Novo Fogo Barrel Aged Cachaça

Cachaça with a taste of the rainforest.

Below the towering Marumbi mountain and above the azure Bay of Paranagua, there's an old town of Morretes. The Novo Fogo distillery, new kid on the block, uses the pure water of Rio Nhundiaquara and local organic sugar cane that's processed with traditional methods. Each batch is really small (130 liters) while the cleanest energy is used. Wild yeast ferments the sugarcane juice into alcohol in less than a day, while Cachaça is born in the copper pot still and rested in large stainless steel tanks for a year.

But the real magic happens in the Brazilian south, where this expression of Cachaça matures in ex-Bourbon American oak barrels up to three years. It all happens in the heat and humidity of the rainforest, and what ends up in a bottle is spectacular: Banana bread aromas followed by chocolate and coffee, while the Bourbon-inspired wood brings fresh spices and toastiness. While ordinary Cachaças make great Caipirinhas, Barrel-Aged Spirit demands being used in a classy Brazilian Old Fashioned or in a Caveira. Although we would recommend sipping it neat, too. It should remind you of Rhum Agricole. Very badass.