The History of Cachaça

The most accepted version of the origins of cachaça is that it was probably discovered by chance, as a derived product within production of raw sugar and "rapadura", at the beginning of the 16th Century. During the process, the sugar cane broth was boiled in boilers, to be cleaned and concentrated in a thick mass, and the foam was then removed through great skimmers or perforated shells.
This sludge, accumulated in wood hods, leavened, becoming a "sour garapa" or wine of sugar cane, it was served as feeding complement to animals and even to slaves.

The foam was called "cagaça"; possibly, the word "cachaça" was derived from that. Another version for the origin of this name is that this drink was also used to soften the pork, called "cachaço". Supposedly the distillation of this "sour garapa", in terracotta stills, gave origin to our cachaça.

There are doubts about the first mills in Brazil, if they first appeared in Olinda-PE or S.Vicente-SP, but it was certainly with the Hereditary Captaincies (fiefs) of Pernambuco and S.Vicente, the ones that were profitable, where sugar and Cachaça production in Brazil was initiated and developed, after that the culture of sugar cane and the construction of mills were spread to other captaincies such as Bahia, Ilhéus, Paraíba do Sul (Rio De Janeiro) and afterwards, to Minas Gerais, in the 17th Century with the gold race.

According to Varnhagem, F.A. (General Brazilian History - 3rd edition, 1st vol., p 124), Itamaracá, that was incorporated to Pernambuco later, would have been the first place to have a primitive mill installed and that would export sugar to Lisbon, before the implantation of hereditary captaincies.

The first slaves arrived in Brazil adhered to the drink, that was served to them by the mill owners to help them endure the hard working hours, as well as to cheer their parties and their moments of leisure.

As time went by, the production techniques were improved, so, cachaça started being distilled in copper stills and being called cane "aguardente"; it became famous and was served in the slave quarters as well as in the main house. It was also appreciated by important guests and authorities. It was then consumed at banquets and popular parties and it became famous in Europe and in Asia, being even used as one of the main currencies in the slave trading payment in Brazil, where the sugar cane plantation needed more and more slaves. The Captaincy of Pernambuco became the largest producer of sugar in the world and the high prices reached by sugar in the international market, motivated the Dutch invasion, through the West Indies "Westerners'" Company, in 1630. The Dutch occupation in Pernambuco intensified the "Cachaça" production and its use as currency in slave purchases.

The Portuguese Crown, that did not appreciate the popularization of cachaça, due to the competition with the "after-wine" and their wines, forbade several times its production, the commercialization and even its consumption in Brazil, creating several heavy taxes on the distilled product. In 1756, with the voluntary subsidy to reconstruct Lisbon, destroyed by an earthquake and in 1773 a new tax to support regal teachers, when the called literary subsidy was instituted.

The attempts from the Metropolis against cachaça became a symbol of resistance to the Portuguese domination to "Pernambucanos"(citizens from Pernambuco State) rebels and unfaithful Mineiros (inhabitants from Minas Gerais State) and, until the independence, proclaimed by D. Pedro I, drinking a toast with Cachaça meant fighting against colonial oppression.

It was not by chance that cachaça was elected by president Fernando Henrique Cardoso as the official drink to toast at the celebrations of the 500 anniversary of the discovery of Brazil. The Decree Nº 4062, signed by the President of the Republic on 21st December 2001, defines the expressions "cachaça", "Brazil" and "cachaça from Brazil", as geographic indications, being their use restricted to the producers established in the Country. Nowadays several marks of high quality Cachaça, made in S.Paulo, in Minas Gerais and in the Northeast, appear in national and international markets and they are present in the best restaurants and residential wine cellars throughout Brazil and the world.