The Top Cachaça For The Olympics

Produced in São Paolo at the IRB Tatuzhinho 3 Fazendas Distillery, this is their Tradicional expression. It is double-distilled and aged for an unspecified amount of time in large oak vats before bottling.

With over 240 million liters sold annually, 51 is Brazil's favorite cachaça, and one of the top-selling spirits worldwide. Most commonly consumed in the Caipirinha or Batida, 51 is a classic expression of Brazil's national drink. In the United States, 51 is imported by The Sazerac Company.

Launched in the U.S. in October 2014, Avuá Cachaça Oak is a single-sourced cachaça distilled by third-generation distiller, Katia Espírito Santo at her farm in Carmo, Rio de Janeiro. The sustainably-produced cachaça is aged for up to two years in carvalho (French oak), the most commonly used wood for aging cachaça in Brazil. This oak previously aged white wine before its use here.

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.

One of Brazil’s only female cachaça distillers, Katia Espírito Santo, oversees a sustainable distillation process that begins with the sugarcane that’s grown without pesticides and hand-harvested at her farm, Fazenda da Quinta in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The cane is crushed by a spring-fed water wheel and the fermented juice is distilled in copper pot stills. Avuá Cachaça Prata is rested in stainless steel tanks for six months before being hand-bottled.

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.

Master Distiller Gilles Merlet approaches the distillation of Leblon’s ubiquitous flagship cachaça as if it were a fine French wine. Freshly-cut sugarcane is gently pressed, then the juice is fermented for 20-24 hours and distilled in alembic copper pot stills. The cachaça rests for up to six months in XO cognac casks from France.

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.

Novo Fogo Chameleon is an ode to one of the most beloved creatures of the Brazilian rainforest, for which Novo Fogo's zero-waste facility is deeply committed. Their cachaça is aged for one year in Four Roses bourbon barrels that have been disassembled, sanded out and lightly re-toasted. The cachaça is bottled without filtration.

The certified organic sugarcane is grown at the Novo Fogo estate in Morretes, Paraná, which is mere steps away from the coastal rainforest, Floresta Atlântica. The fresh cane juice is immediately fermented over 18 hours and given a single-distillation in pot stills. It's rested a year in stainless steel, with no filtration. Fun fact: The bottle design is curvy to represent the company's commitment to preserving nature, which has no perfectly straight lines.