Tasting

When tasting Charanda, it's best to start with the Blanca and a small nosing glass that tapers toward the top, concentrating the aromas. Room temperature is right, since cold dulls the sweetness of the sugarcane. First, smell without drinking. Then take a small sip and let it sit briefly in the mouth.

What stands out depends on the house. A Blanca is usually sweetish, grassy, and clear, almost without wood. An aged Charanda adds caramel, vanilla, and spice, with the color shifting toward amber. Mexican trade media describe the profile as complex and fruity, with notes of caramel, vanilla, and spice; this applies more to the aged bottlings.

Two names well known in the region make good examples: Tarasco, with its Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo bottlings, and Uruapan, with Blanco, Plata, and Real de Uruapan. Tasting all three tiers of the same brand side by side shows most clearly what the cask adds to a juice-based spirit.

The style is best judged neat. A drop of water softens the spirit and opens up aromas, especially at higher strength. Anyone with a bottling toward the upper end of the 38 to 54 percent range will notice the effect.

Two things help with judging. First: taste it against a Rhum agricole blanc, which also comes from juice. Second: taste it against a Tequila blanco, to hear the distance between agave and sugarcane, sweetish-grassy versus vegetal-spicy.