I’ve reviewed several cachaças before, mostly ones I had as one-offs, but there is only one brand that I regularly see in liquor stores: Leblon. Sure, if I do some hunting, I can find Cachaça 51 or even Novo Fogo, but Leblon is the one that you just see everywhere.

Review

Smell

Grassy, briny, slightly sweet. It smells extremely similar to my HSE martinique agricole blanc. No real fruit or funk, just smells like grass and brine.

Taste

Leblon tastes quite grassy and briny. However, I would say, it tastes very much like HSE, but HSE is both bolder in taste and also harsher in burn. Leblon is just weaker. Both really don’t have much complexity.

I made two… daiquiris? I guess I’d piss off two countries by not using their preferred term for the drink, but I combined Leblon and HSE with sugar and lime. Call it caipirinha and ‘ti punch if you will. Anyway, as expected, the HSE was much stronger, but actually, in Leblon’s lightness comes ease of drinking. If you really love the taste of cane juice, Leblon will leave you disappointed, but if you are like me and don’t really prefer it, Leblon comes off as tolerable and more enjoyable.

Verdict 4/10

I would still rather have Bacardi. That’s just me, and I can recognize that agricole and cachaça have a following, but my opinions are mine, and I’d rather have a daiquiri with Bacardi. But it wasn’t bad. I’m sure I would probably enjoy Novo Fogo more, just as I have enjoyed agricoles that are better quality than HSE. I haven’t reviewed it yet, but WP 9th floor WPE-CJN is incredible. For now, Leblon is a 4/10.