Have you heard of Januária?

By now, you probably know that I like cachaças and caipirinhas. A spirit that is linked in so many ways to Brazil's cultural identity and our historical connection to sugarcane. Many afficionados will say that the best cachaças are distilled in the State of Minas Gerais and the most famous brands come from a place called Salinas. However, a new town is on my cachaça watch list.  It's called Januária.

A few days ago, Alexandre Chiavegatti a friend who also loves to scout for unknown and hard-to-find brands, gave me a bottle of "Velha de Januária" (which I had never heard of). Yesterday in Brasília, I walked into a liquor store and found another brand from the same location called "Caribé". So I bought two bottles, one for Alexandre and one for my pantry. I just love collecting these little obscure brands which are pretty much distilled in the same way that was done in 17th century colonial Brazil and then aged in casks made from wood with romantic names like amburana or jequitibá rosa. It feels like, every bottle I buy, in a way is a celebration of a little piece of small town Brazil. A Brazil of open fields, dusty roads and simple people who know how to live in a slower pace.

For those curious, Januária is a little town (pop. 65,000) hidden in the northern part of Minas Gerais, 613 km from the state capital Belo Horizonte. This is what Wikipedia says about the place...

"The first explorers arrived in 1553 looking for gold. They were led by Castelhano Francisco Bruza de Espinosa and Padre João de Apicuelta Navarro. The first settlement was called Brejo do Salgado, due to the salinity of the streams and the marshes. The first sugarcane mill was set up and soon a chapel followed dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Amparo. In 1833 Brejo do Salgado became a "vila", or town and the seat was transferred to the left bank of the São Francisco River, the name being changed to Januária, in homage to Princess Januária, daughter of the Emperor Pedro I."

The Legendary Cachaça

When it comes to determining the best tasting rum, vodka or whisky, there's always controversy. In terms of cachaça (Brazil's sexy spirit), there's a myth around Anísio Santiago, this hard-to-find, priced-like-a-great-Bordeaux brand is worshiped by aficionados around the country as the very best Brazilian cachaça. Anísio Santiago is named after the legendary figure who began distilling in Salinas (State of Minas Gerais) back in the 40's and put this small town on the map as the cachaça capital (a bit like what Lynchburg is for the Tennessee Whiskey).  The original name was Havana which the family had to give up due to a trademark dispute, renaming it later.

My good friend, Flavio Maria, just gave me a bottle as a birthday gift.  Like a fine Carmenère, this little gem will be savored on a very special moment.

For those interested in more on one Brazil's most legendary brands, there's a book on it called "O Mito da Cachaça" written by Roberto Carlos Santiago.

A Cultural Movement Celebrating Brazilian Bar Food

Saturday night I had dinner with Eduardo Maya and Eulália Araujo, the visionary founders of an annual culinary contest to find the very best Brazilian bar food, called Comida di Buteco.  What started off as a culinary contest 9 years ago is now an amazing cultural movement celebrating Brazil's botequims - the popular name for the authentic Brazilian pub - and the colorful food served with beer or cachaça. If Spain has the tapas, Brazil has the petiscos or tira-gostos as they are called.  It all started in Belo Horizonte, a city known as the bar capital of the country and is now spreading to other cities.

Eduardo Maya is a charismatic guy and an enthusiastic advocate for elevating Brazilian bar gastronomy - often considered low cuisine - to the respectful place it deserves in the country's food culture.  He also talks passionately about how this movement has exponentially improved the lives of dozens of families who own these bars and given them a sense of affiliation beyond what he had initially envisioned.

To give of an idea of how popular this movement is becoming, in the 2007 edition, 130,000 people voted for their favorite petiscos in 40 selected bars and the final event, which closes off the month-long Comida di Buteco, gathered over 500,000 people in a week-end of music and the best Brazilian bar food.  It ends with an awards ceremony.

Click here to read an article that ran on The New York Times on the Comida di Buteco movement.

Another great example of how certain cultural movements have the powerful force of mobilizing people behind a cause. 

Cachaça Dona Carolina... no longer a well-kept secret

In my quest to find the perfect cachaça, today I visited Cachaçaria Dona Carolina (located within the stunning Fazenda Dona Carolina - a 19th century coffee plantation beautifully converted to a resort) located in Itatiba, a 90-minute drive from São Paulo. There is a lot of informality in the production of cachaças, so I was extremely impressed with the level of professionalism, passion and attention to detail that the team at Dona Carolina puts into making their magic. The distillation is carried out in copper pot stills known as alambics. The initial production is stored in 9,000-liter casks made from a Brazilian native wood called Jequitibá-Rosa, used because of its neutral qualities. The cachaça is then aged in an underground cellar in oak barrels imported from Scotland.

One of the highlights is visiting the cachaçaria, where Fernando who was kind enough to give us a tour of the facilities, had us sample the exceptional Cachaça Dona Carolina.  He also prepared one of the best caipirinhas I've ever had. And if you want to get a little adventurous, there are also over 400 labels to choose from.

As an aficionado, Cachaça Dona Carolina is definitely on my list of all-time favorites.

Celebrating Brazil's Cachaça... here's to 2008!

Another interesting book I recently read is "Cachaça - O Mais Brasileiro dos Prazeres ('the most Brazilian Pleasure')" written by Jairo Martins da Silva, probably the most-knowledgeable guy there is on the subject.
The theme has always fascinated me because I believe there are few products that incorporate the Brazilian spirit like cachaça and 'caipirinhas' - the wonderful cocktail indelibly associated to cachaça - that tastes like a hot summer evening on Ipanema Beach (just as much as a Pisco Sour transports me to Lima or a Mojito to Miami).

Jairo Silva is a gifted storyteller. His book takes you on a journey from the historic roots of sugar-cane processing during colonial days to the influence of cachaça in Brazilian folclore, music and popular literature.  

The question is... why hasn't cachaça become a global alcoholic staple like vodka, whisky, (or the more Latin) rum or tequila?

Traditional brands like Pitú®, Ypióca®, Velho Barreiro® or Cachaça 51® have been exporting to Europe, North America and Japan for many years. And it has been interesting to see new brands starting off with a global mindset, like Sagatiba®, Leblon® or Cabana®.  I was thrilled to see at the ANUGA showcase in Germany, the presence of a great local brand I admire called Armazem Viera® from hip Florianópolis and newcomer Gabriela® - an organic cachaça from Ribeirão Preto. Lots of excitement in the category but we'll have to wait and see how much these initiatives will help increase cachaça's profile on a global scale. 

Meanwhile, as Brazilians would say... 'Saúde in 2008!'.