Casa Buchmann 12 Anos. It’s safe to say that is premium and luxury cachaça. As you have probably already guessed from the photos.

In 2002, Casa Buchmann started their activities. Ageing their cachaça in French oak barrels. Then in 2014 their first batch of 12 year old cachaça – Casa Buchmann 12 Anos was ready. It was bottled in imported luxury bottles from France in 2016. A release of just 1,000 units priced at around R$500 (just under £100).

Its entry into the consumer market in 2016 was carefully planned. A year after the release Casa Buchmann 12 Anos was awarded a Silver medal in the biggest contest of Cachaça: Expo Cachaça, in Belo Horizonte. In 2018, at the beginning of June, Casa Buchmann received gold medal in the same competition. At which point the brand began to be recognised as one of the stand out cachaca’s.

Casa Buchmann 12 Anos is bottled at 39.5% ABV. It is produced on Copper Alembic Pot Stills before being aged for 12 years in French Oak barrels. The Casa Buchmann Cachacaria is based in Ivoti, Rio Grande do Sul.

Presenations wise you get a very impressive decanter style bottle for you money with a very stylish presentation box. It all looks very modern and would certainly fit in amongst “Premium” rum offerings such as Appleton 21 Year old or Havana Club 15 in terms of style.

The company do have a website but it isn’t full of information – its pretty small to be honest. This article which you may need to translate gives more information than the website.

So with little else to say about this particular cachaça we may as well just get on with the fun part.

Poured in the glass Casa Buchmann 12 Anos is a golden to dark brown colour.

Nosing this cachaça is a very pleasant experience. It is almost cognac like and smells very refined!

It has an almost toffee like caramel sweetness on the nose which leads into some wonderful candied fruit and some vibrant wood spice.

Vanilla and custard creams mix nicely with some gentle ginger and milk chocolate. It’s a very complex and very inviting nose.

Sipped I am not disappointed by the flavours on display. It is quite sweet but not overly so. The interaction with the French oak has given this a real rounded and balanced flavour. It’s very smooth and easy-going but at the same time full of fruity flavour and really well-integrated spices from the oak.

On the initial sip it is full of freshly mowed grass and caramel. This then leads to some really nice notes of ginger and fruitcake. A little dusting of icing sugar perhaps. Fruity notes of banana peel, lime and some slightly tart plum.

The finish is very well balanced as well as quite long. This is a really classy, well-balanced spirit with no “off” note at all. A slightly higher ABV might give it a little more heft but for a change I do not feel shortchanged by a spirit at less than 40% ABV.

Warming notes of ginger and vanilla coat the palate on the finish with just enough spicy bite from the oak to keep things interesting. It fades slowly and the fruitiness returns right at the very end.

Further sips reveal more of the cachaça complexity with more fruity nots and exotic spices coming with each sip. This really is an excellent cachaça.

It is expensive and limited. We might not see it in Europe but if you do ever come across it I would highly recommend buying a bottle.

This is a really well-balanced, well put together spirit and a real treat for a cachaça enthusiast. This is so far away from the slightly harsh grassy white cachaça you might find in cocktails to be almost a different kind of spirit altogether.

Excellent. I am awaiting further information from the producers so hopefully I will be able to add some background soon.

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