Differences between Rum and Cachaça

Although cachaça and rum are both products of sugar cane with an origin coming from nearby places in South and Central America, respectively, we can list many differences between the two drinks.

1) Cachaça is not a Brazilian Rum

What is cachaça ? Cachaça is recognized as a genuine Brazilian drink. In the United States, for example, cachaça is recognized as distinctive Brazilian product after was signed in 2013 an agreement with Brazil, in which it will drop the use of the Brazilian rum term. Also in 2015, Mexico have signed a declaration calling for the recognition of cachaça .

2) Alcohol content and barrels

As previously mentioned according to the Brazilian legislation the alcohol content of cachaça must be between 38% and 48%. while the rum may range from an alcohol content of 35% to 54% in volume. Regarding the aging of the wood, the rum is concentrated in oak barrels while the cachaça has a wide variety of woods.

3) Cachaça is protected by law

The term cachaça is protected by law and the production is restricted to Brazil. According to Brazilian legislation, cachaça is a typical and unique designation for the sugarcane liquor produced in Brazil, with an alcohol content of 38% to 48% in volume percent, at twenty degrees Celsius (°C), obtained by the distillation of fermented sugar cane juice.

More articles about cachaça ?

4) Garapa X Molasses

On the one hand, cachaça has been made with fresh sugarcane juice called garapa, on the other hand, rum is made with boiled sugar cane juice, called molasses. Different methods and processes result in different products, don`t you think ?

5) Different origins

According to researchers, the origin of the cachaça begins around 1532 in São Vicente, where the first sugar mills emerged in Brazil. Rum emerged in the early 17th century in the British colonies in the Caribbean, originated from by-products of the sugar industry in the thesis advocated by Wayne Curtis in "A Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails" (Crown, 2006).

6) Flavors & History

Origin of different trajectory and process naturally rum has a different flavor of cachaça. The two drinks are excellent and deserve to be treated with due respect to their history. De acordo com Ed Hamilton, rum expert and author of the Ministry of Rum cachaça, cachaça is distilled from raw sugarcane, it retains a grassy, sulfurous, earthy and rum, by turn is sweeter because because distilling from molasses brings out notes of the cooked sugarcane that either aren't present in raw sugarcane.

7) Woods Used For Aging

Rum distillers age a portion of their rum in oak barrels that were previously used to age whisky or bourbon in the U.S. or Canada or barrels come from Europe where they aged Scotch whisky. Cachaça use also oak to age it as well although, there are also more than 30 different Brazilian woods that can do very well this process of aging cachaça and It is a practice and add sensory quality to the drink.