Cachaçagora - Cachaça, Caipirinha, And Cocktails tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-1686278 2013-05-05T19:54:11-05:00 Quite possibly the best English-language blog about cachaça, the national distilled spirit of Brazil. TypePad Cachacagorahttp://feedburner.google.com No, HuffPo, Not All Cachaças Are Created Equal tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341d764753ef01901bdbfaaf970b 2013-05-05T19:54:11-05:00 2013-05-05T19:54:11-05:00 There are three things that hold cachaça back from its rightful status among one of the world's finest spirts. First, there was the first wave of cachaças that became available outside of Brazil--rough, cheap, industrial and (I'm convinced) created in... Phil Gomes

Brazil-In-Chicago 2011 Tasting

There are three things that hold cachaça back from its rightful status among one of the world's finest spirts.

First, there was the first wave of cachaças that became available outside of Brazil--rough, cheap, industrial and (I'm convinced) created in the same factories that produce vehicular ethanol. I'm certain many Americans tried such cachaças and got a hangover that convinced them to never give it a second try. One correspondent referred to a popular industrial brand as "the liquified form of getting hit in the face with a shovel." 

Second, cachaça consumption is flat-to-down even in Brazil as liberalized trade and the greater choices that come with it compete for the disposable, booze-buying reais of a growing middle class. Among many Brazilians, the caipiroska (a caipirinha that substitutes vodka for cachaça) is sadly considered an "upgrade" from their native spirit.

Third, American tastemakers don't really know how to approach cachaça and, I suspect, are either too ashamed or too busy to properly explore it.

I submit the following from the Huffington Post:

Spirit importers are beginning to market "premium" cachaca, which really just translates into a glitzy bottle design along with an upscale marketing campaign all in the hopes of selling a much higher priced product. I advise you not to go that route when purchasing cachaca for your caipirinhas. In Brazil there are two very popular brands that are used at most restaurants and clubs in making caipirinhas and they can be found here for well under $20 a liter. Seek them out. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Not true. Not true at all. And, if you care a whit about what you drink, I can almost guarantee you that you will be quite disappointed.

Exactly what kind of quality do you get for $20/liter in the U.S.? Quite literally, you get the same cachaças that Brazilians get for RS$2/liter. ($0.99 at today's exchange rate.) These are typically made using industrial processes and, in some cases, severely test the Brazilian government's definition of "cachaça", such as the maximum allowable amount of additional sugar added to the distillate.

Think for a second about what you would be drinking if your booze budget was $0.99 a week.

A $25-to-$40 bottle of cachaça in the U.S. isn't always a case of "$2 shirt, $30 alligator", which the author seems to imply here. When buying Leblon, for example, you're getting cachaça that has been aged in XO cognac casks. Copa (known as Magnífica in Brazil) uses oak and ipê casks, resting a distillate produced by a rare kind of tripartite still--only two are known to exist. Cabana ages its spirit in jequitibá, which mellows the spirit while introducing minimal color and flavor characteristics. Novo Fogo's excellent cachaças are certified organic, and we all know that you happily pay more for that. (Note that most cachaças aren't actually aged or rested at all.) All of these cachaças I've mentioned are not only fine specimens, but are widely available and very well-packaged. (You can see for yourself in the picture snapped above during a 2011 tasting, to which some of these brands contributed.)

If our tastemakers want to avoid smothering nascent stateside cachaça interest in the crib, they'd do well to spend some time exploring it.

http://www.cachacagora.com/2013/05/no-huffpo-not-all-cacha%C3%A7as-are-created-equal.html Catching Up With Cachaca tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341d764753ef017d41ffd603970c 2013-03-17T16:22:57-05:00 2013-03-31T09:28:37-05:00 Those of you who know me recognize that business school has taken its toll on this blog at precisely the time--with World Cup and the Olympics approaching--when it makes the least amount of sense. So I made it a point... Phil Gomes
Those of you who know me  recognize that business school has taken its toll on this blog at precisely the time--with World Cup and the Olympics approaching--when it makes the least amount of sense.

So I made it a point to spend a good chunk of my annual family trip to Brazil exploring the hobby that inspired me to start this blog *gulp* almost years ago.

The cachaca appreciation society that my in-laws are a part of (Confraria de Copo Furado) is working on a kind of monograph about the history of cachaca, how it's made, and the proper way to taste it. We're not yet sure what final form it will take, but we're in the process of pulling in a number of inputs and translating from the original Portuguese.

Here I am hard at work with my father-in-law Kede.

I also read a few peer-reviewed journal articles about cachaca and, specifically, the effect of wood choice in barrels. Much of the chemistry (and, in one case, the Portuguese) was quite beyond me. That said, one study indicated that barrels using native Brazilian woods offer more anti-oxidants than plain ol' oak. Good thing, according to the study, since the meat-rich Brazilian diet would tend to introduce more free radicals.

You know... 'Cause I drink it for the anti-oxidants.

Looking at the in-laws' collection, I noticed a special edition bottle of Leblon made for the Confraria. Here's Leblon's Phillippe Mille showing it off.

As to cachaca... Kede is big on Harmonie Schnaps cachaca these days. Don't let the word "Schnaps" throw you; this isn't the cloyingly sweet crud you used to sneak sips of between algebra and geo-history in 10th grade. No, this is a high-quality
http://www.cachacagora.com/2013/04/catching-up-with-cachaca.html Cachaça & the U.S. Gov't: Howlers In Federal Register Filing tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341d764753ef01774306b691970d 2012-07-05T12:26:35-05:00 2012-07-05T13:05:32-05:00 "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair My father-in-law (the real cachaça expert whom you would be reading if he blogged) pointed me to the... Phil Gomes

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

My father-in-law (the real cachaça expert whom you would be reading if he blogged) pointed me to the much-celebrated filing in the Federal Register (PDF) wherein the "old, weary, unelected giants of concrete and steel" (as I called them) officially "recognized" cachaça as uniquely Brazilian.

A lot of people made a big deal out of this, including me. However, the filing (like so many other government documents) should have come with its own rim-shot sound effects. 

According to the document, the Brazilian government petitioned the ATF in an April 2001 letter to "amend its regulations to recognize...cachaça as a distinctive product of Brazil." Despite the fact that cachaça is well-known worldwide as a Brazilian beverage "no further action was taken with regard to the request."

A 2010 petition was apparently more successful and, in April 2012, the bureaucrats on both sides signed an agreement. It stipulated that, if the U.S. recognized cachaça as "a type of rum that is a distinctive product of Brazil, then Brazil, within 30 days thereafter, will recognize Bourbon Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey as distinctive products of the United States." Tit-for-tat, I guess.

Let's start with this (boldface emphasis mine here and following):

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) administers the FAA [Federal Alcohol Administration] Act pursuant to section 1111(d) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. 

Yup... It's a Homeland Security matter. So, if you drink any foreign booze the U.S. government doesn't like, you drink with Bin-Laden's ghost!

More:

Cachaça products are generally classified as rums under the terms of TTB's current labeling regulations.

It's important to note that the filing, as I read it, still classifies cachaça as "rum" but no longer requires the sub-labeling of "Brazilian Rum". The fact that cachaça actually pre-dates rum by more than a century was apparently lost on the regulators. 

Okay, now here's what got my father-in-law started:

In some instances, products identified by importers as cachaça have been manufactured using a small quantity of corn or corn syrup in the fermentation process. Since these products do not meet the standard for rum... TTB has required the labeling of these products as distilled spirit specialty products.

If the distiller uses corn as a meaningful component of the must, then the regulator most certainly has a case here. However, in quite a few instances, the distiller may use corn merely as a means to to catalyze the yeasts at the fermentation stage, not as a substantial part of the final product. This rule, as written, would unfairly force these cachacas back into another labeling ghetto. 

Later, the filing then goes back to reiterate the corn issue:

...under the terms of the proposed text set forth in this document, distilled spirits that use any corn or corn syrup in the fermentation process would not meet the proposed standard for "cachaça" because they are not manufactured in compliance with the laws of Brazil regulating the manufacture of cachaça for consumption in that country. 

Well, it's nice to know that the U.S. government cares about the laws in another country as they pertain to their labeling and marketing in the U.S. (Cold comfort to Gibson Guitars, speaking of the unnecessarily persecuted.) However, the U.S. government breaks with this standard in the very next paragraph:

The Brazilian standard allows products designated as Cachaça to have an alcohol content ranging from 38 to 48 percent alcohol by volume. However, since the standard proposed in this document would identify Cachaça as a type of rum, and the United States standard requires that rum must be bottled at not less than 40 percent alcohol by volume, or 80 degrees proof, any "Cachaça" imported into the United States would have to conform to this minimum bottling proof requirement. A product that is bottled at below 40 percent alcohol by volume would fall outside this class and type designation. Depending on the way that such a product is manufactured, it could be labeled as a "diluted Cachaça" or a distilled spirits specialty product bearing a statement of composition.

So, in one case, the Brazilian standard is the basis for the government's opinion and, in another, cachaça must be inelegantly stuffed into the creaky "rum" definition due to a minor misalignment in alcohol content ranges. Checking my collection, this ruling would invalidate a little less than 10% of my stash as Saturno, Abelha and Aroma Brazil are at between 38% and 39% ABV. At least one distiller I've talked to even dilutes its product by 2% ABV for tax reasons. 

So, there's still something worth celebrating about the regulatory filing (as some cachaça makers certainly have) in terms of Brazil getting some long-overdue diplomatic and bureaucratic recognition for its native spirit. However, the overreach of the federal government and the unwillingness of the detailcrats to bother with details are still very much on display. 

 http://www.cachacagora.com/2012/07/cachaca-the-us-govt-howlers-in-federal-register-filing.html Diageo Buys Ypióca As Consolidation Continues tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341d764753ef016766e25878970b 2012-05-28T19:18:43-05:00 2012-05-28T19:18:43-05:00 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... Phil Gomes

Ypioca

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

 http://www.cachacagora.com/2012/05/diageo-buys-ypioca-as-consolidation-continues.html B Honey: Brazilian Fantasy #23,402 tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341d764753ef01630428550d970d 2012-04-14T11:22:50-05:00 2012-04-14T13:25:11-05:00 Cachaça? Check. Honey to satisfy greater-than-average sweet tooth? Gotcha. Formula 1 tie-in? Okay, now you're not even playing fair. Nifty VIP packaging? Oh, c'mon... From TheDieLine.Com, a package-design blog: B honey cachaça is a new Brazilian spirit that blends sugarcane... Phil Gomes

Cachaça? Check.

Honey to satisfy greater-than-average sweet tooth? Gotcha.

Formula 1 tie-in? Okay, now you're not even playing fair. 

Nifty VIP packaging? Oh, c'mon...

From TheDieLine.Com, a package-design blog:

B honey cachaça is a new Brazilian spirit that blends sugarcane rum with honey and a touch of lime, creating a premium beverage from a common drink. "B” is a new liquor brand co-founded by Formula 1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. and friends.  “B” is made with sugar cane from the region of Brazil and refined to create a perfect blend of sweet and citrus, adding honey, lemon and generous doses of sophistication, from the recipe to the packaging.

You have my attention...

B_case_opentop

 http://www.cachacagora.com/2012/04/b-honey-brazilian-fantasy-23402.html Cachaça... Recognized! tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341d764753ef0163040113a0970d 2012-04-11T21:00:29-05:00 2012-04-11T21:00:29-05:00 Things have been quiet around here with work, gradschool, and daddydom, so you know this has to be big. The old, weary, unelected giants of concrete and steel have seen it fit to "recognize" cachaça as distinctively Brazilian, presumably in... Phil Gomes

Things have been quiet around here with work, gradschool, and daddydom, so you know this has to be big.

The old, weary, unelected giants of concrete and steel have seen it fit to "recognize" cachaça as distinctively Brazilian, presumably in exchange for reciprocal recognition of bourbon and Tennessee whiskey (no, not the same thing) as distinctively American. 

The rest of us... like... you know... work for a living. 

Hat-tip to Copa's Jason Montgomery, who was first to me with the news. 

Hopefully, this will mean an end to ridiculous labeling laws that gave us the idiotic and obligatory "Brazilian Rum" label. Just in time, too, with the Brazil-hosted World Cup and Olympics just around the corner. Hopefully, the Federal Register shaved a page or two off of its 80,000+ pages this week.

Leblon (leaders of the "Legalize Cachaça" campaign) is understandably throwing some happy hours. In case you're not on their list, here they are:

  • New York: Lani Kai – Friday April 13, 6-8pm
  • Miami: Novecento - Thursday April 12, 6-8pm
  • Chicago: Union Sushi - Thursday April 12, 6-8pm
  • Philadelphia: Alma de Cuba – Friday April 13, 7-9pm
  • Rio de Janeiro: Fasano – Friday April 13, 6-9pm
  • São Paulo: Mocotó – Friday April 13, 6-9pm | Mani – Friday April 13, 6-9pm

Okay, cachaça marketers... You now officially have no excuse! Cachaça is "legalized." All eyes are going to be on Brazil for the next four years at least. At least a few of you have been acquired by, or otherwise received money from, some of the booze industry's deepest pockets. Interest in Brazilian culture will never be higher in the foreseeable future. If you cannot make it happen in the next four years... GIVE. IT. UP. The ball is in a dead hover over home plate. 

Yes, I know "cachaça" and "caipirinha" are tough for the gringos to pronounce. But they figured out "mo-HEE-toe" for Pete'sPedro's sake! Interest in creative cockails is up across the board. Hell... There's was even a cute animated movie set in (and took its name from) Rio... with an Angry Birds tie-in to boot! Hell... Even survival-horror dead-enders forgot about Turistas ages ago.

Now's your moment, guys. Boa sorte!

 http://www.cachacagora.com/2012/04/cachaca-recognized.html Cachaça Petisco da Vila: Treasure in the Mall tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341d764753ef0154368fc5be970c 2011-11-02T07:57:58-05:00 2011-11-02T07:57:58-05:00 Sometime last June, while visiting Rio after a business trip in São Paulo, my mother-in-law took me to a very special place. She took me to the mall. Now, new readers might understandably judge me on this basis and consider... Phil Gomes

Pestico da Vila

Sometime last June, while visiting Rio after a business trip in São Paulo, my mother-in-law took me to a very special place.

She took me to the mall.

Now, new readers might understandably judge me on this basis and consider such a trip somewhere between a gross affront to all world travelers ("You crossed the equator to go to... the mall?") and an incredibly unmanly capitulation ("You crossed the equator so that... your mother-in-law could take you to the mall?"). Long-time readers know better: 1) My mother-in-law is cooler than any of us and 2) me going out of my way to go to a shopping mall is a truly Nixon-goes-to-China moment. 

Now, within this mall is something you will be hard-pressed to find in the U.S.—something that the various needling do-gooders and joyless regulators would never allow to widely proliferate in the country that at one time held freedom as its highest-order ideal. 

Pestico da Vila

Heard of a brewpub? Well, I present to you Petisco da Vila: a distillery pub in the Nova América mall (among other locations). 

More details, along with video and a slideshow, after the jump. 

Pestico da Vila

That's right... Within the Nova América mall, about 20 yards from such standard mall fare as a McDonald's and Subway Sandwiches, lies a restaurant with great food, a world-class collection of artesenal cachaças and, yes, its very own (damn good) cachaça produced on-premises.

Pestico da Vila

Of course, running a cachaça distillery in a mall is not without its difficulties and challenges. For one thing, there's no place to grow the cane. In Petisco da Vila's case, it has to be trucked in and stored before crushing. Sometimes, try as one might, it can't always be from the same source. Fair sacrifice. 

Petisco da Vila

For another, note the fume hood over the still in the photo below. It turned out that the employees working in the store above the still were wondering why their days were... going... by... just... a... little... bit... slower. The fume hood is an attempt to remedy this though I'm sure that, during my own time working in retail, I might've quite welcomed such a secondhand experience. 

Pestico da Vila

Third, even the most expansive and well-planned malls are often starved for space. Cane-crushing, fermenting, aging, labeling and inventory storage take place in a series of tiny rooms along an easy-to-miss hallway between two stores. (See below.) 

Petisco da Vila

A good chunk of inventory (and there's plenty, as you'll see in the video) ends up in this tiny Harry-Potter's-bedroom closet here.

Petisco da Vila

The distillery master, who goes by the nickname Zara (below) is impressive just as much for the quality of his product as a near-encyclopedic knowledge of hard-rock guitar players that even rivals my own. He sent me home with a generous amount of samples.

Petisco da Vila

The video and slideshow has the rest.

Slideshow

Video