Vale Verde Ecological Park
Photo courtesy of Vale Verde Alambique e Parque Ecológico
Betim, a city with about 415,000 inhabitants less than 19 miles from Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, is known in Brazil for the Fiat factory.
The Betim rural area, where many BH residents have vacation homes, is also the birthplace of Vale Verde, one of best cachaças in Brazil - or the best, according to a 2007 test by Playboy Magazine in Brazil.
Vale Verde Ecological Park, where Vale Verde is produced, is a tourist attraction with a commercial native bird nursery authorized by Ibama, a governmental environment agency. Although Ibama-authorized trade of wild species is a topic of debate, birds at Vale Verde are kept in first-rate facilities with a success history in the breeding of threatened species, such as the hyacinth macaw.
Vale Verde and Minha Deusa
Photo courtesy of Vale Verde Alambique e Parque Ecológico
Two brands of cachaça are produced at Vale Verde Ecological Park. During most of the manufacturing process, both cachaças are the same. The difference between Vale Verde and Minha Deusa ("my goddess") is aging.
While Minha Deusa is left to rest for only 6 months in a barrel made of neutral wood and doesn't go through changes in color or flavor, Vale Verde is aged in European oak casks. The Ministry of Agriculture seals each one of the company's 2,500 casks and breaks the seal three years later.
As oxygen enters the cask through the porous wood, it oxidizes alcohol and enhances the cachaça, softening its flavor. Aged cachaça has a golden glow, unlike non-aged cachaça, which is clear and nicknamed branquinha ("little white one") in Brazil.
Handcrafted Cachaça
Photo courtesy of Vale Verde Alambique e Parque Ecológico
Vale Verde and Minha Deusa are what Brazilians call cachaça artesanal (pronounced ca-SHA-sa ar-te-sa-NOW), or handcrafted cachaça. One of the most important characteristics of handcrafted cachaça is a separation of the distilled substance into batches during distillation in copper pot stills (or alambiques in Portuguese), as opposed to the continuous distillation in columns used in the production of industrial cachaça.
Handcrafted cachaça only uses the so-called "core" or "heart" of distillation. Cachaça Vale Verde has 43 degrees Gay-Lussac - the Brazilian legal range is 38-54° GL.
Sustainable Production
According to Vale Verde Ecological Park, several measures are taken to ensure sustainable production:
- All the sugar cane used is grown on the company’s property.
- Sugar cane is hand-picked and the straw is not burned.
- All the bagasse (the sugar cane fiber left after the juice has been extracted) is used as fuel for steam distilling, as part of the compost pile for the organic vegetable garden, and to line nests in the aviary.
- Inferior alcohol not used for cachaça is processed for use as fuel in company vehicles.
- No chemicals are used to kick off fermentation – only natural products such as the yeasts from the sugar cane itself, rice, or corn meal.
Cachaça Museum
Photo courtesy of Vale Verde Alambique e Parque Ecológico
Another attraction at Vale Verde Ecological Park is the Cachaça Museum ( Museu da Cachaça), which opened in 1987. It features more than 1,500 labels, including vintage labels and international brands. Two of the most valuable items are Cachaça Pelé – of which only two bottles are known to exist in Brazil – and Cachaça Havana, considered a collector's prize.
The museum also has equipment from the 19th century, such as a sugar cane grinding mill and a bottling machine. Tri-dimensional pictures cover the story of cachaça and the importance of sugar cane in Brazilian history.
Hours:
Vale Verde Ecological Park is open Mon-Fri, 9a-5p.
Guided Tours of the Museum and the production process: Saturday, Sunday and holidays at 9:30a, 10:30a, 11:30a, 12:30p, 1:30p, 2:30p, 3:30p, 4:30p.
Restaurant Hours: Mon-Fri, 11a-3p; Saturday, Sunday and holidays, 11a-5p.
Although most attractions, including the aviary and an orchid garden, are open during the week, weekend visitors get some special perks, such as feeding the birds.
Contact Information and Directions:
Courtesy: Vale Verde Alambique and Ecological Park
Vale Verde Alambique e Parque Ecológico - Address:
Rodovia MG 50, KM 39 - Bairro Vianópolis - Betim - MG
Phone: 31-3079-9171
Website: www.valeverde.com.br
Directions: From Belo Horizonte, take BR-381 (Rodovia Fernão Dias) to São Paulo, then Via Expressa to Betim. To see the map on the company website, click on Como Chegar at the top of the home page on the Vale Verde Ecological Park website.
