TBRC Epris Epris Distillery (AERB Futebol Clube)

This is cachaca, not rum, a Brazil only spirit made from fresh-pressed, fermented sugar cane juice rather than molasses, and that distinction is its whole identity. Bottled by That Boutique-y Rum Company from Epris, it is a column distilled, eleven year expression aged in ex-bourbon and bottled without added sugar at 54.4%, which keeps it genuinely dry in the cachaca tradition where the legal sugar limit is tiny.

The nose can read shy, with dried fruit, roast, floral notes and coffee, while the palate shows dried fruit, herbal cane, barrel and dark chocolate over a dry, tannic, nutty finish. The result bridges two worlds, the grassy freshness of cane juice meeting the spice and oak of a bourbon cask, polarising for some but rewarding for the curious. A characterful sipping cachaca for drinkers who enjoy drier agricole style spirits and bourbon influenced wood, and who want to taste the cane itself.