I have vivid memories of lazing around on a beach in Saint Martin and drifting off into an appropriately satisfying slumber under the warm Summer sun. Of course this siesta was due less to sheer exhaustion and due more to the copious amounts of rum that was poured into my coconut cocktail. That sun, seaside and sugar trifecta created the perfect setting for a beauty nap and also created my first awareness that sugar cane-based spirits are saccharine in nature but delectably potent as all hell.
Then in walks this spirit named Cachaça. It's rum with eclecticism. Cachaça is Brazil's love spirit and no brand delivers it with more gusto than Novo Fogo. What makes Novo Fogo so special as mentioned in my first feature on their silver cachaça here is the cultivating of the sugar cane yeast for almost 24 hours in special temperature-controlled vats then how it rests in chemically-inert stainless steel tanks for one year. After this process, the cachaça is then aged and finished in Brazilian oak barrels that are sanded and re-toasted so that there is virtually fresh wood for each new aging process. The result is a potent spirit with a woody depth and distinct sweetness that gives you a matured & weighted herbal burst with pleasant notes of spice and citrus.
An exciting and unique cachaça from Novo Fogo is Chameleon. It lives up to its namesake by giving you classic cachaça distilling techniques mixed with Northern bourbon whiskey distilling methods since it's aged for one year in repurposed American oak barrels. So it rests long enough to get the flavor from the oak barrels without that foreign flavor overtaking the beautiful notes of the Brazilian rainforest and cane juice loveliness. The result is a slightly different kind of woodiness with those characteristic hints of spicy vanilla and herbal potency which make it a nice sipper or mixer with its diverse and chamelonic flavor profile. Check out the great recipe below for a nice cocktail that highlights the beauty of this remixed cachaça.
Brazilian Buck
1 1/2 ounces Novo Fogo Chameleon Cachaça
4 ounces Ginger Beer
2 dashes Aromatic Bitters
Squeeze of Fresh Lime Juice
Add ice to a highball or rocks glass then add the cachaça, ginger beer and lime juice. Stir to combine then add bitters and lightly stir. Garnish glass with lime wheel.
This was an intense and delightful array of flavors that hit all over the palette with the spiciness of the ginger beer & the heat of the aged cachaça, the sweet notes of the cachaça & herbal notes of the bitters all made distinct by the presence of the tart lime. A perfect spirit to give you a great seafront catnap or a pleasant after-five wind-down. Novo Fogo Chameleon is available now at your finer wine and spirit retailers.
www.NovoFogo.com
