Serra de Areia (Ridge of Sand)

Field Marshall was gifted this bottle a few years back. It lay dormant for perhaps as long as three years until around the time that my love for cachaça began to truly grow and frankly it's a miracle there's still any left.

What little I can say based on objective evidence, comes solely from the label. There is no website. I haven't found a single review, nor have I been able to find a seller online. Well now that's my kind of marketing.

The label, as ever, imparts all the information we need to know that this is at least a genuine, if not a good, cachaça:

It is 40% proof, and thus sits comfortably within the 38-48% parameters.
It is distilled from the fermented must of sugar cane.
The product is registered as a tax paying enterprise as witnessed by the CNPJ number required by legitimate business In Brazil.
A phone number and email address are also included.
Dare I write or call the number for further information?

The label states that this cachaça comes from the Northeastern state of Paraiba.
From the municipality of Areia to be precise.

Ever since a previous trip i took around the sertão of Alagoas, another northeastern state, I have wanted to visit the state of Paraiba and travel inland there. I'm not entirely sure what it is that draws me, but I know that one day I will go and whatever happens there will be very, very good indeed. I have come to realise that the Paraibans know more than a thing or two about making fine cachaças and I recently discovered that there may be as many as 60 active production sites in the state. Serra de Areia will most certainly not be the last cachaça I discuss here from this region.

So what can be said empirically?
As you may just be able to determine from the photos above, Serra de Areia is not totally transparent but in fact a very pale gold. From this we can tell that it is aged in wood, but we may only guess at the type and the time frame. It is a little dry to the taste, slightly aromatic, but not smooth, so I'm guessing oak was not involved and it's not fragrant and floral enough to have been aged in balsam. Perhaps an endemic wood of some sort. Whatever the case, it's damn good cachaça.