Colombina Cachaca de Minas Serie Especial 10 Anos. Cachaça under the Colombina moniker was first produced way back in 1920. The brand hails from Alvinopolis, Santa Barbara, MInas Gerais in Brasil – as always with Cachaca.

The Canjica farm where Colombina was first produced has been producing Cachaca since the late 19th century. The Canjica sugar mill is of recognised historical value as one of the “principal mills remaining from the colonial period in Minas Gerais”.

In the 1980’s Raul Megre resumed the production and bottling of Columbina Cachaca. Since then it has been produced exclusively at Canjica Sugar Mill.

This cachaça is produced in small batches on Pot Stills. What makes Colombina Cachaca different to most are the century-old vats made from native Jatoba wood used to age the Colombina Cachaca’s. Colombina Cachaca de Minas Serie Espeical 10 Anos has been bottled at 45% ABV.

I dare say if this Cachaca came to Europe it would need an updated presentation. This is pretty old fashioned. Though the square shaped bottle is quite nice. The colour scheme and metal screw cap are less than salubrious. The whole affair is a liitle Cartoon-ish – it reminds me a little of black and white Betty Boop style cartoons for some reason.

In Brasil this retails at around R$290 which would work out at around £58 for a 70cl bottle. I would expect this to retail for a bit more should it ever make it over here.

In the glass Colombina Cachaca Serie Especial 10 Anos is a white wine colour – just slightly off white. So the Jatoba casks haven’t added much colour in the 10 years.

Nosing Colombina Cachaca Serie Especial it’s nice sweet smelling creamy style of cachaça. Double cream, cream fraiche and a nice hit of sweet sugar cane aromas. Despite the lack of colour in the cachaça there some nice spicy woody notes. There is a slight smokiness to the cachaça maybe a tiny hint of tobacco.

Sipped Colombina Cachaca Serie Especial is a very unusual tasting cachaça. The Jatoba wood certainly brings a very different tasting spirit. Whilst it exhibits familiar notes similar to other cachaca’s – the creaminess remains alongside the sweet sugar cane notes. The woody notes on the mid palate are very different. Sweet, slightly smoky and with a very unusual spicy note which I can’t quite place.

This is a very nicely balanced Cachaca. Easy going even at 45%. The finish has an almost sooty note to it which is bit of surprise compared to the overall sweeter nature of this spirit.

It’s nice to taste a very different style of cachaça. This is nicely balanced maybe a bit too easy going at times, even at the slightly higher ABV of 45%.

The finish could have do with a bit more oomph. It fades a little to quickly. The initial sip and mid palate are very tasty and interesting but the finish isn’t as complex as I might have liked.

That aside this again is a very nice example of an aged Cachaca and it is interesting to find so many styles within just one (admittedly very large) country.

I didn’t bother mixing this one as I felt its subtle flavours and balance would just vanish in the drink. It is very much a Cachaca to slowly sip and savour.

The 3 year old I also tried at the Cachaca Festival in Manchester was also very tasty.

You never know maybe one day these will reach out beyond Brasil.