Aguardiente

Aquardiente is a spirit fermented and distilled from fruit or sugar cane.

Aquardiente is a spirit fermented and distilled from fruit or sugar cane. The name can be loosely translated as “fire water”, which is often an apt flavour descriptor too... They are more often found in South America and the term is a bit of a catch all term for distilled spirits that don’t quite conform to a specific category. 

Typically, Aquardiente spirits are not aged, and often due to their simple distillation process, they retain full-bodied flavours of the base material they are derived from.

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As a general starting point, you can consider them as the equivalent to the French or German Eau De Vie (Fruit brandies).

From a European perspective, aguardiente is generic Spanish and Portuguese terms, respectively, for some of the distilled spirits that are fermented and distilled exclusively from their specified raw materials, contain no added alcohol or flavouring substances, and if sweetened, only "to round off the final taste of the product". It is not a legal denomination on its own, like Brandy or Whisky. Because of that different categories of aguardientes are established according to raw materials. Wine spirit is aguardiente de vino, fruit spirit is aguardiente de fruta, grain spirit is aguardiente de cereales, etc. 

The reason this is important to note, is that the sub type will help you understand what it’s made from (and often, why it differs from the major spirit category).

What is Aquardiente made from?

The most common are aguardientes made from sugarcane. There are many types however, and it’s not uncommon for aguardientes to be made from a number of different sources used in combination. Fruit-based aguardientes include those made from oranges, apples, bananas, while grain-based ones may be made from millet, barley, or rice and tuber-based aguardientes from beet, cassava or potato. 

Typically, Aquardiente spirits are not aged, and often due to their simple distillation process, they retain full-bodied flavours of the base material they are derived from.

Why Aguardiente and not Rum or Tequila?

Rhum Agricole, Cane Aguardiente and Cachaça are all very similar. They are not the same though and the devil is in the detail as to why one is named in one way, and others part of their respective categories. Brazilian authorities define Cane Aguardiente as an alcoholic beverage of between 38% and 54% ABV, obtained by simple fermentation and distillation of sugarcane that has already been used in sugar-production. Cachaça, on the other hand, is an alcoholic beverage of between 38% and 48% ABV, obtained by fermenting and distilling sugarcane juice.

The difference between being obliged to use cane juice, not previously used sugar cane may seem small, but it’s these production details that are vital to keep in mind when understanding naming conventions. It’s not just about nerdy categorisation though, the process and provenance are key to the heritage any spirit categories, and employing a time honoured process is why certain spirits taste the way they do.

In Mexico, aguardiente goes by many names, including habañero. In the state of Michoacán, Charanda is a traditional rum-like sugar cane aguardiente. More commonly seen though, is Augardiente de Agave. In this context, the term is used by the distillers whose spirits either do not conform to the Denomination of Origin set out by the council that regulates the industry, or alternatively, is because it is made outside the permissible zones for Tequila and Mezcal.