Move Over Tequila, There's New Drink In Town

Are you tired of sucking back the same liquors your parents indulged in the night you were conceived? Bored by all the familiar bitter flavours that hit your tongue during a night of drunkenness and anxious for something new to stimulate your gag reflex and induce intoxication? Then you’re in luck. Cachaca is a hard liquor that has been inducing alcoholism in happy drinkers south of the border for generations, but has yet to significantly cross over to North America. Fortunately for winos all over the country, this is starting to change.

Dubbed “the new tequila” by liquor industry insiders (yes, they do exist), this drink comes from Brazil, where it has a strong reputation amongst local debutants and alcoholics. Taken straight, the drink tastes about as good as shot of gasoline laced with horse urine, but that’s at least better than the flavor of tequila. Efforts have been made to sweeten the liquor for international taste buds, but the booze probably tastes best in mixed drinks such as the Brazilian Wax (equal parts cachaca and pineapple juice, served in a rocks glass with a splash of Triple Sec and club soda).

The base ingredient in cachaca is sugar cane, so when properly mixed the results can be magically delicious. For example, the caipirinha—which is made with cachaca, lime, sugar and crushed ice—could do for cachaca what the margarita did for tequila. The big T exploded on to the scene once margaritas became a popular summer beverage, with sales expanding by an astronomical 1,500 per cent from 1975 to 1995. By comparison cahaca sales were up 63% in 2006 according to Adams Beverage group. The drink has a hell of a long way to go before it makes a tequila-style impact, but it’s on the way.

While it’s impossible to predict exactly when or if the drink will really take off, the popularity is already building amongst hipsters and other too-cool-for-school drinkers. While only a few labels produce the drink in our neck of the woods, over 5,000 brands make it in Brazil. There is a significant volume of cachaca out there, it’s just a matter of the drink finding enough fans to warrant additional importing. For now, you can order your cachaca with a smug and knowing smile. But, someday soon you’ll be able to shun the drink and say “you know, I used to drink that before everyone was so excited about it.” Won’t that sense of superiority feel great?