Cachaca is not really a well-known spirit in Europe and especially in Eastern European countries. You may only find it for sale in a few specialty stores, and even then only bulk-produced, blank cachaca from the largest producers. On the other hand, I have never seen matured cachaca for sale, not even in international liquor stores in big European cities or at the biggest airports.
Fortunately for Estonians, BR Imports, a company that imports Brazilian products and with them also cachaca, opened in Tallinn a few years ago. Famosinha, imported by BR Import, has cachaca in three different versions. Clear/silver, matured in oak barrels (Carvalho) and matured in barrels made of Brazilian cherry wood (Amburana). The Famosinha distillery is located in the Papagaios region in Brazil. The company owns the sugar cane plantations itself, from which Cachaca is made from the sugar cane juice. After mashing, fermentation and distillation, the distillate is aged for 18 months in a charred barrel made of Brazilian oak.
Estonians or people visiting in Estonia can familiarize themselves with this product either by ordering a bottle from BR Import to home or by visiting the company’s cafe (Cafe Brazil), where you can taste a glass of this Brazilian national drink. Famosinha is also available in a few other bars in Tallinn and Tartu.
Aged in oak barrels, Famosinha is light brown in the glass, reminiscent of whiskey or lager beer. The smell is sweet and very original. It has a fruity and fermented sugar cane, difficult to describe some kind of vegetable spicy aroma. In the background there is also a little aroma from the wood of the oak barrel.
The taste has a caramel-like sweetness at the beginning. Immediately after that, there are fruity notes, the taste of fermented sugar cane familiar to cachaca, peppery spiciness and the slightly bitter woody aroma of oak. Sweet caramel dominates quite strongly and brings with it a pleasant softness, otherwise probably a rather rough taste. The taste is rather unique, I don’t remember having tasted something similar before. Famosinha has considerably more flavor than the previous cachaca I’ve drank, mass-produced Cachaca 51. The taste is rather chewy for those who aren’t used to cachacas, and the drink doesn’t open in an instant. I think that for someone who tries one glass for the first time, the taste can be quite strange and special.
Famosinha (de Minas) Carvalho is clearly a very high quality product. The retailer recommended it to be enjoyed with ice or in various mixed drinks. It should go quite well mixed with tropical fruit juices.
86/100
