Cachaça Wonk - Matt Pietrek takes over the Drifter Journal

When you think of rum, you picture the Caribbean: The birthplace of the sugar cane spirit made in dozens of countries. These countries produce many millions of gallons of rum each year for the global market. But several thousand miles to the south, a single country makes more cane juice spirit annually than all the rum made worldwide The country is Brazil, and the spirit is cachaça.

Although some experts describe cachaça as Brazilian rum, history shows that description is inaccurate. The first distilled spirit made from sugar cane in the Americas was in Brazil, at least a century prior to the first Caribbean rum distillation circa 1637. In fact, Caribbean rum was jumpstarted by a group of Dutch fleeing Brazil, taking their equipment and distillation know-how with them.

Technicalities and birth-order aside, cachaça and rum are often sold-by-side in the global market. However, there are important differences between rum and cachaça worth understanding. While the majority of rum produced world-wide is made from molasses (a byproduct of sugar-cane processing), cachaça is made from freshly pressed cane juice. A spirit made from fresh cane juice has a markedly different flavor profile than one made from molasses. If you’ve ever had rhum agricole from Martinique (also made from fresh cane juice), you’ll find it has a tastes more like cachaça than a molasses-based rum.

Should you wish to explore Brazil’s national spirit, you don’t need to book a flight. Cachaça is exported to many countries around the world. We’re particularly inclined to recommend our brand, Avua Cachaça. Meanwhile, stay tuned for future posts where we dive deep into this amazing spirit and how we make the Avua Cachaça expressions.