I remember one day at a bar in South Beach asking to try a widely marketed cachaça when the slightly reluctant bartender warned me that it was an “acquired taste” as she poured some into a shot glass. “So, how many people have acquired the taste?” I replied after a very quick sip. Her response was “almost none” and that they’d had that same bottle for months.
When most people hear something is an acquired taste they hesitate. If a friend described another friend as a “acquired taste” you know that’s a bad thing. Just as breaking in new shoes is something you shouldn’t need to do, facing an unpleasant process to learn to like something is rarely worth the effort.
What if cachaça could be great from the first sip?
No blending sugar into the bottle mask a bitter flavor or asking the consumer to put in the time to “acquire a taste.” I knew our Kachaça needed to be honest and drinkable right out of the bottle and that meant finding the right Brazilian distillery.
Accomplishing that is not an easy task when there are hundreds of small distilleries across Brazil delivering widely varying products. It’s an interesting business and in many cases consumers support their local distillery. That may sound admirable, but one person described it as supporting your local football team regardless of how good they actually are. There are popular local products that never leave Brazil, and many that probably shouldn’t.
I sampled every cachaça I could find including every product on the market and raw samples from multiple distilleries across Brazil. It took close to a year of tasting and blending to find the right balance and profile from a partner that could consistently deliver a high-quality product.
We are proud of Kachaça!
There’s no need to acquire a taste for Kachaça. Kachaça is a special blend that relies on two rums aged in wooden casks along with one aged in stainless steel, all for differing lengths of time, to get an honest flavor with the right balance. Just like tequila, vodka, or gin, drinking it straight can highlight the subtleties in the flavor and I encourage you take the time to try it with just ice. I hope you taste what we were trying to accomplish.
After that first sip, go ahead and muddle some lime and add a little sugar and you have a sophisticated replacement for the margarita.
Welcome to Brazil!