Review: Sagatiba Pura Cachaça

3Sep/080

Review: Sagatiba Pura Cachaça

"Fusing more than 500 years of tradition with advanced technology" brings us Sagatiba Pura cachaça, another big entrant into the rapidly proliferating cachaça craze.

Sagatiba is a largely representative example of the spirit, 80 proof, fairly clean and noticeably sweet when sipped straight. There is citrus -- lemon/lime and a bit of orange -- on the tongue in a shot, but things are far improved with sugar and lime, the way cachaça is meant to be consumed.

Strange, though, that both on its own and in a caipirinha, I got a moderately strong sour character from Sagatiba, something I don't think I've seen in other cachaças. Yes, I'm immensely grateful not to get that gasoline/petrol flavor from Sagatiba -- you'll find that a common problem of the cheaper cachaças, but the sourness kept this spirit at a distance, as it just didn't meld together as well as it should have in mixed drinks.

That's not to say that some drinks couldn't actually benefit from a little sour character, but in the standbies for cachaçait was a bit strong.

B+ / $25 / sagatiba.com