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Brazilian rum or cachaça

In the United States cachaça is sold as Brazilian rum.  In fact, cachaça and (Caribbean) rum are different alcoholic drinks.  While rum is made from molasses, cachaça is made directly from sugarcane juice. Virtuoso Life, March/April 2010, offers a brief account of cachaça.  It began as a drink for slaves, but now is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Brazil where it is the basis for caipirinha, the national cocktail. The magazine points out that cachaça is the world's third largest-selling spirit.  It also will be a surprise to most of us that number one is Korea's soju, traditionally made from rice (and now made from all sorts of things).  Not surprising is that number two is vodka, the basis for most Euro-American cocktails in our post-gin era.

Posted by David Fahey on July 10, 2010 at 11:30 AM in Brazil, Rum | Permalink