Cachaça and Caipirinha

Specialised

Spirit distilled from fresh SUGARCANE JUICE — not molasses, which is what separates it from most rum — and Brazil’s national spirit, made in tens of thousands of stills from industrial column plants to artisanal alembics in Minas Gerais, Paraty and Salinas, aged in Brazilian woods like amburana and jequitibá that exist in no other spirits tradition. ⚠ ITS HISTORY IS THE SUGAR ENGENHO AND SLAVERY, and it was taxed and restricted by Portugal to protect Portuguese brandy — which made it a symbol in the Inconfidência Mineira. The CAIPIRINHA — cachaça, lime, sugar, ice — is 20th century and its precise origin is not settled.