Arrive Magazine - July/August, 2008

the brand, there are mild flowery and fruity aromas. But the rewards are well worth the effort.

A Brazilian Icon

What futbol (soccer) is to Brazilian sports, cachaça is to Brazilian spirits— the only thing that matters. This pure cane rum is best known as the key ingredient in Brazil’s most famous cocktail export, the caipirinha—a summery concoction made with sugar and lime and usually served over ice. The cocktail has replaced the mojito as the drink of choice at chic bars from New York to Rio de Janeiro.

“Cachaça is the third most consumed spirit in the world, and the national spirit of Brazil,” says Steven Luttman, founder of the award-winning Leblon Cachaça. “Upscale luxury rum drinkers want their Grey Goose [vodka], too. The natural step up in rum is to the fresh cane-based rums: cachaça and rhum agricoles.”

Luttman says that strict rules govern cachaça production in Brazil and that the Brazilian cachaça association is working with U.S. authorities to have the drink recognized with its own appellation of origin.

Spirit of the Caribbean

The go-to rhum agricole drink of the French Caribbean is ti’ punch. Made with a slice of lime and cane syrup, the drink is designed to enhance but not overwhelm the rum splashed over the top.

There are only a handful rhum agricoles available in the United States right now, and only the ones from Martinique have an Apellation d’Origine Contrôlée. This is the Gallic version of the Norma Oficial Mexicana that regulates tequila, or the laws that specify exactly how and where Scotch whisky and Kentucky bourbon are made.

Pure Summer

So, in terms of taste, what’s the difference between molasses and cane-based spirits?

“A molasses-based rum has to be distilled to about 92 to 95 percent alcohol—that’s more than 180 proof,” says Ed Hamilton, the self-described minister of rum, who imports Neis-son and La Favorite into the United States. “The reason you have to do that is because during the sugar-making process you’re concentrating all the potassium and sulfur that

the cane takes from the ground as nutrients, and you need to get rid of those flavors. You don’t have to distill rhum agricole to such a high alcohol concentration, so it has a much bigger aroma, body and finish.”

Pure cane-based spirits are aged in wooden casks for a few months or longer. The longer it’s aged, the darker the drink—the Clément aged agricoles are quite tasty. But even the clearest of the lot still has a compelling complexity of flavor.

“Unaged spirits—be it vodka, rum, eau de vie, anything that doesn’t age in wood or only ages a very short amount of time—have very little to hide behind to change the flavor of the distillate,” says Meehan. “ Sometimes with rum, though, the producers add subtle flavoring or filter it. I think a spirit should taste like the product that’s being distilled. I like the pure cane-based rums and cachaças because the better ones taste like what they’re made from.”

A taste of summer and a gourmet treat all rolled into one. It’s impossible to bottle the sun, but cane-based spirits come pretty close.

_cT_aa_in_pg_ire_inri_hn_ae ginger

(Favorite of Leblon’s Steven Luttman)
Whole tangerine, segmented
Fresh grated ginger
2 tsp. honey
2 oz. cachaça
Club soda
Ice

Put all of the ingredients except cachaça and soda in a shaker and muddle for 15 seconds. Add cachaça and shake. Pour over ice and top with club soda to taste.