Fubá Cachaça for Brazilian Independence Day
Intrepid Spirits has added the Brazilian Cachaça brand Fubá to its portfolio in time for Brazilian Independence Day on the 7th of September.
A brand with sustainability at its heart, Fubá will also work with Intrepid Spirits to donate proceeds from sales of its cachaça to União Amazonia Viva, a Non-Governmental Organisation, helping to protect endangered native tribes in the Amazon.
Fubá Cachaça was created by brothers Raf and Cassiano Agapito who were determined to create an authentic cachaça using traditional methods coupled with modern, sustainable techniques.
Working with communities and co-operatives in their native Brazil, their mission is to bring out a hand-crafted, traditional cachaça of the highest quality at an accessible price.
Known as the official Brazilian spirit, there are over 2,000 words used to refer to cachaça in Brazil, from Tiger’s Breath to Wisdom Water. Cachaça is a geographically-protected name: to be an authentic cachaça, the spirit must be distilled exclusively in Brazil using fermented fresh sugarcane juice and have an ABV of between 37% to 53%.
Believed to be the first spirit to be distilled in the Americas, cachaca dates back to the 16th Century when Portuguese settlers introduced sugarcane into Brazil. By 1532, the first alembic stills were introduced along with distillation knowhow from Europe. The modern-day cachaça market is one of the biggest in terms of volume with over 1.5 billion litres being consumed each year.
In Brazil alone, there are 5,000 registered brands of Cachaça and an estimated 35,000 distilleries throughout the country.
Cachaça is traditionally known for being the base spirit in one of the world’s most popular cocktails, the Caipirinha, but is also a wonderfully versatile cocktail ingredient and Fubá is an excellent substitute in traditional gin or tequila-based cocktails.
Fubá & sustainability
All of Fubá’s ingredients are sourced from independent farms which operate a ‘zero waste’ policy.
After hand-harvesting the cane, extracting and fermenting the juice, leftover cane fibres are used to fuel the steam-powered stills and other by-products are returned to the field to fertilise the soil. Fubá is made using the freshest sugarcane, pressed within 24 hours of harvest, grown on the surrounding farms on a cooperative system where all farmers contribute with their crops to produce the base spirit of Fubá. The co-op helps farmers get a fair price for their crops and maintain favourable working conditions for the community. Rafael Agapito will continue to be involved in the development of the brand, working closely with the whole team at Intrepid to expand the distribution and presence of Fubá globally.
Intrepid Spirits is an independently-owned Irish beverage company with offices in Dublin, Shanghai, Chicago and San Francisco and Fubá, joins Intrepid’s global spirits portfolio which includes Egan’s Irish Whiskey, Cocalero, Mad March Hare Irish Poitín and most recently, Regal Rogue vermouth.
In addition to its own brands, Intrepid also manages the distribution of several world class spirits in Ireland including Michter’s Whiskey, Pusser’s Rum, Merlet Cognac, Los Javis Mezcal and Kyrö Gin.
Intrepid Spirits is also a member of Rainforest Trust and has helped to conserve approximately 20,000 acres to date of tropical threatened forest.
