Cachaca Tie Prata. This is another Cachaca from the Minas Gerais region of Brasil. This hails from Aiuruoca to be exact.

Cachaca Tie are a relatively small producer by Cachaca standards with approximately 35,000 litres of Cachaca produced per year.

Despite a number of long standing Cachaca producers in the Minas Gerais region Tie are also a fairly new producer. They currently have 3 Cachaca’s in their line up – Prata, Ouro and Canelinha.

Cachaca Tie is produced at Gariupa Farm it is made from sugar cane grown there. They produce around 35,000 litres of Cachaca per year. Which makes them a pretty small producer by Cachaca standards. This sugar cane is then manually harvested. Distillation takes place on Direct Fire Pot Stills. As it is Pot Still distillation it is small batch. They have four pot stills 2 x 600 litre capacity, 1 x 300 litre capacity and 1 with a 120 litre capacity. These traditional Pot Stills are a bit of a throw back though they are still used by the likes of Glenfarcas in Scotland when producing Scotch Whisky. They believe it imparts a better flavour on the final distillate.

Cachaca Tie Prata is available in a variety of bottle sizes. A 700ml bottle will set you back around R$40 – this is around £8 in sterling. Were this to come to Europe I would expect it to be around $20 in mainland Europe and maybe £25 in the UK. It is bottled at 42% ABV. The presentation is quite clean and modern and wouldn’t require updating like many Cachaca’s with a more traditional style of presentation.

Cachaca Tie have a website which is informative and has a lot of photos of the farm.and the distillery.

Since production began Cachaca Tie Prata has won a number of national awards for the quality of its Cachaca.

In the glass Cachaca Tie Prata is crystal clear the nose is very clean and full of sweet sugar cane. Some notes of zesty lemon and some slightly salty olives.

Further nosing reveals a soft creamy undercurrent.

Sipped Cachaca Tie Prata is Quite acidic and zesty on the tongue. It’s full of lemon/lime flavour mixed with sweet sugar cane. It reminds me a little of Sprite.

There is a smoky note to this cachaça as well. Almost getting into a kind of Mezcal vibe but with an overwhelming sweetness enveloping it. Grapefruit, sweet white wine and just a touch of double cream.

The finish is hot and quite spicy but surprisingly refreshing. This is really nice as a palate cleanser or even as a chaser. This is surprisingly sippable considering it has not benefited from any oak ageing whatsoever. It’s very smooth and very clean.

I really like this when you consider what it is. It isn’t as aggressive or as over the top as some of the Haitian Clairin’s it is more akin to a lower proof white Agricole. It is perhaps more forgiving as a sipper though. Nowhere near as grassy and vegetal. Sure you do get some grassy Agricole notes but they are a bit more rounded and balanced.

I tried this in a simple Caipirinha, a Ti Punch and simply with a touch of lemonade and it worked very well, with all three. This is a very clean tasting Cachaca which is remarkably versatile. I suspect it may even work mixed with Ginger Beer.

It’s not a huge in your face high ABV white – like some agricoles but its has a really nice balance to it. I like the zestyness. I also like how that is tempered by the sweeter notes. Balance is provided by the smokiness and the clean-ness of the actual distillate. It’s very refreshing.

Definitely one of the best unaged white/silver cachaca’s I have tried to date. Easy going in many ways but full of really nicely done sugar cane flavours.

A great little product and not at all expensive (in Brasil at least!)