Salinas Traditional
Distillery: Salinas
Location: Salinas, Minas Gerais
Aged: Yes
Aging time: 2 years and 6 months
Type of wood used for aging: Balsam
ABV: 42%
Some brands of cachaça are iconic here in Brazil. Salinas is one of those. If you say the name, even to a casual consumer of the spirit, you’re likely to draw recognition.
It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm when I lit the barbecue fire and opened a bottle of Salinas Tradicional. This iconic spirit is aged three years in balsam. For those who don’t remember, balsam is a wood that provides a rather strong anise flavor. Now, to be honest, I haven’t, throughout my lifetime, been a big fan of the flavor.
But one can’t help by being comforted by this cachaça. This is a product that clearly knows its purpose: an easily drinkable companion with food, especially beef.
On this day, as I throw a big hunk of meat on the grill, I shared the bottle with my in-laws. At 600 ml, it’s not difficult to move through. And that’s exactly what we did.
The traditional Brazilian barbecue is a slow-moving affair, often with no official eating time. People come and go, and the cook usually offers up meat as it is done. Having rented a house for the week, with a pool not more than twenty feet away, we were able to enjoy the cachaça and watch the kids frolic.
The light yellow spirit flowed easily, catching the sunlight as it did. I spent most of my time in front of the hot fire, and so it was a pleasant relief to have this chilled bottle to go to when I needed a respite. We spent a few lazy hours observing this most important Brazilian tradition, eventually finishing our work. The bottle complete, the barbecue also came to an end. Naps ensued.
Though certainly not my ideal cachaça, Salinas is a product worthy of discussion and consumption. At an extraordinarily reasonable price, it offers the clearest possible support to cooked meat. While we consumed it slightly chilled, it’s perfectly fine at room temperature. Either way, it’s worth getting your hands on a bottle.
