Drink of the Week: Abelha Cachaça

This week I gladly would have grabbed whatever alcohol was within arm’s reach, but luckily what happened to be at hand was the newly available Abelha Organic Cachaça. For those unfamiliar with the spirit, cachaça is a style of rum produced in Brazil from fresh sugarcane juice rather than molasses. The national spirit of Brazil, cachaça must meet specific production criteria to be labeled as such.

Released stateside this past September, the Abelha Cachaça is produced in a high-elevation region of Bahia, one of Brazil’s coastal states, at the family estate of Marcos Vaccaro, where the organic farm produces the sugarcane as well as coffee and fruit trees. The spirit is distilled in copper pot stills and comes in two expressions: Prata (silver), which is rested for six months post-distillation in open-air steel tanks, and Ouro (gold), which is aged three years in Garapeira casks, a native Brazilian ash wood. The Prata has a bright, fruit-forward fragrance with some slight grassy flavors and would make a perfect Caipirinha. But right now I’m reaching for the Ouro, with an aroma of ripe bananas, stewed apples and a peppery spice that makes a delicious Old Fashioned by way of Brazil. $39.99 for the Prata, $51.99 for the Ouro, caskers.com.