the past decade, turning up in the classic caipirinha or even in its barrel-aged, mellow and smoky form for savouring neat, paired, perhaps, with a good cigar. A rich amber colour, aged cachaa is rested for years at a time in barrels ranging from native Brazilian species like balsam, garapeira, umburana and jequitib to second-hand whisky and cognac barrels. Cachaa, pronounced ca-SHA-sa, has come a very long way from its origins as a low-grade firewater for slaves, made from the nearest thing to hand leftover, milled sugar cane. It has become a premium spirit selling for as much as US$150 a bottle.

Drinks Cachaa.
but in Brazil its as likely to come in cubes, whole or cracked in the bartenders hand or in a teacloth with a few sharp raps of the pestle. Fill up the glass with cachaa and stir. Add a straw, no umbrella, and drink.

SUCCESSFUL MIX
It was the rise of the caipirinha by some accounts, the most popular drink in Germany after beer that brought cachaa into sudden ubiquity, surfing in on the cocktails sweet, tart tail in the same way tequila rode to fame in the USA on the back of the margarita. Another goodtimes holiday drink, the caipirinha came home with the sand, the suntans and the souvenirs. As with so many great inventions, the simple perfection of the caipirinha adds up to far more than the sum of its parts. Creating the ideal version isnt rocket science, but it is a sort of alchemy. Cut a lime into quarters lengthwise, and slice the pith from the edge of each. Chop the quarters in half and put a few of them in a heavy-bottomed glass, pulp side up. Add a generous dose (2 tsp) of coarse, granulated sugar; then muddle the mixture with a pestle. Add ice crushed is the default in many bars,

From the first tart sip to the mellow sweetness, this is a complex cocktail.
From the first tart, icy sip to the mellow sweetness it develops as the sugar dissolves and the ice melts, this is a complex, evolving creature of a cocktail. Abrasive sugar crystals help release traces of oil from the lime skin and also serve to bring out the taste of the cachaa, which is made from sugar and sugar alone. You should be able to taste the sugar cane, says Anthony Goh of Abelha Cachaa (www.abelha.co.uk), a small-batch, organic label from London, whose stills in Bahia, northeast Brazil, produce a wonderfully honeyed cachaa, aged for three years in barrels made from garapeira, a type of Brazilian ash.

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Juicing sugar cane.

With an artisanal cachaa, you should be able to taste the floral, slightly grassy notes that are present in sugar cane. With some of the industrially produced brands that are popular in Brazil because theyre cheap, you can essentially just smell ethanol and sugar. Or worse. Methanol, a form of alcohol not fit for human consumption, is also a product of sugar cane, and indeed is also a product of its distillation. According to Facundo di Genova, author of The Scientific Barman (El Barman Scientfico, Siglo Veintiuno, 2008), methanol boils at 64.8 13.5 lower than ethanol and so methanol is first to evaporate inside the still. In the lexicon of spirit production, this first part of the distillate is known as the head and must be thrown away, or set aside and used as fuel. Only the heart, which comprises around 80 per cent of the distillate, can be safely ingested, while the tail the part in which the oily or fusel alcohols propanol and butanol are distilled must also be discarded. The figure of roughly 4,000 brands of cachaa available in Brazil doesnt account for the informal or clandestine sector. Its here, all too often, that inadequately separated or downright bad alcohol is consumed, wreaking havoc on the livers of those who drink it, even in Minas Gerais, considered Brazils leading state for the production of fine cachaa. sorbet, where the earth, eroded by deforestation followed by cattle farming, has collapsed. At Gota de Minas (www.gotademinas.com.br), a small-scale, artisanal cachaa distillery in an emerald green valley, a trail cut through sugar cane and its surrounding undergrowth leads to a picturesque waterfall, where visitors come to bathe or laze on the rocks. In the distillery itself, owner Srgio Bambirra demonstrates the copper alambique (pot still) in which three kinds of cachaa are produced. Gotas flagship variety is aged in Scottish oak whisky barrels, but the newer Gota da Adega is a blend matured in two kinds of wood: umburana first, for colour, flavour and bouquet; then jequitib, a neutral wood whose capacity to absorb oxygen from the air helps the cachaa to soften and mature. Bottled solar energy, Bambirra calls it. Piles of pressed sugar cane are stacked in heaps next to the furnace, where they are used as fuel to fire the still, and the whole stio is surrounded by fields of cane. A key difference between artisanal and mass-produced cachaa is the freshness of the sugar cane, says Anthony Goh. Artisanal producers grow their own sugar cane because it cant be left to sit around it goes off slightly and dries up. It has to be pressed within 24 hours of harvesting, and then the juice is left to ferment for anything from five to 20 days before being distilled.

Drinks

BOTTLED SOLAR ENERGY

Clouds of fine red dust billow from the underside of the car, settling on the roadside as you drive away from Geraldos bar and upwards, deep into the undulating highland countryside. The track turns up, down and around hills pitted with pink and orange erosions like scoops from a

MIXED FORTUNES
But although the prevalence of passionate artisanal producers like Gota and Abelha bodes well for the long-term quality of the cachaa market, the drink still has its ups and downs in

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terms of popularity. Once disdained in Brazil for its low standards of production and mass appeal, cachaas adoption in Germany as a standard feature of cheap and cheerful happy hours has given it a newly perceived low-class image there think pia coladas or sex on the beach. Cachaa and caipirinhas were already a big thing in Hamburg when I started bartending in 1997, says expert mixologist Jrg Meyer, coowner of Hamburgs Le Lion bar (www.lelion. net). My generation of bartenders grew up making hundreds of them per night in the huge bars and nightclubs. We made them ugly because we didnt know any better. Some bartenders even did them with lemon you couldnt get limes all over Germany; or they put in lots of Roses lime juice to take away the bitterness of the drink. Today, some German bars have stopped serving caipirinhas altogether, although Meyer thinks Germans just need time to come around to the new, American-led trend for sipping very highquality cachaa neat, for which he recommends Armazem Vieira Terra and Sagatiba Preciosa. Anthony Goh of Abelha Cachaa is convinced that cachaas popularity is assured. I think the caipirinha is the kind of drink you can take anywhere in the world, he says. Its on a par with pizza or crispy duck pancakes people just like it. Its a classic sour-style drink, like a daiquiri or a margarita, and the sours recipe is so universal: strong liquor, sweetness and citrus. Quizzed in turn on whether the caipirinha is a genuinely top quality drink with longevity, Jrg Meyer agrees: A good caipirinha with artisanal cachaa is worth every sip. In Brazil, where only a minute fraction of the cachaa produced is exported, cachaa is in no danger of dropping out of fashion. Pinga, branquinha, marvada, dengosa, among its many names, is as Brazilian as samba, whether in mass-produced brands like Pit, 51 and Ypioca or premium lines such as Armazem Viera, Sagatiba and Weber Haus. What has changed in Brazil is a growing appreciation for fine cachaa in classes not previously accustomed to drinking it, and an increasing respect for what had previously been seen as a low-rent drink. You can find cachaa on the menus of even the finest restaurants in Rio these days, says Jorge Coutinho, manager of Academia da Cachaa (www.academiadacachaca.com.br) in Rios Leblon district. The bar, a trailblazer in bringing cachaa into the Brazilian mainstream since opening in 1985, stocks more than 100 different brands of the spirit, with Ansio Santiago the highest-priced variety, at R$24 (US$14) a shot or R$240 per bottle. Nowadays, youll find that upmarket restaurants have at least two or three good cachaas to choose from, Coutinho says. And yet, ten years ago, it would have been impossible to find it at all in those places.

189-198
Classic cachaa
189 USA
Cachaa Jazz
The drinks here caipirinhas and batidas galore are a bonus. But the real draw at this club is the music, a mix of mainstream, Brazilian and Afro-Cuban beats. Theres a quiet policy during performances, but were sure you can find something at the bar to sip on. 35 W Eighth St, New York (www.myspace.com/cachacajazz).

190 SPAIN
Kabokla
A bar and cultural centre rolled into one, Kaboklas Brazilian influences spread from its yellow and green walls to its food and drink menus. Brazilians living in Madrid meet up here, so expect to hear Portuguese, and dont be intimidated by the seemingly professional samba dancers crowding the dancefloor. C/San Vicente Ferrer 55, Madrid (www.kabokla.es).

Drinks

191 USA
Boteco
Join the meninos and meninas at this bar and work on your Brazilian buzz with fresh fruit caipirinhas and batidas. A laidback spot to catch a football match, Botecos authentic vibe is down to the Brazilians who pack the place. 916 NE 79th Street, Miami (www.botecomiami.com).

192 AUSTRALIA
Favela
This high-end, all-you-can-eat churrascaria-cumclub is located in the heart of Kings Cross. Its Brazilian-themed atmosphere and a drinks menu featuring a variety of caipirinhas and Brazilian beer are worth the pricey cover charge. 1 Kellett Way, Sydney (www.favela.com.au).

193 USA
Bossa Nova
At this nondescript San Francisco hideaway, waitresses in yellow and green glide through the small space serving up fresh fruit-infused caipirinhas and delicious plantain chips. The noreservations policy it doubles as a restaurant often means a wait, so show up early. 139 8th Street, San Francisco (www.homeloungesf.com).

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