Ratings: the Top Twenty Cachacas you can't get...

This category practically demanded by here again, gone again KM. Although I'm not ready to give Cachaça its own style, I am willing to accomodate. Chef, RIP: when you were good you were brilliant, but when you were bad, whew...
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Capn Jimbo
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Ratings: the Top Twenty Cachacas you can't get...

Post by Capn Jimbo »

When rating hay, ask horses...

As The Compleat Idiot of Rum and unlike the Preacher and his bitch the Wolfboy, I don't have to pretend to be an expert. In fact, I take great pride in my ignorance when appropriate.

So when it comes to rating cachacas, I know close to nothing. But I can tell you that cachaca is the third best selling spirit in the world - and that this cane juice spirit and the caipirinha are close to a religion in Brazil. So it should be obvious that when rating a cachaca...

Ask a Brazilian. "Best" Cachaça? Check this out...

"Almost any attempt to determine the "best" cachaça is an exercise in futility. It's like asking what's the "best" beer, "best" car, "best" scotch whiskey or the "best" anything. Most likely, if you ask the same "best" question to ten different people you'll come away with ten different answers. It's a matter of personal taste.

None the less, a major Brazilian men's magazine has attempted to rate cachaças. They assembled more than a dozen cachaça aficionados including writers, chemists, professors, distillers, musicians and others with both an understanding and passion for cachaça and had them rate some of the most renowned of the over five thousand different commercial brands in Brazil.

They produced a list of twenty brands (rated one to twenty with one being the best) that, to them, were the best of Brazil. What's most interesting about the list is that it includes both expensive and relatively inexpensive brands. You can certainly use this list as a general guideline but among cachaça connoisseurs this list certainly produces great debate."

20 — Volúpia
19 — GRM
18 — Seleta
17 — Abaíra
16 — Lua Cheia
15 — Mato Dentro
14 — Corisco
13 — Sapucaica Velha
12 — Indaiazinha
11 — Maria Izabel
10 — Piragibana
09 — Magnífica
08 — Armazém Viera
07 — Casa Bucco
06 — Boazinha
05 — Cladionor
04 — Germana
03 — Canarinha
02 — Anísio Santiago
01 — Vale Verde
Note anything interesting?

Except for "Germana" you probably haven't heard of any of them. Wouldn't you think that at least a couple of the highly promoted imported brands would have made the list? I'm talking about highly marketed Agua Luca, Leblon, Pitu, Sagatiba and Ypioca, among others. And although I've heard favorably of Germana, it is simply not available.

Not a single one on the Brazilian's list. Ain't marketing wonderful?
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Post by NCyankee »

Apparently there are a few good brands available in the Boston area, where there is a very large Brazilian population.

Hi-time wine in Cali has the 16 yr old version of Armazem Viera - unfortunately, it is over $100. Germana was in their online inventory a while back, but when I went to order it, it was out of stock and has never shown up again.

I have seen Seleta listed in inventory at a couple places online, but they were out of stock.
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