Cambeba Cachaca Organica 10 Year Old. Upon attending the Cachaca festival earlier this year, I was advised by some of the experts there, to try anything that looks like it’s been put in a beer bottle. This seemed quite a bizarre suggestion.

I am not sure if the intention was to ensure I tried Cambeba 10 Year Old but with that in mind I did end up trying it based solely on that rather strange suggestion.

Cambeba or rather the Cambeba are a tribe of indigenous people in Brazil’s Amazon basin. The name refers to the custom of flattening the child’s head by binding a piece of wood to the forehead shortly after that birth. With that in mind it’s probably best that they now number around 150 people.

The Cambeba name is being kept alive by Alambique Cambeba which is a sugar production and distillery facility in Alexania, Goias. The distillery is situated between Brasilia and Goiana. The visitor facility also has a bistro and it gets rave reviews on Trip Advisor.

Finding further information on Cambeba Organica Cachaca 10 Year Old has proven quite tricky. I cannot find it for sale on the internet so I am not sure how much it retails for in Brasil. It is bottled at a slightly conservative 39% ABV. The entire production process from cane to bottle is undertaken at Alambique Cambeba. All the production process is organic -as can be seen from the certificates on the front label. The cachaça is distilled on Copper Pot Stills. Cambeba Organica Cachaca 10 Year Old has been aged for 10 years in Carvalho – oak to you and me, barrels.

Cambeba use local employees – the distillery is in a quite rural area and all the employees and families enjoy education and rent free living courtesy of Alambique Cambeba.

Presentation wise Cambeba comes in a very short squat stubby bottle. It is smaller and does indeed look like a beer bottle in many ways. I like the presentation. The 10 Year Old is the oldest Cachaca in their range and it comes supplied with a card sleeve.

In the glass Cambeba Organica Cachaca 10 Year Old is dark brown with red flashes. It looks every bit its 10 years.

Nosing Cambeba 10 Year Old I don’t think many people would identify it as a Cachaca or even a Rhum Agricole. There is a sweet almost toasted vanilla aroma which would make me think I was trying a molasses based rum. It also has a slightly tannic aroma like red wine to it. I would perhaps have thought this was a wine matured molasses rum.

Further nosing does reveal a very slight sugar cane like note but that may be because I am looking for it. Caramel and toffee linger alongside the vanilla and the nose is balanced beautifully by some spicy but not overly zesty oak notes. A slight hint of butterscotch sweets also floats in and out.

Sipped Cambeba Cachaca Organica Aged 10 Years is very different to any other cachaça I have tasted before. The intial sip has an intense sweetness but in a molasses rum kind of way with layers of toffee and caramel, dark chocolate and some strawberries. A slightly spicy note of ginger and all spice and some nice oaky notes bring balance to the sip and provide a really nice mid palate. Only on the finish do you detect any kind of grassy sugar cane like notes.

It has been observed (and was at the Cachaca festival) that this is a very rum like Cachaca. That said it wouldn’t really be a good entry into aged Cachaca for a Molasses Rum enthusiast as it isn’t really very representative of aged Cachaca. It would give you the wrong idea about 99% of aged cachaça.

Undoubtedly the ageing process in oak (possibly American Oak) has had a massive influence on how Cambeba has turned out.

The finish is warming and has a nice gently spice – full of ginger which I really enjoy. It is long and nicely oaked. There is a really good balance overall with this cachaça.

Overall it has a kind of stoned fruit/red wine like influence which adds a nice layer of complexity to this cachaça. I am at a loss really as to why – but it does.

Overall I really enjoyed this Cachaca and although it isn’t what I might class as a typical Cachaca it is an excellently put together spirit nonetheless. One of my favourites so far. Cambeba have a number of other Cachaca’s available. Hopefully I may also be lucky enough to try some of them as well.

One of the best so far.