Weber Haus Black 3 years old Organic Brazil Cachaca 70 cl 40%

The hills around Ivoti are green in a way the rest of Brazil is not. German settlers arrived here in the 1800s, put up timber-framed houses and brought their copper with them. Weber Haus Black has spent three years in the kind of quiet that only exists between an oak cask and a piece of Brazilian bálsamo wood.

The expert's description

Weber Haus Black 3 year Organic Brazil Cachaca is an Organic Cachaca matured for two years in French oak casks and one year in Bálsamo casks, bottled at 40%.

Weber Haus sits in Ivoti in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil, where the Weber family grows its own sugarcane organically. The cane is cut and pressed the same day, and it is the fresh juice that ferments. That is precisely where the line to rum is drawn, since rum is almost always built on molasses, a by-product of sugar refining. It is also why even an aged cachaca keeps a green, vegetal core no rum can imitate.

The cask history comes in two stages and explains the name. First two years in French oak, where the spirit picks up vanilla, pale caramel and a dry spice note. Then a year in casks of bálsamo, a Brazilian hardwood carrying an aromatic resin, which lays a sweet, almost balsamic tone over the oak and pulls the colour deep and dark. The pairing of French and Brazilian wood is what gives the bottle its double character.

The entire production is certified organic, from field to bottling. Weber Haus distils in copper pot stills in small volumes, and the house works systematically with different Brazilian timbers across its releases. Black is the most approachable of the dark ones, and it works both as a sipping spirit and as the base under a heavier Caipirinha.

Tasting notes

Nose

Vanilla and pale caramel report first. Then something green and juicy that points straight back at the sugarcane, with resin, toasted cashew and a trace of ginger sitting behind it.

Palate

Full and faintly oily. Cashew and vanilla carry the weight while black pepper and allspice cut across. The green cane note runs underneath the sweetness the whole way and stops it turning cloying.

Finish

Long and dry. Pepper hangs on alongside a resinous tone from the bálsamo wood, while the vanilla drops away fairly quickly. At the very end the wood stands alone.

Specifications

Name: Weber Haus Black 3 year Organic Brazil Cachaca 70 cl 40%
Distillery: Weber Haus
Region/Country: Ivoti, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Type: Organic Cachaca
Age: 3 years
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: Two years in French oak casks and one year in Bálsamo casks
Distillation method: Copper pot distilled from freshly pressed sugarcane juice
EAN no.: 7898013032100
Serving suggestion: Neat at room temperature in a tulip glass, or in a Caipirinha with lime and cane sugar

Flavour profile

Spiced · Vanilla-sweet · Green · Woody · Dry

Did you know?

Bálsamo is more than a cask timber. The Myroxylon genus is known for its fragrant resin, used for centuries in perfume and in ointments. That same aromatic resin bleeds into the cachaca and gives the final twelve months of maturation their sweet, faintly medicinal undertone.

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Frequently asked questions about Weber Haus Black 3 year Organic Brazil Cachaca 70 cl 40%

What separates Weber Haus Black from an unaged cachaca?

The wood. An unaged cachaca is green, sharp and vegetal, while Black has had three years in cask and therefore carries vanilla, caramel and spice laid over the cane note, the way aged Rum does. The colour comes from the same place, and the mouthfeel is considerably fuller.

What kind of wood is bálsamo?

Bálsamo is a Brazilian hardwood with an aromatic resin in the grain. It is used for cachaca casks because it delivers a sweet, resinous and lightly spiced tone that oak simply cannot produce. In Brazil it is one of the most widely used native alternatives to oak.

Can Weber Haus Black be drunk neat?

Yes, it is built for it. Serve at room temperature in a tulip glass and give it five minutes to open, so the resin notes come forward. Ice shuts it down more than it helps.

Does an aged cachaca work in a Caipirinha?

Yes, though the drink turns into something else. With Black the Caipirinha gets darker and spicier, and the acidity of the lime gains a vanilla and wood backdrop to push against. Use slightly less cane sugar than usual, because the cask has already contributed sweetness.

What does organic cachaca mean in practice?

That the sugarcane is grown without synthetic fertiliser or pesticides, and that certification follows the spirit all the way to bottling. Weber Haus farms its own cane on the fields around the distillery, so the distance from field to copper still is short.

How should an opened bottle of cachaca be stored?

Upright, dark and cool. Spirits above 40% do not develop in the bottle the way wine does, but a half-empty bottle oxidises slowly and loses aroma over a year or so. Close the cap firmly and keep it standing, so the alcohol is not working on the cork.

Where does Weber Haus come from?

From Ivoti in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in the far south of Brazil. The area was settled by German immigrants in the 1800s, which is why a Brazilian distillery carries a German name. The climate is cooler than the tropical north, and it shows in a tighter, less sugary spirit.