When visiting Curitiba, any individual or group that has an interest in cachaça must visit Orlando Regis. It just so happened that while I was in Morretes, Bruna Gomes of Porto Morretes had suggested that I go visit Orlando, since I had time on my last day before my trip back to Brasilia. Thanks to her, I was able to set up some time with him. Orlando Regis and his wife have one of the largest collections of cachaça in the country. At over 7,000 bottles, they certainly have the […]

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I repeated my morning walk around town, came back and ate breakfast, and headed out to Porto Morretes, traversing the same dangerous road that I had the previous day. This time, however, I had an appointment. When I got to the gates and pressed the buzzer, I was let in to the very private facility. The winding dirt driveway led to a modern, large facility, where workers scurried about from place to place. I was met at the main office by Bruna Gomes. Bruna, one of the managers of the […]

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Morning in Morretes. I left the pousada because I woke early. Breakfast wouldn’t be served until eight. Clouds covered the not-so-distant-mountains, but the city was sunny. I walked along the quiet main road. People passed me on their way to work. Schoolchildren carried backpacks, walking in groups, excited for the school day. I crossed over the river on a slight bridge that carried the occasional car. Descending the opposite bank, I walked the cobblestone path, which was without another soul. I snapped a few pictures of the river, a small […]

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I was up before dawn, checked out, and on the road while Itajaí slept. My flight was at 9 am, and I made it to the airport by 7:30. I was going to miss Santa Catarina, knowing that I hadn’t gotten to see all that I wanted. But I was on to Parana, flying into Curitiba by way of Congonhas Airport in São Paulo. All my flights went smoothly, even in the busy domestic airport in Sao Paulo. By the time I landed in Curitiba, amidst the fog and rain, […]

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I’d been on the road for a week when I woke up in Itajaí, my last full day in Santa Catarina. The storm clouds had cleared and there were people getting in their morning exercise along the dishwater gray beach. An old couple sat on a park bench holding hands. I was on my way back to Luis Alvez to take a look at the fermentation and distillation processes. It was rush hour when I left. The city moved languidly around me as I maneuvered over speed bumps and through […]

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I departed Nova Petropolis at 6:30 am. There were so many more things to see in Rio Grande do Sul, of that I was sure. But I had to get on the road, appreciate the tight curves and tailgaters for one last time. The nearly two hour drive back to the airport in Porto Alegre was relatively uneventful, fortunately. I’d chosen to fly with Gol for my entire trip, though I realized after I bought my tickets that it might have been better to mix up my airline choice just […]

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On Friday morning, I headed to Harmonie Schnapps. I’d set up this visit before I’d left Brasilia and was excited to visit a distillery that had received so much praise from members of the cachaça community. Harmony, was a short, pleasant drive from Nova Petropolis. I left the clogged main roads and found myself on tranquil, well-maintained thoroughfares. Google hadn’t steered me wrong yet, and a little before 9:30 am, I saw that I was but a few moments away from my destination. The final turn was a right, according […]

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Gramado and Canela were two cities that I didn’t have much interest in visiting. I’d stayed in Gramado toward the end of 2018 with my family. It’s a town that is popular among Brazilians and notable for its effort to create a Northern-Hemisphere-Christmas-Atmosphere year-round, as well as its plethora of chocolate shops. Canela is a more relaxed cousin of Gramado, with a similar affinity for chocolate, without the Christmas spirit. I hadn’t planned on going near them, but that third day of my trip, I found myself driving through Gramado […]

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I bounded out of bed on that second day. It was after 7, later than I’d expected to sleep. I opened the curtains in my room to let in the bright sun. A bright blue, cloudless sky greeted me. Breakfast at the pousada was traditional: a range of cakes, breads, and sandwich makings, as well as fresh fruit, juice, and coffee. With an urge to get on the road, knowing that it would take me almost two hours to reach Casa Bucco, I ate with urgency. On the road, listening […]

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It was late afternoon when I left Weber Haus. On the twisting roads, cars tailgated me. Geez, I get it. You guys like to go fast around tight curves. Small towns appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, with homes and other buildings popping with bright pastel colors. Unfortunately, I couldn’t much turn my head to get a clear glimpse at most of these places, because if I had, I probably would have either gotten rear-ended, or run off the road. It was around 5 pm, when I made it into Nova […]

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Weber Haus is an increasingly big name in the cachaça community. It’s one of the few so-called artisanal cachaças that I can find at supermarkets such as Pão de Açúcar. With a burgeoning reputation, I was excited, that first day of travel, to visit the distillery to learn more about where they came from, where they are currently, and where they see themselves going in the near future. The parking lot was empty in the middle of the afternoon. The hot sun, perched in a cloudless blue sky, beat down […]

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I awoke as the orange rays of the sun bled through my bedroom window. Nerves always eat at me before I travel, and so it wasn’t surprising for me to rise early. Day one of my cachaça trip. There were so many unknowns. I shuffled around my apartment, ensuring my belongings were together, made my coffee, and ate a bit of breakfast. By the time that was done, my wife and kids were up. Besides being a travel day, it also happened to be my kids’ first day of school. […]

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