NovoFogoBarrelAgedCachaça(700mL)

<p>Cachaça with a taste of the rainforest.</p><p>Below the towering <em>Marumbi mountain </em>and above the azure Bay of Paranagua, there’s an old town of <em>Morretes</em>. The <em>Novo Fogo distillery</em>, new kid on the block, uses the <em>pure water</em> of Rio Nhundiaquara and<em> local organic sugar</em> cane that’s processed with traditional methods. Each batch is<em> really small</em> (130 liters) while the cleanest energy is used. Wild yeast ferments the sugarcane juice into alcohol in less than a day, while Cachaça is born in the copper pot still and rested in large stainless steel tanks for a year.</p><p>But the<em> real magic </em>happens in the Brazilian south, where this expression of <em>Cachaça</em> matures in ex-Bourbon American oak barrels up to <em>three years</em>. It all happens in the heat and humidity of the rainforest, and what ends up in a bottle is spectacular: Banana bread aromas followed by chocolate and coffee, while the Bourbon-inspired wood brings fresh spices and toastiness. While ordinary Cachaças make great Caipirinhas, Barrel-Aged Spirit demands being used in a classy Brazilian Old Fashioned or in a Caveira. Although we would recommend sipping it neat, too. It should remind you of Rhum Agricole. <em>Very badass</em>.</p>