Cachaca! And Free Trade. And Intellectual "Property"

It sounds like moonshine rum--ferment for 24 hours and then boil to 80 proof. Drunk at Cafe de la Paz in Berkeley:

Cachaca: TED Case Study #721 - Brian Morgan: Unknown to many outside Brazil, the cultural significance of cachaça, a distilled liquor, ranks among soccer, carnival, and samba. Although non-Brazilian’s compare cachaça to rum, their only similarity is that they both originate from sugarcane. Cachaça first gained popularity among slaves and peasants during Brazil’s colonial period but the spirit has recently become a favorite domestically and internationally regardless of the drinker’s class. Also, Brazilian cachaça exports to Europe and the United States have been aided by the trendy drink caipirinha. The cocktail’s global success has inspired other Caribbean and South American states to produce their own cachaça-like alcohols. Consequently, the Brazilian government has initiated protectionist measures at home and abroad to preserve cachaça’s foreign markets. These developments bring together cachaça’s trade, cultural, and environmental aspects.

No one knows for sure who began cachaça production.... [S]ugarcane had been introduced to Brazil as a cash crop by their colonial motherland Portugal. Slaves... were given leftover cane juice... let it ferment... plantation owners often promised slaves this fermented cane juice once they had completed their work. Eventually, someone realized that by boiling the fermented juice a more potent libation was produced, marking the birth of cachaça. At this point, wealthy Brazilians regarded cachaça as a poor man’s drink and thus preferred European alternatives. However, this did not stop cachaça from becoming an integral part of Brazilian culture. It is estimated Brazilians consume close to 350 million gallons of cachaça per year – about two gallons per person.

There are roughly 30,000 small producers.... Because the distillation process is relatively easy... because sugarcane is so abundant in Brazil, the business can be is open to anyone. Sugarcane is... milled... fermented for about 24 hours... boiled... 80-proof.... Regardless of the variety, cachaça should not be confused with rum, which is distilled from the molasses left over after sugar refinement....

Cachaça’s export capability was uncertain until the caipirinha became a bestseller in bars across Europe, United States, and Japan. The cocktail combines crushed limes, sugar, ice, and cachaça to produce a sweet and zesty flavor packed with alcoholic intensity.... Germany has become the largest consumer of cachaça outside Latin America, constituting about one forth of the foreign market.... The Brazilian government has also helped promote cachaça by providing caipirinhas at social functions.... Ambitious export programs aim to increase cachaça exports to 40 million liters per annum by end of this decade. In addition, Brazilians hope that cachaça and caipirinha will become what tequila and margaritas have become for Mexico: an internationally recognized image associated with the Brazilian lifestyle....

However, since sugarcane is such a homogenous good and since the distillation process does not impose geographic limitations outside the wood used to age cachaça, imitation cachaças have been increasingly manufactured... the imposters could crowd them out of foreign markets... the quality or unique taste of a cachaça is barely noticeable once it is mixed into a sugar-rich caipirinha.

To protect its cachaça industry... President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva... sent the issue to the World Trade Organization in hopes that cachaça will gain protection under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement (TRIPS). Moreover, Brazil is currently involved in bilateral negotiations with the European Union to ensure that the cachaça name will be used only with Brazilian products within member states.... Under the TRIPS agreement of the WTO, cachaça could potentially gain protection as provided by Article 22 and 23. According to Article 22, “geographical indications are, for the purposes of this Agreement, indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.” In the case of cachaça, Brazil is arguing that the drink is unique to its territory because of the liquor’s history, origin, and its ties to Brazilian culture. If cachaça qualifies for geographic indication, it would also receive the higher level of protection granted by Article 23, which states that signatories of the TRIPS agreement would need to prevent the use of the name cachaça, “even where the true origin of the goods is indicated or the geographical indication is used in translation or accompanied by expressions such as “kind”, “type”, “style”, “imitation” or the like.”...

If cachaça attains protection for geographic indication in both of these negotiations, it would create two additional avenues for dispute settlement. First, Brazil would be able to file complaints through the WTO, which would allow the country to target Caribbean and Central American nations, such as Colombia and Martinique, that illegally produce cachaça. And Second, Brazil could resolve conflicts directly with the EU regarding cachaça....

Brazil has not yet officially disputed any instances where other countries have tried to sell their drinks as cachaça...

Comments

[JRoth]

I'd like to point out that only liquor made in one county in Kentucky can be called Bourbon - hence a well-known "Tennessee sour mash whiskey" stands in odd relation to its fellow amber-colored, border-state distillates (inferior, IMHO).

I've never been sure whether my stance in favor of protection of geographic origins and in general opposition to excessive branding/ copyrighting/ trademarking is wholly incoherent or highly principled. It seems to me very important that only cheese made from Roman sheep's milk and aged 5 to 8 months can be sold as Pecorino Romano. Yet I chafe every time a corporation claims exclusive rights to some phrase or concept (for some reason, sports examples come to mind - Olympics, Super Bowl, and "threepeat" are all protected and earn royalties/tariffs. "March Madness" too, even though a small Illinois tournament originated the phrase decades before the NCAA). I don't think it's inconsistent, because in the former case, the only reason to label suitably chemicalized cow cheese from Wisconsin "Pecorino Romano" is to deceive the consumer. While no one could mistake any other football game for the Super Bowl, and the consumer is not harmed by a Pepsi ad that mentions the Olympics, even though Coke is an Official Olympic Sponsor. I understand why that has value to the IOC, but it has none for the consumer, and only litters the landscape with euphemisms like "the Big Game."

[kid bitzer]

what the hell does "boiled... 80-proof..." mean?

Put some fermented cane juice in a vat and boil it--the first thing that will boil off is the ethanol, long before the H2O. (Well, maybe not "first", if there are some even more exotic volatile fractions in there. But long before the water).

So these people are using some sort of still? What design? How cheap? 30,000 of them?

[kharris]

Kid,

Stills are pretty easy to build. The simplest form (which is pretty wasteful) can be constructed from items found in the average kitchen. Brazil is easily advanced enough that its 30,000 producers (assuming that figure isn't just made up) could each have a still. Heck, my Clay County ancestors built (and rebuilt...stinkin' revenuers!) stills in conditions that would have been as parts-poor as much of Brazil is today.

What I find more questionable is the "ferment for one day" claim. Yeast is great stuff, but even in the oldest beer recipes, something like three days was suggested, if memory serves. Getting the most out of malt takes about a week at home, while higher sugar content ingredients (like grape juice) can go on a bit longer before fermentation slows down. That's with yeast innoculation. Are these guys using natural firmentation? I can't imagine 24 hours does the trick.

By the way, any recommendations?

[johne]

Unless I'm very much mistaken, cachaça is produced in any Latin American republic that has sugar cane. In Spanish-speaking regions it's often called aguardiente, or just plain trago, and "white rum" by English speakers. Kid bitzer's "more exotic volatile fractions" typify it, giving it paint-remover overtones. Like retsina, it is an acquired taste, and many of the region vastly prefer it to the tamer rums that exporters favor. For an outsider's glimpse of the real stuff, see http://www.piedrablanca.org/aguardiente-tour.htm

[christofay]

bug juice-yes. so this blog does have a whiff of the college about it today

[andres]

johne: True, but the name cachasa (which is probably derived from some African language, my guess) sounds a lot more alluring and exotic than the spanish aguardiente, which means literally burning water--not very appealing to exotic drink connoiseurs. If the central american or caribbean countries had been more market-savvy, they would have come up with a similarly exotic-sounding African name for boiled fermented sugarcane juice and would have made a fortune exporting to the US before the Brazilians got in on the act.

[Rich Gibson]

kharris: I agree that 24 hours seems a tad short, but remember that we are talking about simple fermentable sugars. With beer you have a bunch of more complicated sugars.

I made a strange Finnish homebrew once that was just sugar and lemon. That stuff was pretty highly fermented _very_ quickly.

They also may want to stop fermentation before all of the sugars are fermented, to add to the flavor or something.

[Dustin DeWind]

That Finnish lemon and sugar drink is probably Sima - whence Zima, I suppose.

[John Emerson]

Iimagine they'll be counterfeiting Screech next.

[Leila]

The Brazilian babysitter in Oakland made us the national cocktail, which is cachaca and I *think* limes or something. She used Meyer lemons harvested from her daughter's tree in Albany for a local variation. Very East Bay...I was nursing or driving or something and couldn't have more than a whiff of it. Too bad. I'd like me some right now...

[Jon Fernquest]

It's not clear how the country would actually enforce their rights and get companies in other countries to withdraw their products.

At least it doesn't involve patents and patent lawyers which I've seen advocated by patent lawyers for developing Asian countries. Patents seem completely infeasible in developing countries because of the slow legal systems and the necessity of directing what resources do exist to more productive uses.

[Ken Jarboe]

If the EU can push for "geographical indications rights" to protect produces such as Parma ham, Greek feta cheese and Champagne (and the US can push for protections for "Idaho potatoes"), the Brazilians area well within their rights. (See my blog entry on this of last year - http://www.athenaalliance.org/weblog/archives/2005/10/protecting_your.html) And the enforcement of these IP protections is the same as for any other IP (such as music and video) - you threaten the other country with WTO approved retaliatory tariffs if they don't crack down on the illegal counterfeiting inside their country.
When we opened up trade measures to internal market activities – as with TRIPS – we dramatically altered the dynamics of trade enforcement.

On a related note, so why is it possible to enforce IPR on another countries’ internal activities, but not labor or environmental rights?

[IP Guy]

As an IP lawyer, I have to remind everyone that trademark law and copyright law have entirely different purposes, and grow out of very different histories. The reason why these geographic indicators can (and should) be protectible, is that trademark law (of which these geographic misdescriptiveness issues are part and parcel) is all about preventing consumer confusion. Many have argued that trademarks aren't even intellectual property, in a strict sense, because they are equivalent to a public right owned in trust by the user. This should have nothing to do with the issue of whether copyrights are too strong, etc. If consumer are confused into buying things that aren't the "real" thing, then they should be protected. If not, they should not.