It all started in 1997, when entrepreneur Elber Sales, still a business student, read a report that said the government was going to provide incentives for the export of Craft Cachaça and make it the national drink, like tequila in Mexico and vodka in Russia. The choice for the city of Salinas, in the North of Minas, was not just because it hosts the best and most famous cachaças in the world. His father, born there, had already worked in the industry a decade before. On the market since 1999, Cachaça Bandarra began to be exported to Germany, France and Switzerland in 2001. Cachaça Bandarra Ouro 700ml is a drink aged for three years in balsam barrels, a typically Brazilian wood. Light, has an alcohol content of 40%. Source: Cachaçaria Nacional.