Cachaca Serra Pretta. As the bottle tells us this has been in production since 1908. So we have over 100 years worth of Cachaca producing experience behind this Cachaca.

Serra Preta is produced from cane to bottle at the Novo and Beatriz sugar estates 6 Kilometres from the town of Alagoa Nova, Pernambuco State, Paraiba.

In Brasil Cachaca Serra Preta retails at around $R39 (around £7.50) for a 700ml bottle. It comes in a tall angular bottle with a very short neck. It is bottled at 45% ABV. Should it reach the UK or Europe I would expect to pay around £30 for a bottle.

It doesn’t have a “definitive” age statement and is stored in Freijo casks for “upto” 2 years. Freijo is sometimes referred to as Jennywood and is native to Mexico and Brasil.

Cachaca Serra Preta is proud to be 100% natural. The sugarcane is fertilised using manure, sugarcane bagasse and other by products of previous distillations. No chemicals are used during the production of this Cachaca. The harvesting of the sugar cane is done by hand. After harvesting the sugarcane is washed, milled and fermented with natural yeasts, made from the “sugarcane broth”. It is then distilled in small batches in Copper Pot Stills.

The Cachaca has won a few awards – Big Gold Medal Award at the Hyatt Cachaca Masters 2005 and it picked up an award in 2009 from Playboy Magazine (?).

As I have mentioned before translating and finding information these Cachaca’s available only in Brasil is pretty tricky……..Their website is here.

So without further ado – and with little else to say we may as well see what we think of this Cachaca.

First up this should offer me quite a different experience to some of the other Cachaca’s I have tried as I believe it is the first white/silver Cachaca I have had that has been aged in Freijo wood.

In the glass Cachaca Serra Preta is crystal clear. Apparently the Freijo wood does not add colour of flavour the Cachaca.It just preserves its natural colour. Interesting.

At 45% ABV this is stronger than most other white/clear Cachaca I have tried. Especially those at the cheaper end of the scale.

That is quite apparent on the nose as it is much more “boozy” than the Cachaca’s bottled at 38% and 40%ABV. It isn’t hugely aggressive but it is more medicinal on the nose. It’s not a very grassy or vegetal nose. It reminds me of antiseptic and children’s cough mixture. Hints of sour cream. Further nosing does reveal a herbal grassiness and some more refreshing sprigs of mint.

Time in the glass definitely improves the nose as its quite aggressive and pungent when first poured. This tempers after 10 minutes or so in the glass.

Whether it is the Freijo wood or just the way it has been produced this Cachaca Serra Preta does seem a little different to other white cachaça. There is a slight influence of some pot pourri and scented soap.

There may also be some fruity notes of banana and some red grapes.

Sipped Cachaca Serra Preta is quite different to the nose. Initially its very spicy and a little overwhelming. Luckily further sips reveal much more than boozy heat.

It’s a very clean tasting spirit. Crisp and quite dry. There are some subtle notes of vanilla and ginger on the mid palate. It’s quite bitter but not unpleasantly so. It has a slight creaminess when you first sip but this moves into a drier crisper profile with only subtle hints of flavour rather than a full on assault.

The finish is reasonable but nothing exciting – I prefer a bit more oak and age in my drink so it is a little neutral for my tastes.

At the price point I would imagine this is used more as a mixer.

It picks up a fair bit when mixed in a Ti Punch or Caiprinha – the extra ABV really hits the spot and some of the banana, antiseptic and herbal notes return to the mix.

It’s nicely put together but I think I personally prefer some of the more wood driven Cachaca. This is a more neutral, dry style of Cachaca which doesn’t quite hit the spot for me.

Not my favourite so far.