Leblon Reserva Especial Cachaça Brazilian Rum

About Leblon Reserva Especial Cachaça Brazilian Rum

During the 17th century, the Madeira archipelago (situated just 200 miles north of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa) was a major exporter of sugar and sugar cane to Portugal and Western Europe. As Algerian pirates began raiding European cargo ships in the late 18th century, however, and Napoleon plunged Europe into a series of wars beginning in 1803, the waters off the coast of the Madeira archipelago became too dangerous to navigate. As a result, the production of sugar cane, as well as cachaça — a spirit distilled from sugar cane — shifted from Madeira to Brazil. Since then, cachaça has become the most popular spirit in Brazil and the third most-popular spirit in the world.

Leblon Cachaça is made exclusively from sugar cane harvested in Minas Gerais region of Brazil. The sugar cane grows at an altitude of over 1,000 feet, where the lower atmospheric pressure and cooler temperatures result in canes that are incredibly sweet and flavorful. Once the sugar cane stalks have reached their peak of maturity, they are hand-harvested by expert farmers and lightly pressed in order to extract only the sweetest juices of the stalk. The extracted sugarcane juice is then fermented by Gilles Merlet, Leblon's Master Distiller. "We use a proprietary fermentation process that lasts 15 hours," says Merlet, "in order to produce a cachaça with bolder flavors."

Following fermentation, the cachaça is single-distilled through a copper alambique still and then matured for up to six months in casks that were previously used to mature cognac. The Reserva Especial limited edition expression takes Leblon Cachaça to another level with two years of resting in new French oak casks. This imparts the spirit with a beautiful amber color and fantastic oak notes.

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