Rum and cachaça: the 5 main differences to know

“ Cachaça and rum , they’re the same, right?”: you’ve probably already asked yourself this question, leaning on the bar while sipping your arranged rum or your caipirinha … And it’s quite normal! The same raw material is at the origin of both eaux-de-vie : sugar cane . Other similarities: their centuries-old history , but also their distillation in columns or stills . However, these two essentials of the cocktail world are far from being identical. So fasten your seatbelts for takeoff to the New World, to discover the 5 big differences between rum and cachaça ! ✈️

"Tell me where you come from, and I'll tell you who you are." For cachaça, it's quite simple: it must have been born in Brazil (like champagne, which can only be produced in Champagne), since it was invented there by Portuguese settlers. Yes, the name "cachaça" is regulated by Brazilian law, which limits its production area to the homeland of good old Neymar. Like him, cachaça is a true source of national pride, practically inseparable from the famous caipirinhas.

For its part, "rum" is not strictly protected: it can be produced anywhere in the world (including Brazil!), even if it historically comes from the Caribbean. However, there are more specific controlled designations of origin, such as Ron de Venezuela (since 2004) or the AOC Rhum Agricole de Martinique in the French Antilles (since 1996). The latter meets very strict specifications, guaranteeing the quality of its eaux-de-vie. In short, very good and French: it is no coincidence that, at Halto, we chose this designation for our artisanal arranged rum recipes !

Here, a small digression is necessary to be completely precise (and to ensure you shine when you talk cocktails with your friends). There are actually two main families of rum: traditional rum and agricultural rum . To create the first (also nicknamed "industrial rum" or "sugar rum"), molasses is distilled: a sort of thick brown syrup, obtained after extracting the sugar from the cane juice. For the second, only the distillation of pure sugar cane juice is permitted.

Cachaça, too, is distilled from fresh cane juice (called garapa , for those in the room who aren't bilingual in Portuguese). It is therefore clearly distinct from traditional rum, and is closer to agricultural rum. However, in all three cases, other production parameters must be taken into account, which explain why each spirit has very specific flavors. The proof is in the following two points.