She’s a witch”, the owner of Trinca, a bar in São Paulo, told me, referring not to Maria Izabel’s spell-casting abilities but to the quality of the cachaça she produces. The founder of Cachaça Maria Izabel, one of Brazil’s most artisanal cachaças, lives with her six daughters at her distillery in Paraty, a beautiful small town on the Costa Verde (green coast), almost midway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
It was in 2015 that I discovered Brazil’s fine cachaça—or rum made from fermented sugar-cane juice as opposed to molasses. I made the pit stop in Paraty on 30 September with the sole purpose of meeting Maria Izabel. Paraty is a centre of cachaça production and the town is dotted with cachacarias, shops where you can taste a range of brands and also drink caipirinhas, Brazil’s national cocktail.
My Uber driver takes a sharp right off the highway to Rio, down a jungle road. We bounce along a rocky road that teases us with views of the Atlantic Ocean till I get my first view of a beautiful hacienda. It’s located on a headland beside the ocean, and an infinity pool with two deck chairs beckons, an idyllic setting. Not your usual distillery.
As I walk down the slope, on my left is a semi-open shed that has a gleaming, unusually shaped copper pot-still visible, the kind known as an Alembic still. One level below is a covered balcony with tables and chairs that’s attached to the distillery shop. On one of the tables are sets of tasting glasses in a cane basket and several bottles of cachaça.
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