School 5: Wood Choices
The fifth article in my analysis of Mapa da Cachaça’s schools.
Mapa da Cachaça’s analysis of different cachaça schools moves on to the separation between types of wood producers use to age their products. They divide the schools into: oak, balsamo, and then all other Brazilian woods.
I think this is a generally fair division. I’d say that there is a greater division between “traditional” (read older) producers and newer producers. Older producers with more history tend to stick with the way that previous generations aged cachaça. For instance, in places like Minas Gerais, where there is a long tradition of aging using Balsamo, that’s the norm. This isn’t to say that producers in other places don’t use Balsamo, merely that producers in Minas are known for this. Therefore, Balsamo does merit its own school, however most consumers receive it.
Newer producers are more open to using different kinds of woods, whether native or oak. And, therefore, are more likely to create blends using various types of woods. However, there are also many traditional producers who have used one or two types of wood to age their products for decades. So there’s no simple breakdown.
Oak remains a very important, nay, increasingly important part of cachaça inside of Brazil. For Brazilians, oak is a rarity. It’s expensive and has the allure of being from abroad. Whether from the US or somewhere in Europe, producers believe that consumers value oak. And they do. While not every producer ages in oak, there are some who exclusively age in oak. And so, it’s safe to say that this is truly an important cachaça school.
Lastly, though certainly not in terms of value, are producers who use native Brazilian wood to age their cachaça (in this case, they’re talking about other than Balsamo). Indeed, the use of native woods in the aging process is the most important school there is. It’s what makes cachaça unique among other distillates, particularly when compared to rum.
In this case, I agree with Mapa da Cachaça’s analysis. Of course, yes, all producers have unaged cachaça. I’ve never seen a single producer that doesn’t sell any unaged cachaça. So, because that’s the case, that can’t truly be considered a school. The aging of cachaça is what truly differentiates. And one can easily tell a producer’s preferences, or lack of preferences in the case of those who are still experimenting, for particular types of wood.
