Fight for your right to drink cachaca -- last-minute notice

If you're a fan of the delightful Brazilian drink known as the caipirinha (muddled lime, sugar and cachaca -- the national spirit of Brazil), then get yourself down to Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood by 4 p.m. There you'll find a bunch of fanatical cachaca drinkers who, at the behest of Leblon-brand cachaca, will be marching to "legalize cachaca."

Keep in mind that this is a bit hyperbolic; cachaca is definitely legal in the States. (I for one drink it openly, and all the time, at restaurants and at home. I may even be drinking it here at my desk right now. Shhhh.) It's just that for some crazy reason the U.S. is the only country in the world -- claims Leblon -- that requires cachaca to be categorized as "Brazilian rum." They argue that like tequila, Champagne and cognac, cachaca possesses its very own character, culture and historical significance.

I second that emotion. If you've ever had a sip of cachaca, you know what I mean. It's definitely not rum. But since it's distilled from fermented sugar cane, it gets the rum rap. Its flavor, however, is wildly different. If you buried a shot glass covered in cheesecloth under a field of sugar cane and let rainwater filter through the earth into your glass and then magically turned the liquid you captured into a fiery liquor, you'd come close to knowing what cachaca tastes like. Or you could just buy a bottle at your local house of spirits.

The march to "legalize" cachaca begins today at 4 p.m. at 8440 W. Sunset Blvd., at the Mondrian.

-- Jessica Gelt

Illustration: Sarah Cline / For The Times

Comments

[Roberto Rogness]

As someone who spends as much time as possible in Brasil and has some very dear friends who own the best Cachaça store in Rio (Garapa Doida in Leblon), I MUST protest that Cachaça Leblon is a made up brand from a giant international liquor company, NOT an artisanal native product.

There are hundreds of brands of great, small production Cachaça made in Brasil (most of them in Minas Gerais), all with great history, quality and clientele and the best will have a seal around the neck like a DOCG seal in Italy that says AMPAQ (Associação Mineira dos Produtores de Cachaça de Qualidade). Some of these ARE available in the US including Germana and Pirapora.

The fact that the international liquor industry would rather play off the "idea" of Brasil than import the actual culture of that great country is offensive to many. For the record, Leblon is a bohemian beachside community in the Zona Sul of Rio de Janeiro and NO Cachaça is made there.

Com saudade pra pinga de verdade, Robertinho