The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails Definition of aguardiente and aguardente

aguardiente and aguardente (roughly “firewater”; see aqua vitae) are generic terms in use for spirits wherever Spanish or Portuguese are spoken, though on brand labels there are often regulations controlling the terms’ usage. Brazil’s cachaça, for example, may be colloquially known as aguardente de caña, but there are different legal definitions for each: cachaça is made from sugar cane juice, while aguardente de caña can be made from sugar cane juice, syrup, or molasses. Additionally, cachaça is bottled at 38–48 percent ABV, while aguardente de caña can be bottled at 38–54 percent ABV. See Brazil and cachaça.

Mexico also utilizes the term charanda, habanero, and chinguirito. Colombia’s aguardiente is a popular sugar cane–based spirit of between 24 percent and 29 percent ABV flavored with anise. Ecuador has its own popular aguardiente brands without anise flavoring; and one of El Salvador’s top spirits, Tic Tack, is an aguardiente de caña at 30 percent ABV. El Salvador uses the term guaro (a slang term for aguardiente shared with other Latin American countries) for their sugar cane spirit. Puerto Ricans refer to their high-proof ron (rum) as pitorro. See pitorro.

In Spain and Portugal, the terms have legal definitions, referring to spirits distilled from wine (alcohol fermented from fruit), though lees and other solids are allowed in the distillation in other countries. EU regulations stipulate that wine rather than pomace is used in order to be labeled as aguardente. In Portugal, if pomace is used, the country’s regulations require that the product is labeled aguardente bagaçeira, or merely bagaçeira. See bagaçeira.

In Portugal, the EU has demarcated six aguardente-producing regions, each with its own delimited boundaries: Aguardente de Vinho Douro, Aguardente de Vinho Ribatejo, Aguardente de Vinho Alentejo, Aguardente de Vinho da Região dos Vinhos Verdes and Aguardente de Vinho da Região dos Vinhos Verdes de Alvarinho (made solely from the Alvarinho grape variety), and Aguardente de Vinho Lourinhã.

Aguardiente is the Spanish equivalent, and the rules are roughly the same. The only two regional Spanish demarcated examples are aguardiente de sidra de Asturias (or apple-based spirit from Asturias) and a liqueur: aguardiente de hierbas de Galicia (a sweet herb liqueur).

aguardiente and aguardente

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