Cachaca Prosa Mineira Carvalho. Hailing from the city of Santa Rita de Caldas in the southern region of Minas Gerais comes Cachaca Prosa Mineira. Arguably Minas Gerais is the most recognised and respected state in Brasil, when it comes to Artisanal Cachaca production.

It is a relatively new brand and only came to the market in 2010.It is an Artisanal Cachaca brand so it is distilled on Copper Pot Stills. The sugar cane used is harvested next to the distillery and is cut by hand. The sugar cane juice is then extracted within a 24 hour period following the harvest.

Cachaca Prosa Mineira have a number of Cachaca’s, Special Cachacas and Liqueurs available. They have quite a nice website which shows all their bottlings and also gives further information on their processes etc. If you are curious to learn more than please take a look here.

This particular bottling is from their “Standard” rather than “Special” cachaca line up. Cachaca Prosa Mineira Carvalho has been aged for 4 years in American oak barrels. It is bottled at 39% ABV and is available in 50ml, 500ml, 670ml and 700ml bottles.

It retails at around the R$45 mark which is around £6. Obviously were this cachaca ever to make it to the UK or Europe I wouldn’t expect it so see it retail at that price! We’d likely be looking at around £30. That said production of these cachacas is limited so it isn’t even widely available in Brasil – such is the size of the country and the number of cachacas on the market.

Despite this Cachaca Prosa Mineira, have won quite a few national awards as outlined on their website. This particular Cachaca won a Gold Medal at the Expocachaca’s in 2018. No I’m not overly familiar with the competition either.

Presentation wise despite being a fairly recent addition to the market. It is very traditional in its appearance with the tall short neck bottles with a metallic screw cap for the 670ml and 700 ml bottles and smallers flat flask style bottles used for the smaller bottlings. Were it to be stocked in Europe/US it would likely need a bit of a makeover to be honest.

Well thats all the information I have on this cachaca so I may as well get on with the tasting.

In the glass the cachaca is a light/golden brown a shade or two darker than straw.

The nose is buttery and quite light. There is a fruity note and a zesty element to it. I wouldn’t say it was acidic but certainly there is a waft of sweet lime juice amongst the creamier notes.

There is a light buttery vanilla, baking spices. It smells a little of cake mix pre-baked. There is a slight waxiness there as well – something a little bit like white wine as well.

There’s a fair bit going on and it all melds together nicely giving a nice rounded and pretty complex nose. It’s very pleasant and inviting.

As a sipper it does feel a little older than the 4 years it is noted as being aged. As cachaca cannot legally be stronger than 48% quite a lot of cachaca can feel a touch light. Especially if you are used to drinking Cask Strength Rum especially heavy Pot Still rum.

This like many cachacas comes in below 40% ABV which is often a bit of warning sign in the rum world. However, this really does still have a great deal of flavour. Yes it is “light” but it still has a good amount going on.

It’s light and easy going on the initial sip. It goes down really easily. It has a nice weight of oak and spice on the entry and the mid palate. This is helped along by a nice sweet zesty sugar cane note and some slightly peppery notes.

Cachaca Prosa Mineira Carvalho has a slightly floral and mineral note to it, which makes it just a little more interesting.

Finish wise is perhaps where the cachaca shows its relatively young age the most. It isn’t the longest of finishes. You are left with the floral notes and a slight soapiness around some quite light oak notes which fade out rather quickly.

That said this is fairly inexpensive and to be honest there aren’t that many “budget” rums that can really cut it as sippers. This is light and refreshing. Maybe a touch easy going for some but I’ve really enjoyed this.

So much so I didn’t even try mixing it.