Cachaca Doministro Prata. When Carlos Atia retired from his position as “Minister of the Federal Court of Accounts” in 1998, he already had an idea of how he would occupy himself in retirement.

For many years Carlos had been producing cachaca on a very small scale and gifting it to friends and family. The cachaca was of such a quality that they would often ask when they would receive another bottle of “Cachaca do Ministro”.

So with this in mind Carlos decided to upscale his production and become a formally recognised cachaca producer. So he registered Cachaca Doministro with the National Institute of Industrial Property and also with the Ministry of Agriculture, in Brasil. Carlos sadly died aged 81 in 2019 but the brand he started remains in production.

Cahcaca Doministro Prata is produced in Goias state. The state is noted for producing a lighter, cleaner style of cachaca than some other cachaca producing states in Brasil.

This cachaca has been produced from freshly harvested sugar cane grown on the estate near the distillery on a Copper Alembic Pot Still. Following distillation is has been aged for 1 year in Jequitiba barrels. Jequitiba is a Brasilian hardwood. It is not a very porous wood and as a result it imparts very little colour to cachaca. As you can see from the photos this is a crystal clear cachaca.

Since 1998 the brand has grown and now has 8 cachacas available. For further information on the brand please take a look at their website. This cachaca is available to buy direct from the website and is priced at $R56 (works out at around £7)

As usual (apologies for this) you’ll probably not be able to pick up a bottle of this without visiting Brasil. Although the brand has only been active since 1998 they still use the more “traditional” presentation for their cachaca.

So we have a tall bottle with a very short neck and a gold coloured screw cap. The bottle label is understated and a little old fashioned but it serves the purpose and is easily identifiable as cachaca.

The nose on Cachaca Doministro is quite light. It has a sweet aromas of sugar cane, vanilla and a slight note of citrus juice. Further nosing reveals some more floral notes and a very slight hint of white pepper. It’s a very clean and crisp nose.

Sipped Cachaca Doministro Prata has a bit more of a woody profile than I was expecting from the lighter nose. I’m getting a good hit of woody spice and vanilla on the initial sip. It’s very smooth and clean and easy to sip. Not at all rough with minimal alcohol burn.

It’s quite dry as well so the mid palate tends to fade out from the initial burst of wood spice and vanilla into a gentler flavour but it doesn’t offer much more in terms of flavour development. Some of the floral notes on the nose hang around for a little while and it gently fades out.

Finish wise as a result it’s pretty short overall. That said it is very dry and refreshing and would work well as a palate cleanser.

It’s not the fullest flavour I’ve ever encountered in a white cachaca but it does have a nice balance to it and whilst finish wise it’s a bit short – it’s still not a bad spirit to sip.

Mixed it is surprisingly more robust than you might think and it makes a really nice Caiprinha. Not bad at all but not the best I have ever encountered.