Cachacaria!

Move over feijuada-burrito, I've discovered my next entrepreneurial enterprise for when I get back to the states. I'm going to open a Cachaceria in Berkeley!

My future Organic Chachaceria in Berkeley

Cachaca is a strong alcohol (anywhere from 40-55% alcohol) that is brewed from fermented sugarcane juice. If you've ever had a caipirinha in the states, you've probably only had it with vodka, but the actual recipe calls for Pinga (another moniker for Cachaca), and is much more potent. Personally, it's an alcohol I've grown to love very quickly since I've been down here. Tim Maia once said that he couldn't start his day without a trifecta of substances: Marijuana, Cocaine, and Cachaca....ah, a man after my own heart.
This past long weekend, me and the de Sa clan went out to their house in Campos de Jordao, a mountain town about two hours south of Sao Paulo proper. It's a nice little place—think Breckenridge without snow—and somewhere inbetween the massive amounts of food consumed, bike rides through the forest preserve, and pure relaxation, we all managed to take a trip to a little Cachaceria one town over in Santo Antonio do Pinhal.
The drive there was great, flying through roads carved out of the jungle-esque forest, passing small houses with faux-colonial architecture, the surroundings becoming more and more pastoral the closer we got. It took about 20 minutes, and finally we pulled up at a small ranch, a quaint wooden building flanking us, and a stable of whinnying ponies to our left. A big wooden sign over the door read 'A Bodega'

Entering the building, you see a couple tables crowded with jugs of Cachaca. People were milling around with beers and cigarettes, everyone obviously a bit tipsy. There were bees everywhere, attracted to the honey this particular distillery uses extensively in their Cachacas. However, as Joao told me, you didn't need to worry about getting stung; the bees were basically drunk from the alcohol and mostly harmless. After he said this, I noticed they were flying in erratic circles, stopping occasionally to land in a spilled drop of sugarcane nectar and take a pull themselves. The fact that this particular place was swarming with bees made it seem that much more rustic and uncommercial.

Different kinds of chronic Cachaca

As I was still looking around in awe of all the bottles of fermenting pinga, someone handed me a shot glass. You were free to go from jug to jug, sampling whichever particular brew caught your fancy. There were so many, too. Tangerines, kiwis, anis, mint, honey, and even chocolate sat pickling in different clear bottles. I went around tasting, filling up my glass about an eighth of the way full for each different cachaca I tasted. After about 5 of these miniscule sips, I had a little buzz going on. Very strong stuff.

Whatever this was, it was legit.

After you taste as many cachacas as you want, you can go over to one of the guys that works there, and for the small price of 5 Reals (roughly 3 American dollars), he will fill up a small bottle with your desired Cachaca, hammer a cork into it, put it in a little package, and then you have a deliciously alcoholic souvenir to take home with you.

For an extra 5 R. he'll take you in the back and do this to your nether-regions.

Which Cachaca did I decide to take home with me? That's right....

The reason it's called 'Super Viagra' has something to do with one of the items it's fermented with that's supposedly an aphrodisiac...I'll have to get back to everyone on that. Needless to say, when I had it at the brewery, it did nothing for my penis. Equating liquor with sex is a long-standing tradition in advertising, but who knew it's made it all the way down to the artisanal level.
Until next time...
-JD

ps. There were some bottle trees in the back I couldn't figure out a good way to incorperate into this post. Here's a picture:

A Bottle Tree: There is not much more to say about this.

And there it is! Tchausino!