A scencic cachacaria

Here's a little prview of my time in Brazil. Part of a day out in the countrside touring distilleries.

Our first stop is Dupipe. We enter via a narrow and at times steep track. We struggle to get up one section. Good job we’re in a four-wheel drive. At the end, several dogs run out barking to greet us. Where the hell in the distillery?

A man of about my age appears. It’s the owner. We’re in a stunning tropical garden where tropical flowers thrust out from between mature trees of all different types. Several fish ponds on different levels punctuate the garden It’s ridiculously idyllic.

The owner thows some food into one of the ponds so ew can see the fish, which a surprisingly large. Then points to a toucan perching in one of the trees.

The distillery is in a shed. Above the door there’s a sign saying that it’s not allowed to enter drunk, but it is to leave.

Inside, there’s a small space with rows of bottles and larger jugs. In a connecting room, there’s the still itself, which he made himself. It’s rather, er, rustic. In the next room there’s a row if huge glass jars, where he’s making liqueurs from whole fruit. Including the strange pink bananas he showed us earlier in his garden.

Finally we get to the barrel room. The barrels are furry with black mould. Abd bats flutter around under the eaves when we disturb them. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

The tour doesn’t take long. Then the sampling begins. First the silver and gold straight cachacas. They’re both very good. And the measures the size of a full measure. But the liqueurs are the true revelation. The standouts being the banana and the ginger. I’ve never experienced anything like the latter. It’s bursting with the flavour of fresh ginger: citrusy and with a tongue-tingling spiciness. Wow.

I buy bottles of the two straight cachacas and the ginger liqueur. You won’t find them anywhere else as he doesn’t distribute.