Today the TTB Amends the Distilled Spirits Identity Regulations to Recognize “Cachaça” as a Type of Rum and Distinctive Product of Brazil
We’ll be getting you more details on this breaking story shortly, but first we are just so THRILLED to announce, in short, that as of today you can expect to see Cachaça labeled here in the US as Cachaça; and not just as “Brazilian Rum.”
Brands like Leblon (www.leblon.com) who had a significant part in bringing this new legislation to life, as well as fledgling brands like Avua (www.avuacachaca.com) and Cabana (www.cabanacachaca.com,) and all others in between, are going to benefit from this new designation.
Below are the facts from Washington. Stay tuned for more on actual impact.
Washington, D.C. — On February 25, 2013, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade
Bureau (TTB) will publish a final rule in the Federal Register amending its regulations
regarding the standards of identity for distilled spirits to recognize “Cachaça” as a type
of rum and as a distinctive product of Brazil. This final rule will be effective on April 11,
2013.
TTB first undertook this rulemaking in response to a petition from the Government of
Brazil, which requested that the United States recognize Cachaça as a distinctive
product of Brazil. Following discussions among officials of Brazil, the Office of the
United States Trade Representative, and TTB, representatives of Brazil and the United
States signed an agreement on April 9, 2012, under which the United States would
recognize Cachaça as a distinctive product of Brazil, and, in turn, Brazil would, within 30
days, recognize Bourbon Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey as distinctive products of
the United States.
Under Brazilian law, “Cachaça” is a Brazilian distilled spirits product with an alcohol
content of 38 to 48 percent by volume at 20 degrees Celsius, obtained from the
distillation of the fermented must of sugar cane. In the United States, previous to the
effective date of this final rule, TTB classified Cachaça products as rums under its
distilled spirits standards of identity regulations at 27 CFR 5.22(f).
In a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on April 30, 2012, TTB proposed to
amend 27 CFR 5.22(f) to recognize Cachaça as a type within the class designation
“rum” that would be recognized as a distinctive product of Brazil made in compliance
with Brazilian laws. Thus, under TTB’s proposal, a qualifying product may simply be
labeled as “Cachaça” without the term “rum” on the label (just as a product labeled with
the type designation “Cognac” is not required to also bear the class designation
“brandy”).
While the Brazilian standard allows products designated as Cachaça to have an alcohol
content ranging from 38 to 48 percent alcohol by volume, the United States standard
requires that rum be bottled at not less than 40 percent alcohol by volume, or 80
degrees proof. Therefore, any “Cachaça” imported into the United States will have to
conform to this minimum bottling proof requirement. A product that is bottled at below
40 percent alcohol by volume will fall outside the type designation for Cachaça, but,
depending on the product’s manufacturing method, the product could be labeled as a
“diluted Cachaça” or a distilled spirits specialty product bearing a statement of
composition. The “Cachaça” type description also will not allow any spirits that use corn
or corn syrup in the fermentation process to be labeled as Cachaça. In addition, the
amended regulation will allow the word “Cachaça” to be spelled with or without the
diacritic mark (i.e., “Cachaça” or “Cachaca”). Finally, the regulation contains a 180-day
transition period during which producers may continue to use previously approved
“Cachaça” labels for products that do not conform to the new Cachaça standard of
identity at 27 CFR 5.22(f)(1).
To view the complete rulemaking record regarding this regulatory amendment, including
the Brazilian petition, the proposed rule (Notice No. 127), the public comments received
in response to the proposed rule, and the final rule (T.D. TTB–112) once it is published,
see Docket No. TTB–2012–0002 at the “Regulations.gov” website
(www.regulations.gov).
