Cachaca Patua de Alambique Carvalho.  Cachaca Patua was founded by Cachaca Conoisseur Walter Carlos Brossel, in 2017. The distillery is situated in Betim a city in Minas Gerais State. The birthplace of cachaca.

Cachaca Patua produced their cachaca from estate grown sugar cane. Like all truly artisanal cachaca producers they distill in small batches on traditional Copper Pot Stills. At present Cachaca Patua produce 25,000 litres of cachaca per year which is spread across their 4 expressions. That said the Patua Reserva Especial only has 400 bottles produced per year.

In their core range Patua offer the following cachacas. A Branca (white), Amburana aged cachaca and this Carvalho (Oak) aged cachaca. All the cachaca in the Patua range is rested in steel vats for 6 months prior to either being bottled for the Branca or placed into Amburana or Oak casks for ageing.

Cachaca Patua de Alambique Carvalho is made up of a blend of cachacas which are aged in oak barrels which have previously held American Whiskey, Wine and Brandy.  After at least 1 year the cachaca held in each of the barrels is blended together and bottled at 42% ABV.

Cachaca Patua de Alambique Carvalho retails at around the R$80 (£11) mark in Brasil. It is presented in a tall 750ml bottle with a slightly shortened neck, topped off by a metal screw cap. The presentation is clean but a little on the plain side. Simplistic but not old fashioned. The branding used and colour scheme are quite up to date when compared to others.

As the production levels are fairly low at present, though I understand they are hoping to increase levels over time, it is unlikely we will see this for sale outside of Brasil in the near future. Looking over my reviews it hasn’t been all that long since I last reviewed a Minas Gerais Carvalho Aged cachaca.

Should you wish to learn more they have a website in both Portuguese and English as well as Facebook and Instagram pages.

Unlike (what seems like) most cachacas Cachaca Patua do not seem to have won any awards. Nor can I see anything “bigging” the brand up on the Internet. So it will be interesting to see how good this cachaca is.

In the glass Cachaca Patua de Alambique Carvalho is a light colour a shade or two deeper than a white wine – maybe a touch darker than straw.

Nosing the spirit is pleasant. It’s quite light but the balance of the aromas is very good and very nicely built up. There is a soft creamy, slightly sweet note which is followed by some delicate ginger and clove notes. It has a slightly white wine like perfume aroma as well. The woody spices give the nose a little extra body and give it a more rounded, balanced nose.

For such a young spirit is is remarkably soft and quite delicate. Certainly nothing by way of any young “boozy” aromas you often find with rum of a similar age. So the resting in steel vats definitely has it’s benefits it would seem.

Sipped, I get an initial burst of sweet almost Ginger Beer like flavour and a touch of fruitiness. White grape and some peaches. You can certainly notice some different tastes coming out of this cachaca from the whiskey, brandy and wine casks.

The whiskey cask is perhaps providing the notes of ginger and I am getting a nice hit of vanilla as well. The wine/brandy casks are adding fruitiness and some slightly drier more “red wine” dryness to the spirit. Particularly on the mid palate.

This is probably quite a good cachaca to try out on a rum enthusiast. It has enough familiar oaky notes and a fairly dry profile which might appeal to lovers of Barbados rum or similar styles.

Despite this being a fairly light spirit with little burn (it really is very smooth and no additives!) it has a surprisingly good mid palate and finish. I was expecting there to be a bit of a drop and a shorter finish.

The mid palate and finish are quite dry but have a good weight of oak and spice and whilst there isn’t much burn the flavour stays around in the mouth for quite a long time. You can pause between sips with this and it’s a very clean, crisp sort of cachaca.