Leblon Cachaça (40%)
Needless to say, although I will say it nonetheless, the phrase ‘summer drinks’ means different things for different people. To some, it’s gin and tonics or vodka and sodas, while for others it might be rosé wines, Bavarian style wheat beers, or Cuba Libres. For me, since I first visited Brazil a dozen years ago, the arrival of hot weather signals the opening of bottles of unaged cachaça.
Often lazily identified as the Brazilian version of rum, cachaça is a singular spirit distilled from the fresh juice of the sugar cane, which yes, places it in the same general family as Martinique’s rhum agricole. But while there are distinct favour similarities, cachaça is a unique beverage unto itself, something which becomes quickly apparent when it is employed in a Martinique ‘Ti Punch rather than its native Caipirinha.
(The difference between the two cocktails is principally one of lime juice and sugar, the Brazilian drink typically containing significantly more of each. To my experience, this results in rhum agricole producing bad Caipirinhas and most cachaças making rather sad ‘Ti Punches.)
As anyone experienced with the spirit will know, cachaça comes in a multitude of varieties, fresh off the stainless or rested on oak, aged for any number of years in any of a number of different Amazonian woods, and even flavoured, although technically that last group cannot be legally identified as cachaça.
Bacardi-owned Leblon is the brand of cachaça most prevalent in Canada, and in fact one of only two generally available in Ontario. It is, according to the bottle, rested in French oak after distillation for up to six months. (The distillery website adds that the casks are “brandy cured,” which I take to mean washed in brandy rather than employed in that spirit’s aging.) It is also pot distilled, which is not necessarily the case for other large production cachaças.
Bursting from the tasting glass with grassy aromas of sugar cane, peppery herbs, and orangey citrus accented by key lime, the clear spirit noses on the sweet side and makes me wonder if perhaps, as allowed in Brazil, a small amount of sugar has been added, although the ingredients list on the back label suggests no such thing. Still, the palate entry makes me wonder further, as it arrives with a distinct sweetness – not necessarily uncharacteristic of young cachaças, but perhaps more apparent than many I’ve sampled in the past – with fruity notes that range from candied lime peel to mango and other stone fruit.
On the mid-palate, Leblon settles into the herbal, fruity-grassy flavour typical of white cachaça, although rapidly losing its fruitiness as the grassy, herbaceous character takes hold, turning a touch bitter and vegetably. The finish is where this cachaça loses me, though, as a lingering grassy character leaves a slightly unpleasant reminder of the vegetal turn it took in the second half of the taste.
While my tasting notes on the second half and finish might have you thinking otherwise, Leblon still makes a lovely caipirinha, and is frankly so far superior to the other cachaça available to me, Pitú, that it beggars comparison. So while I would dearly love to see the LCBO’s shelves stocked with many more examples of the spirit, including aged versions, I shall be perfectly content to sip this for as long as the hot weather remains.
72 ($39-$50)