The Most Sippable Aged Cachaça

Go beyond the Caipirinha with these aged cachaças. All worthy of being sipped neat or drunk next to an ice-cold beer.
Sep 26, 2017
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    88
    Rich & Sweet
    Ouro is Yaguara's aged expression, launched to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympic games in Rio. It is the brain child of Master Blender Erwin Weimann and is a blend of fresh sugarcane distillate that was aged in several types of wood--two Brazilian woods, Amburana and Cambreúva, and American oak. It is bottled at 42% ABV. Note: The bottle is designed by UK-based glass artist Brian Clarke.
  • 5
    91
    Hogo
    The Reserva Especial is a limited edition aged cachaça that builds on the popular flagship release from Maison Leblon, which is rested in XO cognac casks for up to six months. This special distillate is aged up to two years in new Limousin French oak casks, then blended by Master Distiller Gilles Merlet.
  • 4
    92
    Woody & Fruity
    With around 16,000 known tree species in the Amazon Rainforest and Brazil being where 60% of this lush jungle sits, the country's national spirit has a variety of native woods to choose from. While other categories like whiskey and tequila may typically only use the same few wood types for barreling, by comparison, cachaça, has access to an almost limitless selection. Released in September 2016, Avuá Cachaça Tapinhoã is barrel-aged in a rare type of wood, indigenous to South America. The tapinhoã cask was reclaimed and repurposed from vintage barrels kept in the distiller's family, and used to age this cachaça for at least 2 years. It is bottled at 40% ABV.
  • 3
    92
    Sweet & Fruity
    This Barrel-Aged Cachaça is made from certified organic sugarcane that is crushed within 24 hours of harvest at the Novo Fogo estate in Morretes, Paraná. It is fermented over 18 hours, distilled once in copper pot stills and aged for 2 - 3 years in Four Roses bourbon barrels that have been taken apart, sanded and lightly re-toasted. Fun fact: The distillery is built into a hill so that gravity naturally lets the cachaça travel from fermentation to distillation to barreling to bottling.
  • 2
    92
    Herbal
    Named for trees that are indigenous to South America, Avuá Cachaça Amburana begins in the single-estate sugarcane fields of Fazenda da Quinta, a family-owned farm located about four hours north of Rio de Janeiro. The hand-cut sugarcane is ground with a waterwheel to extract the juice, which is fermented for less than 24 hours using airborne wild yeasts and distilled in an alembic copper pot still. The cachaça rests for up to two years in casks made from Amburana wood.
  • 1
    95
    Sweet & Fruity
    Novo Fogo cachaça begins with freshly cut, certified-organic, estate-grown sugarcane that is crushed within 24 hours of harvest and immediately fermented for no more than 18 hours. The Tanager (Portuguese for "little bird") is an expression that is aged in two different types of barrels. First, it is aged one year in Four Roses bourbon barrels that have been disassembled, sanded out and lightly re-toasted. Then that distillate is finished for 2 to 3 months in arariba (Brazilian zebra-wood), which imparts its red color.