Cachaça, like rum, has two varieties: unaged (white) and aged (gold). White cachaça is usually bottled immediately after distillation and tends to be cheaper (some producers age it for up to 12 months in wooden barrels to achieve a smoother blend). It is often used to prepare caipirinha and other beverages in which cachaça is an ingredient. Dark cachaça, usually seen as the “premium” variety, is aged in wood barrels and is meant to be drunk straight (it is usually aged for up to 3 years though some “ultra premium” cachaças have been aged for up to 15 years). Its flavour is influenced by the type of wood the barrel is made from

There are very important regions in Brazil where fine pot still cachaça is produced such as Salinas in Minas Gerais state, Paraty in Rio de Janeiro state, Monte Alegre do Sul in Sāo Paulo state and AbaÍ­ra in Bahia state. Nowadays, cachaça’s producers can be found in most Brazilian regions and in 2011 there were over 40,000 of them