Leblon Light Cachaca

Here in the USA, true artisanal Brazilian cachaca is hard to come by. I've had a special order in for 2 other light cachacas for almost a month now and 1 was denied as it isn't offered by the importer anymore and the other is Salinas which hasn't arrived and is still offered by a large import conglomerate so, I don't know what the issue is. Anyway, I've been reading about cachaca and Leblon seems to be a recipe targeted for American consumption. This bugs me and I've gone out of my way to try to obtain an authentic model of which to base my nose and palate on. However, my impatience and frustration got the best of me and Leblon went on sale so, here we are. The "sale" price was still $24.99. For an unaged sugar cane distillate, that is premium territory IMO. Of course it came with the plastic muddler as to suggest a sole intended purpose, Caipirinhas.
Let's get to it. The bottle pops nice and loud and I immediately gave it a curious whiff. Yep... its vegetal,musty and peppery with a little black olive, cooked zucchini or squash and a little rubber tinge and slight breath of vanilla yogurt. Not much astringency on the nose which was pleasant. In the glass there is no missing that hefty bouquet but did seem to calm down quite a bit. In the mouth it is a light and watery but not overly so. It is pleasantly creamy as well. I immediately get a hint of sweetness and peppery-vegetal-grassiness that seemed quite relaxed compared to the strong nose. There was a little lemon and black olive on the back end that led to a crisp finish with minimal and refreshing warmth. I really thought the flavor was going to be much more vegetal as the nose suggested however, to my delight it was much more rounded. This was both lightly savory and lightly sweet. It makes great caipirinhas. I also made some where I cut back the Leblon 1/2 oz and substituted Wray and Nephew overproof white rum and made killer caipirinhas! Hopefully my other cachaca will come soon and I can get a better perspective. I say give it a try if the price is right.
***EDIT***
I've added 1 more star because I've now bought a second bottle. It just pairs with the Wray and Nephew overproof white rum so well. Cheers!

Better than your Sagatiba's but nothing particularly special. Fine for a Caipirinha.

Grassy, vegetal, briney... I really like it. Easy enough to find, and fairly cheap. Good Caipirinhas too.

I'm inexperienced with cachaca, but was suitably satisfied with this one's bones tasted in a caipirinha or two.

Came into contact with the brand during a green trade show few years back when I still wrote frequent posts for the CocktailOrganico faux blog. I'm not a big fan of clear rum, I prefer aged rums, but I commend the company for pioneering a product free of artificial ingredients. If I had a bar, Leblon would certainly be on the shelf.

To my understanding, this was formulated for the US market, yet the first time I had it was in a caipirinha in Sao Paulo. It's great for caipirinhas and other cocktails, but I wouldn't want to sip it as I would a true premium cacacha.

A boire en drink comme on le fait au Brésil un caihipirinhas. Très rafraîchissant l'été mais attention de ne pas trop en boire!

Not what I expected at first. On the nose this has the scent that instantly reminded me of long nights and Silver Patron. With that in mind, I did not put this near cola. I followed the directions to make a caprihana and it was actually delicious. I was extremely impressed in how the muddled lime and sugar could transform this very intense flavor into a tame beast. It still even tasted like Patron with lime. Taking that into consideration, it is much cheaper than Patron and I might try it out next time I have people over to see if they can notice the difference.

A good cachaca to start with, it´s smooth and makes good caipirinhas.

I was nervous when I smelled this bottle after opening it. The first straight shot was different. The taste and smell is far different from a standard rum. It grew on me and I downed half the bottle one night. No ill effects the next day all natural for sure. A great choice for straight up shots and can be mixed with very little for a fantastic drink. If you want to try something different go for this!