Diverting from this thread
http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2363.30If you like the wine wait untill you try the beer, the coffee and the fire waters
What's a fire water?
Well
Aguardente to which the direct translate would be "burning water" rather than the commonly accepted "firewater" is what Portuguese call to the
product obtained by fermentation and later distillation of sugared or sweet musts, vegetable macerations, or mixtures of the two so you can have
Aguardente of pretty much everything.
What everyone know as Vodka could be known as
Aguardente de Batata (Potato Firewater).
Now Portugal being a wine producing country has access to a premium must which is the
Bagaço (bagasse). After smashing the grapes, fermenting them to produce the wine you are left with the sub-product called the
Bagaço, this is then distilled in order to produce
Aguardente de Bagaço.
Since it is so commonly available here, in any Café or Restaurant if you ask for an
Aguardente without mentioning "of what" you'll be presented with and
Aguardente de Bagaço.
Usually a spirit of questionable quality - like Bell's whisky
Now the quality argument when applied to Portuguese fire water is restrictive since there really, really good
Aguardente's made with premium grapes bagasses and so sold at premium prices.
Now what's usually questionable is the origin since being highly alcoholic it is usually more prone to taxes so most of the "good stuff" sold at the local "non-tourist" cafés if sold over the counter but are usual the very best "fire waters" since they are usually made on small familiar farms who don't produce enough grapes to make wine but end up with high quality bagasses.
Other very typical and very good Portuguese firewater is Aguardente de Medronho, the fruit of the
Arbutus unedo known as Strawberry Tree.
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