The Cachaca Diaries

Best known as the base for caipirinhas, Brazil’s favourite spirit is now sipped and celebrated around the world...

- Jake Emen

It’s almost a guarantee that any trip to Brazil will be laden with the intrinsic pleasures of beachside caipirinhas. The cocktail is made with cachaça, showcasing Brazil’s 500-year-old spirit of choice. Cachaça is distilled from fermented sugarcane juice, making it a cousin of rum and, more specifically, of rhum agricole, or cane juice rum, though with an even longer history. The good news is that even when you’re back home there’s no need to stop your newfound Brazilian love affair — we’re still talking about the cachaça! It’s now readily available in the U.S. and Australia, and some of the best bottles are barrel-aged using indigenous Brazilian woods that deliver entirely unique flavours.

“Cachaça as a category is aged in 30 different woods,” says Peter Nevenglosky, cofounder of Avuá Cachaça. “We find the unique flavours and applications to be truly compelling and something we want to continue to share with the increasingly adventurous drinking public.”