Castelo Branco Aguardente de Cana. Castelo Branco (White Castle) are a cachaca producer from Goias State. The brand is owned by Luiz Mantiega Alvares de Campos Filho.

It was formed in 1946 when Luiz’s grandfather who moved to Goias from Abaete set up a distillery using a 500 litre Alembic Copper Pot Still, from Minas Gerais. As well as being the owner of Castelo Branco Luiz is also the President of the Goiana Association of Cachaça Alembic Producers – AGOPCAL,

Castelo Branco Aguardente de Cana is produced from estate sugar cane juice which is distileld on Alembic Copper Pot Stills. The distillery currently has 3 Pot Stills with a 1000 litre capacity. Once the cachaca has been distilled it is rested for 2 years in 25,000 litre capacity Peanut Tree wood vats. It is then aged in ex-bourbon oak barrels for a year.

In the glass Castelo Branco is white wine in terms of colour. With the ABV of 44.5 the nose is sharper and stronger than a lot of other cachaca. It is quite sweet with wafts of double cream and vanilla ice cream. There is a slight tangyness to it as well with some nice orange citrus notes. It has a lovely balance to it and is very inviting.

In terms of availability, again this is a cachaca which is only available in Brasil. It retails at around the R$50 which is around £8. As you can see from the photos it is an “old style” cachaca. It comes in 600ml bottles. It has a very rustic feel to it a little “home made”. If it were to come to Europe and the US it would need an update, without doubt.

Whilst rum might have a bit of a problem with too much “Premium” looking product cachaca is a bit different in that some very good cachaca is packaged with what appears to be very cheap, out of date styles of labels. It will be interesting to see if Castelo Branco Aguardente de Cana falls into this bracket or it is as cheap and nasty as it appears!

I don’t have a great deal else information wise on this cachaca at present. I could not find a website for them only a small article here, so I may as well proceed with having a taste.

Sipped Castelo Branco is very easy to drink despite the slight increase in ABV. The initial sip is quite sweet but there is a nice balance of smoky wood and some peppery spice. Lots of ginger but it is a very clean, refreshing spirit. Initially the finish seems to fade quite quickly as the flavour on the initial sip is quite intense. However a few sips in it as if the finish has built itself up. The medium length finish is again slightly smoky with a nice balance of sweet vanilla, cloves and some peppery spices to add a little excitement.

As with many rather archaic looking cachaca’s the proof is in the pudding and fancy packaging isn’t needed with a spirit this tasty.

I’ve only sipped this cachaca because I found it really pleasant that way. No doubt it would work well mixed but I felt it was too good for that.

A really pleasant surprise for quite a young cachaca (and yes the packaging did initially make me a little apprehensive.

I found this quite similar to the Havana Anisio Santiago, which is high praise indeed.

A really pleasant surprise and a great sipper.