Cachaca of the Year 2020. For our first Cachaca of the Year, I willl not name a shortlist, I will just announce which cachaca I enjoyed the most this year.  To be honest (and shame on you all) the reviews of cachaca I do, just don’t generate the same kind of interest that my usual rum reviews do.

This is partly because cachaca is still very much a “niche” product outside of Brasil. So, I understand that a lot of you probably won’t look to read a review of a spirit you cannot actually access. Which is fair enough I guess.

I work closely with Leszek Wedzicha who is a cachaca enthusiast and advocate. He visits distilleries in Brasil and sources samples of cachaca for me to review. From the outset, the project we are working on, has been about raising the profile of cachaca in the UK/Europe.

Leszek, was very keen for me to build up a portfolio of cachaca reviews – written in English. The idea being that this will create more interest in cachaca in Europe, thus enabling and encouraging producers looking to export into Europe. In turn growing awareness of cachaca outside of Brasil.

For anyone who hasn’t tried cachaca ,it is more available than you might think with Master of Malt and The Whisky Exchange having a very healthy selection. You’ll even find some over at everyones favourite online retailer – Amazon.

Before I reveal the Cachaca of the Year I will give a few notable mentions of other cachacas I have tried this year that have been very impressive. First up we have an SBS bottling from 1423, which stricitly speaking isn’t cachaca but its mighty tasty nonetheless. Brasilian distillate meets European ageing.

I would also advise picking up a bottle of this unaged “straight from the still” cachaca from Magnifica which is available at a bargain price over at Master of Malt.

Without further ado my cachaca of the year for 2020 is Delicana Balsamo Aged 10 Years. This is a cachaca which is available in Europe. The person responsible for the brand Bert Ostermann, is based in Germany. I have only had a couple of cachacas which have beaten this one. As the review indicates a higher ABV would probably give this a bit more oomph. That said even at 40% it’s a great cachaca which I enjoyed immensely.

If you are interested it is available here.